When it comes to creating your dream home one of the biggest elements that affects how your home will look and feel is, of course, its exterior. From choosing specific exterior materials and cladding options to adopting a welcoming colour palette, the next step is to consider your front garden.
Planting a lush entry garden can add a dramatic and eye-catching feature to your home’s exterior, and there are plenty of options to choose from! Depending on the style of your home and its location, you’ll want to consider which garden design style will suit your house best as well as which plants will thrive best.
Do you, for instance, prefer the neutrality of silver leaf plants or the dramatic silhouettes of succulents? Is cloud pruning a look you’re fond of? Or do you prefer the hardy nature of native Australian plants? The possibilities are endless.
To help inspire your home’s front garden, we’ve pulled together 21 of the best ideas to inspire you.
Front garden inspiration for Australian homes
Feature plants and sculptures create drama in this California bungalow’s layered garden. Ground cover plants, such as succulents, create a soft base from which larger plants tower.
The cacti and succulent-laden garden is the perfect fit for this Palm Springs-style home in Henley Beach in Adelaide. Quartzite pebbles and stepping stones add the finishing touch.
This Edwardian-style home sports an earthy green palette that is reflected outside in its native garden. The home’s classic aesthetic is met by an informal garden that boasts flourishing ground cover and organic-shaped stepping stones that lead the way to a timber deck.
The sustainably-clad exterior of this contemporary Booker Bay home is surrounded by olive, yucca and rosemary, which come together to create a silvery garden border to the dark facade.
This Californian-style modernist home in Byron Bay is a mid-century lover’s dream, with its elevated aspect and white facade. In keeping with the home’s Palm-Springs-style aesthetic, the front ‘desert garden’ is minimal, featuring a Livistona palm, golden barrel cactus and a number of agaves.
The garden of this very Australian mid-century era home in Adelaide Hills plays to its strengths; tiered planting, native shrubbery and a towering gum make up the centrepieces of this home’s quintessential exterior.
The classic exterior of this quintessential WWII Queenslander home was retained during the reimagining of its interiors. Here, a large tree shades the facade and perfectly kept grass below it. The garden is partially elevated, with the carport below.
The front entrance garden of this renovated 1930s home is much like the interiors that follow it; understated and minimalist. The planting lets the curves and linear details of the exterior speak for themselves, highlighting architectural details and features.
Dichondra ‘Silver Falls’ spills over the wall, under the canopy of four crepe myrtle trees in the front garden of this home. A shallow bed of succulents on a reinforced and waterproofed garage roof is a clever solution to the sun glare that used to reflect into the house.
A pathway of steppers is a relaxed treatment where a solid path isn’t necessary. These steppers are mini pieces of the main paved area, formed in situ repeating the stone paving.
Creeping kidney weed (dichondra repens) is an effective groundcover in this front garden, preventing the growth of weed and adding a stunning visual alternative to grass. A mature tree such as this frangipani, adds instant age and character to this garden.
Trimmed hedges and young trees create a traditional and formal look in the front garden of this renovated Edwardian house. The rich greenery creates a striking contrast against the home’s red brick facade.
An inviting and easy-to-maintain garden is achieved using sculptural plants and white pebbles that also provide texture in this Moroccan-style home in Melbourne.
An array of lush plants set against a white weatherboard backdrop create a relaxed tropical entry.
While this lush front garden may not boast too many flowering plants, a rich mix of foliage in a range of different shades and silhouettes creates a visually stunning effect.
This Macmasters beach house looks perfect at home in its bush surrounds. The home’s cedar battens highlight the stunning banksia tree in the entryway.
If you’re after a low-maintenance sculptured garden, plants such as Westringia ‘Aussie Box’ and ‘Grey Box’, naturally grow into tight, round balls so you don’t have to clip them into shape.
Inspired by a childhood spent growing up in the bush, this nature-inspired home in Riverview features a front garden filled with shrubs and plants that wouldn’t seem out of place in the wild.
Striking seasonal plants means the look of this garden is constantly changing. The sculptural pruned hedges to the front complement the rigid form of the entryway, adding height and visual depth.
The crisp white exterior of this minimalist-style home makes a statement with a pair of potted trees standing on either side of the door.
Textural foliage serves as a counterbalance to the modern concrete steps. The slope by the steps is planted with miscanthus ‘Hiawatha’ and chalksticks groundcover.
WriterChristina Rae
WriterLucy Francis
Lucy Francis has a long-standing love affair with homes that began with a childhood spent picking out the nicest house on each street from the back of her parents' 2000s Subaru. Now, when not writing, she does an adult version - perusing real estate websites - and spends far too long browsing Facebook marketplace for 70s-style furniture.
