Garden Bloggers’ Design Workshop – Front-Yard Gardens

Great topic, Nan. Lots of leeway here. Thanks too for showing us the future topics. I have been waiting on the pond post, feeling you would eventually pick that. Glad we have a whole month to work on this. Time to put the thinking cap on, complete with freak flag on top! (Sorry David Crosby)
Frances

You don’t need to wait for your pond post, Frances. Put it up any time you want, and then we’ll add a link to remind readers of it once it’s the “official” topic of the month.
-Nan

Gardening in the back yard is my favorite. Gives me time to think and be a little creative, some ideas look great others will have to be well say we say pondered on a bit. The front yard is full of traffic and neighbors always stopping by and talking to you. By the time you get it explained to one then another shows up. In my opinion when a person is gardening they should be left alone to enjoy and visualize their projects.

You’ve got it, Jeff. Perhaps a “Do Not Disturb the Gardener” sign would work? Nah, people never read signs anyway. If you have enough space to keep you happy in the back yard, that’s ideal.
-Nan

oh my goodness, nan! This is such an awesome topic! as usual I’ll be reading more than contributing to this topic. if all goes well, tomorrow all my “poodle shrubs” will be gone from my front garden and I’ll be starting with a clean slate for my front yard garden. I can’t wait to read all the great contributions to this topic!

Hi Gina! I remember you did a whole lot of work last year, so it’ll be very exciting to see how your front yard develops this season.
-Nan

As you’ve noticed, Nan, nearly every post I make involves my front-yard, lawnless garden. I spend more time in the front than in back, and I try very hard to stand up whenever a car goes by. I’ll post about why I made my garden out front.

I’m looking forward to reading that, Pam. We’ll have to make sure we get the links to your other front-yard posts too.
-Nan

Living in an apartment we don’t have a front yard but I have turned the front window of my office building into a growing area and it’s gotten quite a lot of attention. Not all of it is positive but it made me feel really good was someone told me they were inspired by it and asked if they could trade seeds 🙂

Hey, that’s great! Just one response like that can make up for several of those less-than-positive comments.
-Nan

Heh… I don’t bother standing up, but I do try to make sure that my own fanny is pointed back toward the house instead of down the street or toward the sidewalk! 🙂

I do hate some of the nosy, annoying questions, but I actually like the opportunity to be social in the front yard. Must be something about having gardened (and kind-of lived) in a newer “subdivision” where people simply didn’t interact. At all.

Plus there’s the added challenge of the teenage punk down the street. I swear this is the summer my smile and hello will make him crack a smile! Or at least soften the scowl! lol.

Good luck with that, Kim. I hope you succeed this year!
-Nan

I am looking forward to this. Our house, I have an apartment in my son’s house, is on a corner and the yard can be seen from either street as it is completely open. My garden faces onto the side street and is next to the parking place for our cars, thus the main path taken by my son’s family goes past my porch with my garden on to one side. Walkers-by are generally very friendly and complimentary. Occasionally someone gazes right over the fence commenting
while I sit unobserved on my bench under the fir tree. As I am an inveterate gazer at other people’s gardens, I can’t complain when it happens to me.
At present the garden is still 90% under snow, I am hoping that by the end of April I will be able to see it again.

We’ll send you some mild weather to melt that snow so you can go back to enjoying your garden soon, Sandra.
-Nan

The majority of my gardens are in our huge front yard because our farm house is set back from the road. We’ve occasionally had people stop to admire and compliment, which is always a pleasure. Thankfully no negative comments yet. Our neighbors are far enough away to give us plenty of privacy, so I’m happy to say it’s peaceful in my garden.
I always shake my head in disbelief at the “fat fannies”, and agree that the phenomenon is inexplicable.
We do sometimes find ourselves in awkward positions in the garden 🙂
I try to point my own fanny away from the road or down at the ground whenever a car passes by.
But as long as we’re having fun it doesn’t really matter, does it?

No, you’re right, though it’s a lot easier to have fun when you can garden in peace!
-Nan

My front garden is the north side, so I’m not there much, but will be this year cuz I gots me some ideas. Whenever I am out there, I’m furiously planting, dirty, nasty, and wanting to be alone. I make sure before I head out that I see no other neighbors. And then they suddenly come walking by with their dogs and kids (both on leashes) pretending not to look at me, smile, hollar something, and pretend none of that just happened. Then, when I DO want to talk to someone, throw the side gate open to the main back garden, hoping to entice / ensnare / impress a passerby (it works for me), I get nothing. I feel better now. Thanks, Nan. I have to go put out my fat fanny.

Ok, now I officially regret bringing up the subject of fannies and henceforth will resist the urge to respond on that subject, no matter how much I’m tempted to.

Aw, shoot, just one more: Considering how you feel about your neighbors’ holiday decorations, Benjamin, maybe you should consider putting up a Santa fanny instead. That’d certainly start some conversations in your neighborhood, though more likely *about* you, not *with* you..
-Nan

I didn’t write this post specifically about front yard gardens but the accompanying photos featured three different front yard gardens in my neighborhood–and it seemed to strike a chord with my readers. So, I thought I’d share it with you.

I’d like to post about my front yard garden…if I can make it through Spring Fling maybe I’ll have some time next week.

Thanks for sharing the link, mss. You have plenty of time to post about your own front yard, so make the most of the Spring Fling!
-Nan

I garden right out front, but because I live on a very fast, busy highway, I never get people walking by. I usually get horns honked, but by the time I turn around their already a mile down the highway. My goal for my gardens is to help slow down the traffic.

Remembering how busy your road is, Cathy, I wish you luck with your goal! The trick is finding a way to slow down the cars a bit without inspiring sudden stops in the process.
-Nan

I’m new to blogging and to your blog, though I don’t know how I missed it. Thank you for all the helpful links–I could spend the next hour checking out some of the articles referenced here. I’m looking forward to posting about my front yard, but mostly to reading all the other posts and getting some new ideas.

How exciting – another new reader! Welcome, Rose. I hope you’ll find lots of inspiration and share some of your experiences with us too.
-Nan

Sounds great. I intend to get in on this bloggers workshop. I thought of covering foundation plants. and posts.

Terrific, Curtis. We’ll look forward to getting the links to your posts (especially your post about posts).
-Nan

I’m late coming to the discussion, on account of having work coming out my ears, but to confirm–those hideous plywood cutouts of womens bloomers AREN’T a Penn. phenom…they’re here too, along with cows, little boys peeing, and assorted other tackinesses. Not my thing, although sometimes they amuse me in a twisted way.
This will be a fun topic. Having a rural garden with some privacy in the front, I don’t have to deal with the idiocies of comments from passersby (plus I wear my iPod often when I’m gardening –a little Bach is good for the Back…).

Oh, so sorry to hear that you’re subjected to them too, Jodi. I must confess to having a few cutouts of my own, but they’re simple black silhouttes of dogs, to go with the faux doghouse that protects the cover of my well.

I’ve started a big new project that requires me to work barely 20 feet from the road out front. I’ve been polishing my skills at not making eye contact with passing drivers, and I have escape plans for when I see walkers heading my way (it’s a good time to take stuff to the compost pile, for instance.)
-Nan

I wrote about the big problem with my front-yard garden this evening. It’s here: http://www.remarc.com/craig/?p=370

Thanks, Craig! I’ll be over to see what you’ve been up to.
-Nan

My sister (and co-gardener) and I are new to gardening blogs, so we’ve only just discovered this fabulous site! We felt we had to contribute to this Design Workshop because we’ve done something a bit unusual with our front yard — planted a vegetable garden. You can read about it here:

http://ipbeats.wordpress.com/2008/04/21/front-yard-design/

Welcome to GGW! You’re setting a great example for your neighbors. Thanks for sharing the link!
-Nan

Hi, Nan!
It’s a little disjointed. I seem to have taken a lot of close-up photos last year… my first year blogging AND having a digital camera. 😉 Anyway, it’s “up!”
http://yardisgreen.blogspot.com/2008/04/garden-bloggers-design-workshop-front.html

You did a great job on your post, Shady. Your explanations of the views were very clear and easy to follow, so it was like having a private tour of your front yard!
-Nan

I finally put something up for the workshop. I hope I’ll get another post up in the next day or so about the shade garden I put in. But here’s the one about our front sidewalk garden and the tulips: http://thehomegarden.blogspot.com/2008/04/tulips-in-front-garden.html

I’m definitely going to have to do something for the topic “Coping with Slopes”!

Great, Dave! I caught both of your posts for the end-of-the-month wrap-up. Many thanks!
-Nan

This sounds really good. Nice views on front yard gardening. I often hear people focus on the front yard because that is what the public sees. How sad, as the back yard is where we usually live. I try to focus on it all but want my front state highway to disappear! Gardening is finally working. I may be too late for this design but will try to get on board with the other ones.

Hi Tina! If the mood strikes you to post about your front yard later on, leave a link here so we can find you. These wrap-up posts get plenty of visits from readers looking for ideas and inspiration.
-Nan