The Welcoming Garden: Designing Your Own Front Garden

by Gordon Hayward

Renowned garden designer Gordon Hayward's newest book focuses on one major creating front-yard gardens that will inspire and invite, transforming neighborhoods and encouraging people to create compelling spaces in which to relax, visit with neighbors, and enjoy a natural space. A front garden should welcome, enliven, enrich, and engage. Traditional "foundation planting"--that cliché that means glomming a few evergreen shrubs against the front foundation of the house and then running lawn from it down to the sidewalk or street--is a thing of the past. Hayward offers a step-by-step approach that starts by helping people find their "Big Idea," then guides the homeowner through the process of making all the smaller decisions. He also introduces fundamental garden-design principles, illustrated throughout the book with beautiful photography and line drawings, allowing homeowners to effectively apply the ideas no matter where or what type of climate they live.
Feast on these lush photos with an open mind, you'll come away with an endless supply of ideas.
Chapters
How to Look at Garden Images
The Driveway, Cars and the Front Garden
The Path to the Front Door
A Lot of Lawn, A Little Lawn?
Gardens Between House and Sidewalk
Fencing, Walls and Gates
Sitting Areas in the Front Garden
Gordon Hayward holds degrees from Wesleyan University and began gardening in the 1970s. In 1984, he turned to the work of garden design, lecturing, and writing full time. He consults throughout the Northeast for residential clients, their architects, and builders. He is the author of several books, including The Intimate Twenty Years and Four Seasons in Our Garden, Garden Inspiring Designs and Practical Projects, and Your House, Your A Foolproof Approach to Garden Design, as well as a variety of articles for Horticulture Magazine. Hayward is a certified member of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers.

Genres: Gardening

144 pages, Hardcover

First published December 27, 2005

Reviews

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really appreciated how this book taught you how to read a garden photo and mine it for useful ideas, even if it doesn’t seem immediately relevant: that’s unusual, and helpful. He went on to try and coach you through applying it to your own garden (somewhat effective?). He’s got an order of decisions to make it a process.

I was confused by the design map sketches. Did they correspond to the houses described? Were they possibilities to spark ideas for the reader? It never said. And they were scattered throughout. I did study them carefully to try and figure it out, so if that was the goal, well played, Hayward!

I also appreciated his photo discipline. Every picture in this book was intentional and served a definite purpose. He did a great job integrating pictures and text (except those mystery sketches).

[False · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well thought out book for the designing of urban gardens, factoring in the house, the driveway, the curb or a wall or fence. My biggest fault finder with the book is that it doesn't not include a yard with heavy trees. I studied each picture carefully, and almost (if not all) of the houses and gardens featured had a full flood of sunlight coming into the yard. One could say "a necessity." Nothing much either about the rebuilding of the soil, or creating structures to hold the soil to prevent annual erosion. Still. Ideas tucked in here and there in terms of what you do with your yard and what it says about the house, in terms of harmony.

[Tatjana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really interesting book with gorgeous pictures and practical tips.
I was especially appreciative of the gardens shown from the Austin area (basically near my home). The explanations and concepts are clear. The practical tips are such that one is likely to not get overwhelmed with one huge project... in other words, you needn't do a whole garden makeover á la HGTV shows, but rather start somewhere and work outward. This particular example was quite helpful to me. I'm easily overwhelmed, since my country garden only vaguely resembles a garden at all. It's more like a jumbled blanket with completely inappropriate plantings (large bushes and shrubs planted *in front of windows*). This book gave me a place to move from.

I think blue is an excellent colour for a door. Don't you>

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a handy little book to help you sort out what you want in you front yard. Granted I am using it for my back yard since it is small and shabby so I would say it is flexible for both especially for those of us living in urban environments

My biggest complaint is that often you did not see the entire yard which is fine but then it has these diagrams you would think they coincide. Nope they don't so that really sucks BUT I did figure out the best way for me to plan out my space which I am looking forward to once the snow melts.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Filled with nearly one hundred photos of amazing front yards, Hayward's premise is that our front yard's should serve a purpose by welcoming us home or welcoming guests to our home. I loved this book because it's beautiful (with nearly 100 photos of amazing front yard's) and because the author does a great job teaching principles of design through the example gardens. My only wish was that he had included gardens that had cost less than, say, $20,000 to build and grow.

['stina]

Christmas 2006 present from mama.