Gardens say a lot about the place you live in. If it's a mess outside it doesn't bode well for a clean and clutter free interior.

You want your home to be an inviting place - and first impressions of how it is kept inside will always be made from the outside, namely the state of your front garden.

Front gardens are so often neglected as many time-starved gardeners concentrate on the back, where much of their leisure time will be spent.

The first rule is, if you haven't much time then don't make the front garden a copy of your back garden, with high-maintenance beds, lawns and boundaries.

Front lawns, for example, tend to be small areas which are difficult to mow and require you having to manoeuvre your lawn mower and tools from the back garden shed to the front garden. If you have steps down to your front garden, as I do, you'll know how much of a palaver that can be.

Also, many front garden lawns are extremely close to the house and if they are north-facing will lack sufficient light, which will result in poor-growing grass and lots of moss if they are not free-draining.

You need to consider the practical functions of your front garden. It needs to be easily accessible, perhaps with space for a car, and be good to look at.

Some sort of paving, to complement your house, is the way to go and it is possible to plant a lot of pretty, low-maintenance ground cover to add variation and colour to the setting.

Also, properly laid surfaces like paving stones or bricks will only need the occasional sweep or annual jet-wash to keep them looking good.

A gravel driveway, laid over a permanent membrane, is fine as long as you have some sort of raised border to keep the gravel in, such as a row of bricks or other material.

Gravel also tends to deter burglars because you can always hear people scrunching on it.

The downside is that it may drift into the house if you are not one to take your shoes off at the entrance. But periodic raking to keep the surface even is about all you'll need to maintain it.

You can use a mixture of different finishes to distinguish the parking area from the pathway to the front door, but don't use more than three different surfaces or it will start to look bitty and disjointed.

I always think that the plantings next to the pathway to a house can make all the difference and don't need to be high maintenance. Banks of lavender are a good bet, low maintenance and beautifully fragrant when visitors pass by.

Alternatively, a mixture of evergreens and variegated ground cover plants can look wonderful, if you take into consideration the leaf contrasts when choosing.

If you have little time, choose easy-care plants such as bergenia, skimmia and Viburnum davidii and avoid annuals and bedding plants that need regular watering and feeding.

If you want something striking, go for a plant with architectural interest such as yucca or phormium. Alternatively go for something with stunning leaves such as the Fatsia japonica.

To ease maintenance, put a mulch around all the plantings to retain moisture and suppress weeds.

Plants which will give year-round interest but don't require much work include Mahonia x media, berberis verruculosa, weigela, euonymus, hebe, kniphofia, Sedum spectabile, wild geranium (cranesbill) and Arum italicum.