DIY Network

Reclaim Your Front Lawn

Master gardener Maureen Gilmer, host of Weekend Gardening, provides tips on creating privacy for the front lawn with landscaping.

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	The long hedge at far right runs along the roadside to add privacy and separation and to reduce noise. (All photos courtesy of Maureen Gilmer)
	Shorter hedges just four or five feet tall can provide excellent privacy for those seated in the space enclosed.
	Creation of a front courtyard allows you a second point of entry into the property with a more artistic gateway.
	A freestanding gate can be flanked by dense hedges to create a perfect privacy screen for this front yard.

How to use landscaping to create some privacy

By Maureen Gilmer

June 18, 2007 — A lawn or front yard in the early American neighborhood meant you had money to burn. In the 19th century, only the wealthy could sacrifice area for the grounds around a house.

But by the next century, larger front lawns began to emerge and claimed more and more property. This benefited the city streetscape rather than the homeowner. Time and money spent on maintenance might have impressed the neighbors, but did little else.

Today's homeowner is taking a fresh look at the front yard, as lots grow smaller, prices higher and young families have more children. The need to reclaim this streetside public area is no longer a luxury, but a necessity.

The chief goal is to somehow enclose this space so users enjoy privacy from the street. The problem is building and planning codes were set up to ensure that front yards remained open and public.

Most cities share similar criteria that limits what can be done in front of your house. The front wall face closest to the street becomes the dividing line between public and private space. This is often, but not always the face of the garage, which may protrude farther toward the street than the rest of the building.

Behind that front wall you can build almost anything you want. In front of it, you might not be able to build a fence, or it might not be allowed to exceed three feet tall.

Visit your city building department for local guidelines on front-yard improvements. This will define the limits of any constructed elements that could provide you with enclosure. Corner lots might be subject to additional limitations on fences and hedges. This is because of diagonal visibility known as the cone of vision, which is vital to safe traffic in the intersection.

If you want to create enclosure for a front entry garden, courtyard or outdoor living space, you could have just two choices.

The first is to apply for a variance with the city for a taller fence, and chances of getting one are poor. If you design an extension to the facade of your house that includes a walled entry courtyard, that may qualify as a building remodel. The courtyard wall may act like a fence, but it's been reclassified as a building wall and thus, exempt.

That's expensive, requires an architect and the process of submitting plans to the city, but it might be worth it for some homes. For example, if the front is your east exposure and you've longed for a private place to sip morning coffee in the sun, a front courtyard with privacy is essential.

A lower-cost solution is hedges. Building codes don't often include plant materials as constructed improvements. In recent years, hedges have popped up all over American cities as homeowners reclaim their front yards.

Slower to mature and more demanding of area than a fence or wall, hedges are the poor woman's alternative. Ideally, an evergreen hedge will give you privacy in every season. But where severe weather limits choices, a dense deciduous one makes a viable alternative.

Hedges are so effective that they have been planted around freestanding gates. The foliage is pruned into a perfectly shaped opening that gives the gate a very natural look. If the gate is solid wood or transparent wrought iron, it provides a secondary entry to your home, like a garden foyer.

Consult your local garden center for a rundown on hedging material hardy and long lived in your climate. Planting the shrubs closer than normal plus frequent clipping helps to fill in quicker and encourage taller growth.

If you can't afford to donate your front yard to the public domain, go proactive to reclaim this common ground. Though it will be a considerable undertaking, the results will yield an expanded homesite that's 100 percent usable.

(Maureen Gilmer is a horticulturist and host of Weekend Gardening. E-mail her at mo@moplants.com. For more information, visit: www.moplants.com. Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.)

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