Front Garden Design, Ongar, Essex
A welcoming front garden designed to enhance the entrance and soften the space
This front garden project in Ongar, Essex focused on designing a new driveway layout and planting scheme to create a more welcoming and attractive entrance to the property.
With a large amount of hard landscaping required at the front of the house, the driveway was carefully designed to provide practical parking while still allowing space for generous planting. A resin surface was chosen for the main driveway area, with block paving incorporated to create contrast and add texture and visual interest to the hard landscaping.
The planting scheme was then designed to soften the appearance of the driveway, bringing balance, colour and seasonal interest to the space while ensuring the entrance remained clean, structured and easy to maintain throughout the year.
The Brief
The clients wanted the front garden to feel softer, greener and more welcoming following the installation of the new resin driveway.
As the driveway and surrounding hard landscaping occupied a large proportion of the frontage, the planting needed to work hard to soften the overall appearance of the space and help create a more balanced relationship between the house, driveway and entrance pathway.
During the consultation process, we explored the clients’ preferences in detail, including colour palettes, fragrance, seasonal interest and the desired level of maintenance.
The clients particularly loved roses, so it was important to incorporate them into the scheme in a way that felt elegant, timeless and well suited to the overall style of the property.
The Design
The design focused on creating a series of carefully positioned planting areas that would soften the edges of the driveway and frame the entrance to the house more naturally.
Layered planting was used to break up the harder lines of the resin driveway, helping the space feel greener and more visually connected to the surrounding landscape.
Structural planting was introduced to provide year-round form and definition, while softer perennials and flowering plants helped create a more relaxed and welcoming atmosphere throughout the frontage.
The overall layout was designed to ensure the planting worked harmoniously with the driveway and pathways, creating a natural transition between the built elements and the softer planting areas.
Planting
The planting palette was designed to balance softness, structure and seasonal interest while remaining manageable and relatively low maintenance over time.
Fragrant planting was incorporated near the entrance pathway to enhance the sensory experience of arriving home, while layered planting combinations help create texture and colour throughout the seasons.
As the clients particularly loved roses, I chose to incorporate Rosa ‘Queen of Sweden’ within the scheme. With its soft blush-pink flowers, elegant upright growth and beautiful fragrance, it works particularly well within the softer romantic planting palette while still feeling refined and structured.
A mix of shrubs, perennials and evergreen planting helps ensure the frontage remains attractive throughout the year while softening the harder landscaping introduced by the driveway.
The Outcome
The finished design creates a welcoming and well-balanced front garden that softens the appearance of the resin driveway while enhancing the overall character of the property.
The layered planting introduces colour, texture and seasonal interest throughout the year, helping the entrance feel softer, greener and far more connected to the house.
By balancing structural planting with softer flowering combinations, the frontage now feels inviting, elegant and much more visually cohesive.
We have recently returned to the garden to extend the planting scheme further by introducing an additional large planting area to the right-hand side of the driveway. This area was designed to help soften and disguise the inspection cover within the space while continuing the overall planting language across the frontage.
For an immediate sense of maturity and impact, large rootball planting and established hydrangeas were incorporated alongside evergreen grasses and layered supporting planting to help tie the scheme together naturally. The additional planting has helped soften the harder edges of the driveway even further while bringing greater depth and balance to the overall frontage.
“Front gardens play an important role in shaping the first impression of a home, and thoughtful planting can transform that moment of arrival. One of my favourite roses to include in schemes like this is Queen of Sweden. Its elegant upright form and soft blush-pink blooms bring gentle structure to the planting, while the fragrance is light and fresh with delicate myrrh notes. It’s the kind of rose that quietly elevates a space, offering a subtle perfume as you pass by without dominating the garden.”
Zoe Kilbride, Garden Designer
