Turning a Bare Front Yard Into a Cottage Garden (Without Flooding Your Basement)

The Scenario

A homeowner recently asked:

I just bought my first home and the sellers ripped out all the bushes for 'regrading.' I want a cottage-style garden with hydrangeas and peonies in Zone 7a, but I have no idea where to start.

The GardenOwl Diagnosis

The Assessment

Congratulations on the new house. You have a classic "blank slate" situation here: a lovely stone facade, a sunroom that begs for a view, and a patch of dirt that the sellers claim they fixed. You want the romance of a cottage garden—Hydrangeas, Peonies, the works—but right now, all you have is a muddy strip of land. This seriously hurts your curb appeal and likely points to The High-Grade Infiltration Syndrome, despite the convenient zone 7a zip code.

The Trap: The "Regrading" Myth and the Soldier Row

First, let's talk about that seller's disclosure. When a seller says they removed bushes for "regrading," 9 times out of 10, they just ripped out the overgrown yews that were hiding the foundation and threw down some grass seed. They rarely actually fix the slope.

If you rush in and plant a garden bed right now, you might be creating a dam that traps water against your limestone foundation. That leads to wet basements and mold.

The second trap is design-related. Most rookies take their new plants and march them in a straight line across the front of the house. We call this a "Soldier Row." It looks rigid, boring, and highlights every imperfection in the architecture. A cottage garden is about abundance and curves, not straight lines.

The Solution: A Layered Cottage Foundation

To get that soft, romantic look that doesn't turn into a maintenance nightmare, you need to follow a specific order of operations.

1. The Water Test (Do This First)

Before you buy a single Peony, wait for the next heavy rain. Go outside with an umbrella and watch the water. Is it moving away from the house? Or is it pooling where those bushes used to be? If it's pooling, you need to add soil to slope the grade away from the house before you mulch. Proper drainage is the unsexy part of gardening that saves you thousands of dollars later.

2. Establish the "Bones" (Winter Structure)

You mentioned wanting flowers, which is great, but flowers die back in winter. If you only plant Hydrangeas and Peonies, your front yard will look like a stick-filled mud pit from November to March. You need evergreens.

Since you are in Zone 7a, skip the boring Boxwoods and look at Inkberry Holly (Ilex glabra). It’s a native evergreen that looks similar to boxwood but is hardier and supports local pollinators. Plant these in the back row, closest to the house (but not touching it!). They provide a dark green backdrop that makes your flowers pop in summer and keeps the house looking dressed in winter. For more on selecting the right plants for your region, check the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map.

3. The Stars: Hydrangeas and Peonies

Now for the fun part. Zone 7a is the sweet spot for these plants.

• The Peonies: Plant these in front of your evergreens. Peonies need full sun to bloom well. If they are shaded by the house or the evergreens, you'll get great leaves and zero flowers.
• The Hydrangeas: Place these on the corners or in groups of three to anchor the edges of the house.

Critical Rule: Keep all plant foliage at least 12 to 18 inches away from your stone wall. This allows airflow, preventing mold on the house and fungal diseases on the plants. If you ignore this, you'll end up with the same problems described in our article on why your brick wall is wet.

4. Create Curves, Not Lines

Instead of a straight rectangle bed, use a garden hose to lay out a gentle curve that sweeps out into the lawn. Deepen the bed at the corners (making it 6-8 feet deep) and narrow it slightly near the steps. This "kidney bean" shape softens the hard angles of your stone home and screams "Cottage Garden."

If you are dealing with a narrow space, check out how we handled a similar layout challenge in our guide on turning a muddy clay bowling alley into an oasis.

Visualizing the Result

It is incredibly hard to visualize how big a mature Hydrangea gets when you are holding a 1-gallon pot at the nursery. People almost always plant them too close together, resulting in a tangled mess three years later.

Don't guess. Use a tool like GardenDream to map this out. You can upload the photo of your house, overlay the evergreens in the back and the flowers in the front, and see exactly how much lawn you need to remove to make those curves look right. It acts as a safety net for your wallet.

If you want to test this on your own yard, upload a photo to our Exterior Design App and see what this design would look like in your space.