Front yard design tips desired

A "rock garden" is not the same as a "garden full of stones".

No, there are also beautiful rock gardens that bloom and are full of life. Unfortunately, you don't see them anymore. Many simply have decorative gravel or something else and in between 5 tufts of grass or 3 bamboos.

Rock deserts indeed.

I would create a meadow there (Magerwiese, Blumenwiese), not a lawn. You can let it "go wild".

Perennial bed with ground cover, prairie garden, rock garden (real ones and not gravel with 3 green bushes).

With the gravel with 3 green bushes, you have the problem of keeping it clean. Leaves, needles, pollen, street dirt. Especially the latter should not be underestimated on the main street.

I might also replace the hedge. It depends on how healthy it still is. Either you take Thuja again or you take ones that are declared as bird protection hedges, bee hedges, four seasons hedges. Then something always blooms.
Consider where you want a wall or a fence because of children and/or dog or where open.

My "front garden" will get an approximately 80 sqm prairie bed. On the one hand, the soil is quite stony, on the other hand, something is always blooming and in about 2 years it should be quite low maintenance. Pruning and thinning in spring and autumn, no watering, no weeding.
I will report whether it works. I hope I can create it this year.

My "front garden" is getting a prairie bed of about 80 sq m. On the one hand, the soil is quite stony, on the other hand, something is always blooming and in about 2 years they should be quite low-maintenance. Pruning and thinning in spring and autumn, no watering, no weeding.

What exactly is a prairie bed? Also a poor meadow - just a few rocks in between?

I'm also currently setting up my poor meadow in the front garden. But it's only (wait... 3 circles inside each other - circle area - Pi / 4 x d²) a modest 12.5 sq m. I've only removed 1/3 of the lawn so far. Since then the rain has been interrupting me and it hasn't progressed. But it’s supposed to be nice on Saturday... :)

Whether it works I will report. I hope I can set it up this year.

Oh yes, please. I'm curious, too, if it will work out for me.

Does it just look like that, or is the soil actually that sandy?
There is a bit, yes. The boxwood(?) has probably been maintained for a few years. The shrubs at the front right look somewhat pitiful.
Sandy, of course, calls for a poor meadow with a rock garden to go with it.

If there's a lot of energy, I would remove the shrubs on the right. Put a corner bench in the corner and in front of it a small pond or birdbath surrounded by stones. Along the right property boundary, a dry stone wall. Let the sandy soil between the house and the right property boundary grow wild with poor meadow seeds. Along the path, a few old small lanterns as path lights....

Yes. The soil is completely sandy. Nice asparagus soil :)
Exactly. They are boxwoods. The shrubs didn’t survive last summer. That’s why it looks so bare.
And because we don’t want to renew anything since it will be changed anyway.

However, wild growth should not happen in that spot. Because we want to do that out back in the meadow. My mother lives in the house with us and the front garden MUST look nice and not wild.
But personally, it wouldn’t be my thing either in the entrance area. I also think it doesn’t quite fit with us.

We have a garden pond in another place.
I think I have to present our entire property here and you can have a go at it :)

Thanks for the ideas!

My mother lives in the house too, and the front yard MUST look nice and not wild.

Great! Now we already know who takes care of the front yard. :D