Low Maintenance Front Yard Landscaping: Planning Tips

Many property owners want a great front yard landscape that helps with curb appeal and makes the entire property attractive and practical, but some of us simply don’t have long hours to put into maintaining such an arrangement. Those in this position, however, are in luck: There are a huge range of low-maintenance landscaping features and approaches that can help you design and maintain a beautiful landscape with limited time available. 

At Wright Landscaping, we’re proud to serve as the top landscaping company around Salt Lake City and nearby areas like Layton and Kaysville, providing landscaping services that include design and build solutions, concrete services, sprinkler assistance and much more. Our landscapers regularly assist clients who have limited time available, but still want to maintain a great landscape year-round. Here are some basic tips and approaches across this two-part blog series. 

Advanced Planning

Like so many other elements of our lives, you can get a great deal of value and time-saving by simply planning ahead. There are several basic questions or topics to be considering as you go through initial planning:

• General landscape goals: What are your primary goals or desires for the landscape, and how do these compare to what you’re willing or able to put into it? 
• Space: How much space are you working with, and what’s the best way to use this space effectively given your time constraints?
• Features: What specific features are most important to you in a low-maintenance landscape? Are there any that can be combined or used together to save time?

Depending on the answers to these and other questions, you’ll be better prepared to choose the right landscaping features for your property. Our next several sections, and on into part two of our series, will go over some of the kinds of features you might consider for low-maintenance needs. 

Lawn Alternatives

Depending on your preferences and the climate in your area, one of the first elements to consider for low-maintenance landscaping is replacing traditional lawns with alternate options, such as:

• Artificial turf: A synthetic grass that requires no watering or mowing.
• Gravel: An affordable option that covers large areas and requires little maintenance.
• Xeriscaping: A garden design technique that utilizes drought-resistant plants to minimize water usage.

By incorporating these alternatives into your landscape design, you can significantly reduce the time and effort needed for lawn maintenance. Not only are these options easier to maintain, but they also require less water resources – making them a sustainable choice as well. 

Removing High-Maintenance Items

If you’ve just moved into a home with an existing landscape, or if you’ve already installed some high-maintenance features in your yard that you regret, it’s not too late to make changes. Consider removing or replacing these items with more low-maintenance alternatives. Some examples include:

• Invasive plants: These may look beautiful at first, but they often require significant time and effort to keep under control.
• Large trees: While trees are great for providing shade and adding visual interest, they can also be difficult and time-consuming to maintain.
• Water features: Ponds and fountains may add appeal to the landscape, but they also require regular cleaning and maintenance.

By eliminating these high-maintenance items, you’ll have more time and energy to focus on other aspects of your landscape design. Plus, you won’t have to worry about constant upkeep and potential damage from these features in the long run. 

In part two of our series, we’ll continue discussing more low-maintenance landscaping features and tips for those with limited time available. Stay tuned for our next blog post to learn more, and contact our team at Wright Landscaping today for any landscaping services around Utah!