How to Landscape Front Porch Steps

Landscape porch steps for a more welcoming entry.

Turn your home's porch steps into a show place that is easy to maintain and inviting to visitors. Whether the porch is a roomy old Victorian or a no-nonsense utilitarian platform that gets you to the front door, the steps are theater waiting to happen. A few plants and pots, a good watering can and a knowledgeable local nursery staff are almost all you need.

Things You'll Need

• Matched flower pots, 2 per step
• Matching saucers, one for each pot
• Small bag of gravel or river rock
• 2 extra flower pots in plant stands (optional)
• 2 hanging baskets for flowers (optional)
• Potting soil, enough for all pots
• Hand trowel for planting flowers
• Boulders to set on ground next to steps (a few for each side)
• 2 trellises for corners next to porch steps (optional)
• Spade
• Twine to tie plants to trellises (optional)
• Flowering plants for all pots and hanging baskets
• 2 evergreen plants or small trees
• Evergreen shrubs for space next to both sides of steps
• Sunflower seeds or seedlings (optional)
• Flowering vine seedlings (optional)
• Ground cover seeds or seedlings
• Watering can

Instructions

Turning the porch steps into a garden

1. Set matched pots at the edges of every step. Use the style of the entry to determine the most attractive pot---"aged" terra cotta looks good as does faux limestone. To protect steps from staining and water damage, place the pots on a thin layer of gravel or small stones in a matching saucer.

2. If the porch steps have even a slight overhang or if the porch roof comes to the steps, hang baskets, one at each side of the top of the steps, for more flowers. If there is no place to hang baskets, set a plant stand next to the top step on each side and fill it with a pot to match the ones on the steps.

3. Next to the porch steps, on each side, place a low trellis in the corner, leave room for planting some shrubs, and then make a rock garden from a few beautiful boulders that will look good when they are bare in winter.

4. Now you're ready for the plants. Use a good potting soil for the containers. Fill them with bright, long lasting flowering plants like impatiens or zinnias. Plant a small evergreen bush or tree in the two containers on the top steps. Fill the hanging basket or the plant stand with a trailing flower. Choose one that matches the color of the flowers on the steps.

5. Plant tall sunflowers in the right angle formed by the steps and the house. Or, if sunflowers won't thrive there in the available light, try climbing snapdragon or a trumpet vine and train it up the trellis. In front of the tall flowers, plant evergreen shrubs like boxwood and keep them trimmed in summer to reveal the flowers behind them. Sow flowering ground cover among the boulders so that they are overgrown in summer and fall. Ice plant flowers for a long time---it has vivid green leaves and bright blossoms.

6. When the weather turns cold, store most of the step flower pots and hanging baskets or plant stands in the garage. Set pumpkins on the steps in place of the pots. In winter, replace the pumpkins with small evergreen bushes or holiday decorations. The evergreen "sentinels" in pots on the top step will continue to flank the entry year round.

7. Next to the steps, let the evergreen shrubs fill out to mask the absence of sunflowers or flowering vines in the corners. The bare boulders are a winter rock garden in front of them.

References

• Front Porch Ideas
• Plant Care: Front Yard Landscaping