Modern Farmhouse Landscape Design

Are you looking for modern farmhouse landscape design ideas? I have the perfect solution that will make your yard stand out!

Want a stunning addition to your yard? Consider large, metal or iron flower boxes that you can fill with whatever your heart desires along with steel retaining walls.

When we hired a landscaping company we knew we wanted to have these steel retaining walls and large boxes in our front yard, close to the house, to add lots of color and a welcoming entry.

The exterior of our home is a modern farmhouse that includes a dark metal roof on part of it. To tie in our landscaping with the feel of our exterior elevation we opted to have our small retaining walls in the front of our house made out of metal instead of the typical stone or boulders.

To match the iron details in the yard we opted for four of these large steel boxes that are 36″ x 36″.

They are so large that I wasn’t sure what to do with them at first.  I knew I wanted a tree in one, surrounded by delicate flowers at the base and then flowers in all of the others, but I wasn’t sure what that would look like.

I knew I didn’t want to have to water them every day myself so we made sure that the landscapers added irrigation hose to each box.  I learned how to add drip lines by watching YouTube so when I added plants I could run drips to them individually.

It is really easy and inexpensive and you can do it, too.

We went to the nursery and picked out all kinds of flowers and then picked up black mulch at Home Depot.  I have never had so many flowers in my yard at once so I chose them based off of size and color.

I thought I would plant them all and see what I liked once the plants had an entire summer to bloom and grow, go through a winter and then had a chance to come back in the Spring.  So we did that.

I admittedly don’t have a green thumb so if something hangs in there with me, I will keep it.  Although some of them that I ended up not liking very much in the boxes I pulled out before the Fall.  I was also surprised to see plants come back, unable to be killed by the winter or me.

Candytuft

Lupine

Goldilocks Rocks

Here is a list of what we planted, what happened to them and my thoughts on them.

• Shasta Daisy Betsy – beautiful white daisies, very hearty, grows quickly, cut down completely in Fall, comes back in the Spring
• ‘Firewitch’ Garden Pinks Dianthus and Red Dianthus – beautiful pop of hot pink or red, comes back in the Spring, have to cut off the all dead areas for it to look good when it comes back
• Goldilocks Rocks –  photo above, looks “stringy” after a while, pulled it out in the Fall and didn’t add them back
• Candytuft – photo above, didn’t look great after a while, pulled it out in Fall and didn’t add them back in
• Helichrysum White Licorice – added to the boxes as vines to grow down the front, very pretty at first, stems grew hard and stiff and they took over the whole box, suffocating the rest of the plants, pulled it out in Fall and didn’t replant them
• Manhattan Lights Lupine – planted in the center of boxes, very pretty when blooming, only have the one bloom and once it is gone, it doesn’t look that nice, came back in Spring, waiting for it to bloom to see if I will keep it
• Little Trudy Catmint – you can’t kill this stuff, came back in full force in Spring, looks beautiful, attracts lots of bees so maybe not the best for front door area, looks pretty when breeze is blowing
• Gazania White – looks like a daisy, didn’t look good for very long, pulled out in Fall.

This year I only had to buy a few flowers to fill in.  So much came back from the previous year. I added yellow Marigolds for a pop of yellow against the dark color of the boxes and black mulch and the purple and white flowers and white house. They are so pretty. I also bought ivy to trail down the front of the boxes but they are growing a little slower than I thought they would. If they don’t come back after this winter I will probably opt for potato vine next year because they grow so fast and are a pretty shade of green.

The tree we originally planted died so it was replaced with a Magnolia Tree.  It blooms a pretty and delicate pink flower and it filled in nicely in the Spring. I didn’t think it was going to make it during the winter, but it is actually pretty hardy.

The boxes had to be commissioned by the landscaper. A local guy made them and they really are beautiful. He takes one piece of steel, cuts it and then welds together the sides to create a box.  The retaining walls are also made out of the same steel installed with large, industrial bolts. We have 5 more long boxes in our back yard with grasses and bamboo (I know, in Colorado? Yes!) and a water feature made of the same steel.

Everything matches and looks modern, symmetrical and clean. And I love that!

See how I decorated it for 4th of July! So cute!

I would love to hear what your favorite flowers are and all tips for taking care of flowers in a box or pot in the comments for me! I need all the help I can get over here.  Happy planting!