If your street could use an extra dose of greenery, why not create a façade garden with perennials: from green foliage plants to exuberantly flowering hollyhocks, geraniums and lavender. How is that for a nice welcome home!

Step-by-step plan for a façade garden

Creating a façade garden is ever so simple. Remove a row of pavement tiles along the façade of your house and replace the sand with proper garden soil. Next, it’s time to start planting! Choose perennials, supplemented with naturalising bulbs if desired. These plants are strong and will grow back every year, so you can enjoy them for years to come.

Façade garden: which perennials to choose?

Choose perennials that suit the conditions in your garden: think about sun, partial shade or shade. Hollyhock (Alcea rosea), for example, is a real sun worshipper (and a façade garden classic), while hostas, green carpet (Pachysandra) and barrenwort (Epimedium) will thrive in the shade. Visit www.perennialpower.nl for more information about perennials.

Façade greenery: from lush to minimalist

In a façade garden, you can plant a surprising number of perennials. For example, you can go all out with a mix of summer and autumn flowering perennials, leafy plants, ornamental grasses and evergreens. In this way, you can create a living garden that looks attractive throughout the seasons. If you prefer a minimalist look, you could choose a single colour or plant variety, such as lavender (Lavandula).

Climate resistant & even more advantages

With façade greenery, you will not only make your neighbourhood attractive, but also climate-resistant. Rainwater can slowly permeate the soil between the plants (preventing flooding in case of downpours). The cooling effect of greenery is lovely on hot summer days. Greenery also benefits the atmosphere in the neighbourhood; it makes people more sociable. Last but not least, you will boost biodiversity: butterflies and bumblebees will quickly find their way to new urban greenery.

Tips & ideas

• Check with the municipality whether any rules are in force for façade gardens.
• A garage or shed along the street also benefits from a little façade greenery.
• Tell your neighbours about your façade garden plans. Chances are they will want to join in, so your neighbourhood will become even greener, more sociable, and more climate resistant!

Visit www.perennialpower.nl for more information about perennials.