14 Low-maintenance Front Yard Landscaping Ideas (& Other Considerations for Success)

Homeowners looking to save time and effort on yard maintenance can use the low-maintenance front yard landscaping ideas for inspiration to create a beautiful and functional outdoor space.

Low-maintenance Landscaping Design Ideas for Homeowners

Low-maintenance Landscape Planting Ideas

Greenery can bring any outdoor space to life, including your own front yard. Best of all, there are plenty of easy-care plants that can help make your yard pop.

Some of the best low-maintenance plants that do well in the St. Louis climate include:

1. Drought-tolerant plants, including succulents like Sedum (stonecrop) and Sempervivum tectorum (common houseleek, Hens and Chicks), which naturally require less watering.
2. Missouri native plants, including ornamental grasses like little bluestem or flowers like purple coneflower. Incorporating native plants attracts pollinators and makes garden beds better equipped to withstand the ever-changing St. Louis weather.
3. Perennial flowers like hostas (plantain lilies) and hydrangeas, as these vibrant flowers don't need to be planted every year like annuals while still offering significant curb appeal.
4. Evergreen trees like Thujas and boxwood, which typically generate less yard waste compared to deciduous trees.
5. Ground cover crops like creeping thyme and clover. These plants, if legal in your municipality and allowed by your HOA, are great replacements for water-intensive grass lawns. They also require only one or two mowing sessions a year, on average.
6. Climbing plants like Black-eyed Susans and Boston ivy for small front yards; these plants do quite well on their own so long as they have a trellis to scale.

Low-maintenance Hardscape Element Ideas

Greenery is just one way to enhance your outdoor space. Additional hardscape elements can complement your low-maintenance garden or front yard, including:

1. Rock gardens. Rock gardens make great focal points while also requiring no watering, no pruning, and no mulching on your end.
2. Natural stone walkways. Walkways made of river rock or flagstone pavers add year-round interest and texture to your space with minimal upkeep.
3. Faux wood porches and fences. Vinyl and PVC fences, decks, and porches require much less annual maintenance than wooden options do.

Lower-maintenance Water Feature Ideas

Other ways to enhance curb appeal and create a sense of tranquility and movement in your yard including adding lower-maintenance water features like:

1. Pondless waterfalls
2. Solar-powered, low-water fountains
3. Bubbling rocks

Low-maintenance Lighting Ideas

Other ways to highlight your yard with minimal effort on a low budget include:

1. Adding string lights along porch railings
2. Installing solar-powered lights along walkways and driveways

Other Front Yard Landscaping Considerations

Soil, Climate & Sunlight

The type of soil in your yard, the local climate, and how much sunlight your yard gets can all impact the viability of your low-maintenance landscaping ideas.

St. Louis has a combination of many types of soil, with much of it being silty topsoil and clay subsoil. The USDA has classified St. Louis City and St. Louis County as belonging to Hardiness Zones 7a and 6b, meaning average winter extreme temperatures range from -5°F to 5°F.

Taken together, the soil and climate of St. Louis means the following plants can do well in yards with full sun:

• Zinnias
• Butterfly milkweed
• Prairie blazing star

Plants that do well in the St. Louis climate and soil in partial sun/partial shade include:

• Lady fern
• Oakleaf hydrangeas
• Flowering dogwood

Plants that thrive in full shade yards in St. Louis include:

• Columbine
• Hostas
• Bigleaf hydrangeas

Variety

Variety is the spice of life, including your yard. Incorporating a variety of colors, textures, and shapes can add visual interest to your outdoor space.

Size of the Yard

How much space you have to work with can absolutely make planning your yard trickier… but not impossible. Small front yard landscaping plans can benefit from growing up (literally). Installing vertical gardens, trellises, and retaining walls can make it easier to create variety and add more texture to the yard with limited space.

Seasonal Touches

Seasonal touches to your yard, like adding pumpkins near the door in fall and putting out a holly wreath on the door in winter, are easy, low-budget ways to welcome each month with character.

How Do I Start Creating a Low-maintenance Yard?

Creating a beautiful and functional front yard landscape requires careful planning, consideration, and maintenance. Planting low-maintenance species and building with low-upkeep materials can help reduce upkeep and create a stress-free outdoor space.

When considering your low-maintenance options, contact Poynter Landscape Architecture & Construction. We have decades of experience crafting beautiful, low-maintenance front yard landscape designs for St. Louisans.