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Tom Mannion
Featured Member for January 2006

Designing a Front Garden

I love designing front yards. I love the idea that a client can use the front yard as a place to garden, to relax, to recreate, and to be. There are two principles I follow when designing the front garden: I want the front lawn to have a shape, and for the front walk to be wide, six to eight feet wide. And then I layer and mass plants to provide sweeps of texture and color and seasonal interest.

I always begin a front yard design by giving the lawn a shape. If there is to be no lawn, I give a ground cover (or the pavement of the reception terrace) an interesting shape. Immediately, a space is created. If instead, the shape of the plant beds is defined first and the lawn allowed to simply connect the beds, no space is created; space is simply filled. Magazine articles often suggest homeowners begin their landscaping by laying out a garden hose to define their plant beds. Reversing this, using a hose to define the lawn, making everything else beds, is much more effective.

Slicing through, or next to the shaped lawn, the wide front walk is a delight to use. It is not, however, a delight to photograph. We are so conditioned by romantic images of lush, layered plants cascading onto narrow or even invisible paths that photographing a large sweep of pavement, and making it attractive, becomes a challenge. I don't want the walk to look as oppressive as a helipad, nor as massive as a circular driveway. But strolling up a beautifully designed wide walk is a grand experience whether the house is modest or huge, whether the lot is small or enormous. It works almost everywhere, and here in Arlington, Virginia is seen almost nowhere.

Finally, the plants: layers, masses, sweeps, no visible mulch during the growing season, just texture meeting texture and seasonal bursts of color. What fun.

More information on Tom Mannion Landscape Design is at: www.tommannionlandscapedesign.com

About the Designer

Tom started his own business in 1989 after working in the Green Industry for 15 years. He has a BA (political science) from Bucknell University and is a graduate of the George Washington University Landscape Design Program. Six of his gardens can be seen in the new book "Before and After Garden Makeovers" due to be published this month by Sunset Books.

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Certified Members seeking to be profiled should send before and after photos with SHORT design intent statement to:

Nicolien van Schouwen
European Garden Design
7403 Maple Avenue
Takoma Park, MD 20912
Email:

* PHOTOS SHOULD BE CLEAR COLOR PRINTS OR JPEG COMPRESSED FILES