A few weeks ago we posted on Instagram about finally landscaping the front yard of our Cape Charles beach house. We wanted to expand on that post here: how we completed the job in just a few hours, what we planted, and how everything looks now, nearly two months later. It’s nice to have these photos on the blog so we can look back in a few years as things mature. The beach house gets a lot of sun, so the plants seem to be thriving so far.
Landscaping and gardening aren’t our strongest skills (we’ve relied on professionals for our home backyard), but we knew we could significantly improve the front yard with a simple plan. For context, this was the yard when we first bought the house:
Even this past winter the yard looked pretty bleak. The house itself had undergone big changes, but the yard still felt neglected. The photo below was taken after our contractor removed a rusted shed in the backyard and cleared out a massive patch of poison ivy. The vines were piled by the curb awaiting pickup—definitely improved the look, even if it felt a bit dramatic.
In April we learned that Virginia’s Historic Garden Week would bring more foot traffic through Cape Charles. Our house wasn’t on the tour, but people would be walking right past it because a neighboring corner house was included. That gave us a deadline to dress up the front yard. The space is small, so we were able to finish everything in one morning.
Not knowing if the local nursery would be open for the season (it closes in winter), we picked up several plants at Home Depot before the 2.5-hour drive to the Eastern Shore. Our typical approach when choosing plants is:
- Pick a range of colors, even subtle variations of green
- Combine different heights so the bed feels layered and full as plants grow
- Check plant tags to match conditions (full sun, part sun, etc.)
- Prefer perennials over annuals so plants return each year
- Choose mostly non-deciduous plants so the bed doesn’t look like dead sticks in winter
With that checklist, we kept things simple and bought what you see below:
- 3 sunshine ligustrum bushes (bright yellow-green, evergreen)
- 3 gardenias (darker evergreen leaves with white blooms)
- 3 purple creeping phlox (a colorful perennial groundcover)
- 2 large porch ferns (annuals we plan to replace each spring)
Buying the phlox felt especially fun because at home we can’t plant many flowering perennials—deer tend to eat them right away. Cape Charles doesn’t have that deer problem, so we chose purple phlox to contrast with the pink house, and a neighbor nearby already had a nice bed of creeping phlox which encouraged the choice.
We loaded everything into the car and drove down the next day.
We didn’t take many process photos—the usual when you’re racing the clock to get back before the kids are out of school—but the basic work was straightforward. I used a shovel to carve out swooping planting beds we’d sketched in the dirt on either side of the porch. The local nursery was open, so we grabbed a few additional plants:
- 2 taller camellia bushes to anchor each side of the house (evergreen and flowering)
- 2 more creeping phlox for the sidewalk ends
- several bags of mulch to finish the beds
We later decided the narrow mulch strips connecting the main beds to the front corners weren’t ideal, but we didn’t have time to redo them on that trip. Our expectations for the phlox were modest because we had no automatic watering system while we’re away, so we mostly hoped the plants would survive through Historic Garden Week.
Fast forward about two months: everything is doing surprisingly well. Not only did most plants survive, several are thriving. The mulch color has mellowed and blends better, so those small connecting strips look acceptable now.
The ligustrum and gardenias have already grown noticeably, and the gardenias have bloomed more than once. Many Instagram followers recommended deadheading the spent blooms, which helped encourage new flowers. We clipped the faded phlox blooms to encourage fresh growth as well.
One of the most exciting surprises is a resilient shrub on the left side of the house that has made a strong comeback. It was large when we bought the house but was trimmed back during construction and later cut to a stump during a utility search. Now it’s regenerating vigorously and should become a useful privacy anchor once it fills in. We’ll keep it pruned so it doesn’t get as tall as the front door again, but it’s great to have a hardy plant making a comeback without extra cost.
There’s more landscaping to do around the sides and back, but that’s on hold until we get a shed and patio installed, which in turn depends on progress elsewhere on the property. Meanwhile the front looks much less bare, and our neighbor’s hydrangeas have begun to bloom—large and colorful—and Sherry is considering adding some to the planting plan. We’ll see if that makes it onto the to-do list.
If you’re after more curb appeal and landscaping inspiration, explore projects in our Exterior Upgrades category. Some useful ideas include carving mulch beds, installing landscape lighting, cleaning outdoor furniture with a pressure washer, and installing a basic yard irrigation system—projects that can dramatically improve the look and function of an exterior space.