Decorating your front entryway with plants and flowers is an excellent way to make your home a more welcoming place.
Upgrading your exterior doors is an excellent way to enhance your home’s curb appeal, but once you’ve invested in a new door, you may want to investigate additional strategies for beautifying your home’s exterior.
Before you put your green thumb to work, there are a few aesthetic and practical considerations you should research. Not only do you want to choose the right plants and flowers, but you’ll also need to know how to arrange them to maximize their visual impact.
Climbing plants
Vines and ivy are excellent plants for framing your front entryway, and while they work to complement just about any architectural style, they tend to have the greatest effect on homes with stone or brick exteriors, particularly those with classical looks. Here are some popular varieties of climbing plants:
- Honeysuckle: These twining vines grow quickly with the guidance of even minimal support structures
- Sweet pea: If you want to add diagonal supports to help your climbing plants grow, the tendrils of the sweet pea plant make an excellent choice
- English ivy: These rootlet plants are ideal for doorways, as they rely on latching onto solid surfaces in order to climb
- Hydrangea vines: These vines produce beautiful foliage even in shady conditions, though they will not flower fully without sunlight
You’ll achieve the best effects if your home’s front facade gets plenty of sunshine during the growing season. However, if the front of your home doesn’t get a great deal of natural sun exposure, choose a hardier climbing plant variety, such as hydrangea vines or honeysuckle, which enjoy robust growth even with relatively small amounts of sunlight.
Planters
If you’d rather go with planters in lieu of vines or ivy, you should choose plants with sizes and shapes that will match the size and configuration of your exterior door.
Because of the sheer variety available to you if you opt to go this route, you should also carefully consider which plants will provide the best match in terms of colour and height. Creating some colour and height variations among your planters will create a denser, more appealing visual effect.
Again, though, be sure to match your plants and flowers with your home’s architectural style. Generally speaking, subdued arrangements will work best with classical architectural styles, such as Georgian, Edwardian and English cottage. On the other hand, bolder choices will provide a striking visual counterpoint if your home has a more modern exterior.
Bedding plants and flowers
If you’re going to add a flowerbed or garden to your front yard, there are three major things to think about:
- Choose plants that either complement or contrast with your home’s exterior to create the most arresting effect
- Consider the size and layout of your garden or flowerbed carefully — choose an area that gets maximum sun exposure, yet is close to your doorway
- Do you want to plant perennials that will bloom year after year, or annuals which will allow you to vary the look of your garden from season to season?
Applying these strategies can help you enhance the beauty of your new Amberwood door. By carefully choosing the right plants in the right arrangements, you can add a great deal of value to your home.
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