The automobile became the dominant lifestyle icon in the mid-20th century, and, among other things, it has had a profound effect on the urban residential landscape.
Older homes once had front porches that people actually sat on, and welcoming walkways to the front door from the sidewalk were the norm. Service lane-ways would often run behind the homes, and this is where carriages, garbage and the like could be organized and kept out of sight.
Very civilized.
Today, more often than not, the garage is the dominant feature of our residential architecture, and the driveway has become the default pathway to the front door. Sidewalks are often non-existent in new developments, and the welcoming walkway to the home has become little more than a small jog off the driveway.
We don’t sit out front any more, preferring the privacy of the back yard for outdoor activity.
I submit that by re-thinking and re-claiming the front yard, we can create a special – and private – place for enjoyment, and can reduce in area that big swath of lawn that has become the broadloom of our unnatural landscape; biological concrete, as one notable author describes it.
Try this: take the time to sit out front at different times of the day on a lawn chair. You will find that there are times when the sun or shade is just right, or there is a cooling breeze, or there is protection from a cold wind, and that this is absolutely the nicest place to be on the whole property at that particular time of day.
Now consider the Japanese garden, replete with metaphor. A rock is a mountain, a water vessel a lake, a carefully pruned shrub is a tree or even a whole forest. The garden path to the front door, however short, is a journey. Curves, surprises and resting places along the way add to the illusion of distance and time passing. A stone bench was often incorporated in the approach to the Japanese home, allowing the visitor to compose and reflect before presenting himself.
The entrance garden presents great opportunities to incorporate fragrant plant selections to welcome the guest: French lilac, lavender, honeysuckle, butterfly bush, mock orange, chokeberry, lemon sage - and many others - will add a whole new sensory element to the approach. This is also a good place for the wonderful native plants that attract bees and birds. It’s best, however, to avoid trees and shrubs that can drop fruit on the pathways here, as this will forever get tracked into the home. Crab apple and mulberry, for example, can be pretty messy.
A sitting area to enjoy the buzzing of bees with your morning coffee can be intimate and private when surrounded by a low stone wall or shrubs and ornamental grasses. A little water feature here ~ a simple birdbath, perhaps ~ will be enjoyed by birds and bees alike. Butterflies like mud, so a saucer set in the soil will let you keep a small muddy spot where they can uptake their minerals.
By combining the possibilities of an intimate sitting area with a surprising and fragrant journey to the front door, whole new opportunities exist to transform the front of the house.
Here are the answers to last week’s questions:
OK ~ nobody actually asked me any questions, but you could have, and these might have been the answers. If you can guess the questions that go with these answers, I will buy you a native perennial (just in case anybody is actually reading this, limited to the first five correct responses).
Thomas Dean of Black Sheep Design in Meaford, is a graduate of the University of Guelph in Horticulture and Landscape Design. Thomas will be a regular contributor of gardening and horticulture articles for The Meaford Independent. You can contact Thomas by emailing:
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