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  Older and historic homes often feature a front porch, sometimes with carved wood decorations or other decorative elements. Landscaping around this porch is difficult because you don't want to detract from the porch itself. Landscaping ideas for older homes with front porches should add color to the home without taking away from the decor.
  
  

Hanging Flowers

• Hanging baskets are specifically designed to hang from the top of the porch roof. A rounded plastic container has a drip tray attached, and a curved metal piece attached to the top slips over a hanging hook and keeps the basket in place. These baskets provide a bright pop of color to the porch because of the brightly colored flowers inside. Use flowers that complement or match the decorations on the porch --- such as pink roses with pink flowered cushions. Or mix and match several shades, placing one color of flowers in each type of basket. For front porches that lack a roof, look for hanging hooks for the yard. Made of wrought iron, these pieces feature a straight shaft, with a curved top. The hanger fits directly in the ground beside the porch and the curved section at the top holds the hanging basket.
  
  

Front Porch Garden

• The space directly in front of the porch is often overlooked, but is the right size for a small garden or flower bed. Map out the size of the garden and use stacked stones or pieces of wood as the walls of the garden. The walls provide a clear division between the garden and the rest of the lawn. Create two separate gardens, one on either side of the steps to the porch or the porch's entrance. Make the garden wrap around the side of the house, or stop it right at the end of the house. Fill with flowers of different colors, or use the garden space to grow your own vegetables.
  
  

Container Plants

• Container planting provides a way to grow flowers and vegetables on the porch itself or as a landscaping element. Salad greens like lettuce or spinach, Brussels sprouts, hot peppers, sweet peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes and eggplant all flourish in containers. Space the containers along the steps of the porch or along the porch railing. If you want to use the containers as landscaping, space several containers equally around the outside perimeter of the front porch.