12 Circular Driveway Landscaping Ideas

Circular driveway landscaping has become a common trend in current times. In this article, we offer a variety of creative ideas for decorating a circular driveway. Driveway landscaping is an excellent way to increase curb appeal by creating a grand entrance to your home.

Read this article and consider how straight driveways are perfectly viable, the landscaping potential is relatively lackluster, but consider the reason it is one of the reasons for the growing popularity of circular driveways. 

List of Circular Driveway Landscaping Ideas

Driveway design ideas are there to beautify circular driveways. You can do so many things like place water features that are great at adding a luxurious and stylish aesthetic to the property.

After that, you can even focus on adorning the driveway with a garden as the centerpiece for a very natural and soothing look. The key reason why this is important is that these aspects would definitely escalate the driveway.

1. Three-Tier Fountain for Colorful Landscaping

The driveway presents a beautiful and lush green sight the moment you enter the property. The multi-layered fountain works perfectly as a centerpiece of the scene. It instantly brings out a refreshing feeling in your mind.

Once the fountain is in place, there are many landscaping design options to fill the surrounding area. It largely depends on the amount of space you have left and your budget. Although this idea can be expensive, the visual upgrades it offers are worth the price.

If you are limited in space, you can opt for a small garden with potted or smaller plants instead. In this case, it is better to avoid trees, as the area will look congested and block the fountain. However, small plants and ornamental flower beds would work wonders in making any scene look welcoming, and a driveway is no exception.

On the other hand, if you do have the luxury of ample space for your driveway, you can get creative and employ a large part of that land for a big garden with lush green trees and flower beds. The bricked driveway around the landscaping will give the driveway an elegant and modern finish, especially if it is round in shape.

To add to the natural green theme of the driveway, you may plant trees all around the outer edges and the entrance of the house. Another option is to build a shrub fence for a natural-looking barrier around the driveway.

All of these options have the amazing potential to transform your driveway from a dull gray entrance into a lush green marvel surrounded by nature.

2. Oval-shaped Gravel for Multi-Fountain Pool

If you live in the countryside or have a large open space in front of your home, you can use that to your advantage by installing a large pool with multiple fountains. Surround the pool with a large grass bed and trees, and you have a fancy entrance to your home.

You can select a path filled with gravel to give it a more natural look, or an asphalt road will work just fine. It will depend on whatever you think looks better.

The elongated nature of this sort of driveway makes it look like a path to a grand castle, and the way that it turns circularly. You can also install wood or stone benches around the fountain for a nice spot to sit and relax – a wonderful getaway spot from a hectic daily routine.

Another advantage of using a long pool is the space the driveway will provide. During gatherings and special occasions, it will be easy for friends and family to drive to your house without much hassle. It will also allow them to park close to your home, which adds to your guests’ sense of security.

3. Adding a European Style Bowl Fountain

Installing a European-styled bowl fountain on a compact circle driveway is an excellent choice if you do not have enough space in front of your house. It is a simple way of adding appeal to an otherwise small driveway with little room for fancy landscaping. 

You can go for a paved or concrete path – the concrete approach is functionally viable, but the paved path additionally gives off an elegant modern look. The centerpiece can be lined with stamped concrete slabs to keep things visually interesting and varied. The fountain will beautifully fill the space without seeming too out of place.

As a finishing touch, you can surround the fountain with ornamental shrubs and bushes to provide a barrier for children and pets that may fall into the water, and it would even elevate the luxurious feel that it promotes. The shrubs will give a natural touch to the modern theme of the driveway. 

If you have planned the driveway and still have some space to work with, you can add more plants and trees around the outer edges. These trees will act as a natural boundary and give the driveway the look of an enclosed natural space.

4. Fountain for Stylized Garden

We have been talking about driveways with water features surrounded by circular landscapes, but it is not a rule of thumb. You can get creative with the landscapes around the fountains. Circular landscapes look coherent with the driveway circling them, but you can add flavor if you want to.

Additionally, note that there is no need to build a smooth green belt around the fountain. You can opt for garden beds of different shapes and sizes around the fountain if you want a bolder, asymmetrical look for the entrance. 

There is also the option of hiring a professional landscaper who will create a custom design unique to your house. There are endless options for landscaping around a water feature in a driveway. It all depends on your imagination and budget.

If you do not like the look of a fountain, there are other options, like a pond surrounded by plants and rocks. Just be sure to keep in mind the safety measures for children and pets around your driveway pond.

5. Concrete Brick Driveway with Shrub Garden

A solid concrete driveway with a shrub garden in the center. This is a great way to add nature to its sleek and stylish architecture. You can choose different textured concrete to match the texture of your house. This will keep the overall look of the driveway coherent with the buildings around it. 

You can add a vertical plant pot to act as a focal point for the centerpiece, surrounded by an ornamental grass garden with shrubs and bushes. You can add different colored plants to add variety to different layers of plants.

Artificial plants are a great way to ensure the garden will not create debris in the driveway. It will be a low-maintenance garden that will increase the curb appeal of your property.

The best part about this idea is that you can create all of it yourself. Planting a few shrubs is simple and a one-time investment to instantly increase your home’s aesthetic appeal.

An interesting approach to take is to blend natural flowers with ornamental grasses and plants. It will prove to be a good combination of nature and convenience while meeting all the visual requirements.

6. Gravel with Simple Garden Landscaping

An excellent idea for the countryside or a farmhouse is to make a gravel driveway. It will preserve the natural look of the surrounding area while providing a safe and clean entrance to your property. At the center, you can practically plant anything. Even a simple, well-trimmed grass garden will look great as a centerpiece.

If you want to add variety, you have the option to plant a tree with colorful flowers. It can is an exceptional choice for a centerpiece as it fits in with the overall theme. Other options include a small fountain for birds or a circular flower bed filled with flowers of all shapes and sizes. 

You also have the option to keep the centerpiece simple and make a boundary of trees on the outer edge. This is great if you want to keep the house as the main attraction instead of the driveway.

The simple and natural look of the driveway will fit right in the scene while adding a sleek and clean entrance to your property.

7. Asphalt With Ornamental Plants

If you look in a city, it is quite hard to be able to find space for a driveway. Due to restrictions in certain neighborhoods, it is also challenging to have brick or gravel pathways. But this should not stop you from having a visually appealing entrance to your home. 

You can create a small gravel garden in front of your house. If there is already a tree in front of your home, it can act as a centerpiece. Remember that you could even create a boundary with paint on the solid asphalt road and plant some plants and trees.

Suppose you do not have the option of having plants in front of your home – you can go for a rock garden instead. Doing so will add a natural touch without you having to install and maintain a garden. You can add artificial planters or make them with spare tires to add some greenery.

To keep things fresh, you can create designs with multicolored gravel. If you do have plants, you can surround them with rocks arranged in interesting patterns. It is a simple and elegant design to transform the concrete road leading to your house into a visual attraction.

8. Concrete Lining with Garden Beds

As mentioned earlier, it can be a great idea to use one or more trees as a focal point of your driveway. It is a perfect idea if the driveway is not placed perfectly in front of your house.

In this case, it is already hard to go for a symmetrical look. Instead, you can line the outer edge of the driveway with flower beds, shrubs, and bushes. At the center, you can plant trees for visual variety. You can use rock for landscaping around them.

Another unconventional theme you can go for is a desert-themed driveway. You can place cacti and other desert-themed plants surrounded by dry rocks and sand.

It does not go with every property, but it can be a good option if you live in a dry area and the driveway is a little off-center from the house. The desert-themed centerpiece will add a unique look to the scene.

9. Semicircular Horseshoe-shape

A horseshoe driveway is a type of semicircle driveway with gradual turns. And the sides are straighter compared to a perfect semicircle. On top of a varied look, these U-shaped driveways will give more room to vehicles for easy turns in and out of the driveway.

A garden landscape is a simple centerpiece, however, the U-shaped driveway will give it a unique look instead of the simple full circle. You can choose a specific theme for the plants and garden in the driveway. 

The tropical theme is a prevalent theme for front yards, backyards, and driveways. You can, this way, recreate this signature tropical look with palm trees and colorful plants. Palm trees in front of your home will give you a refreshing look. Surrounding the trees with vibrant flowers will instantly add color to the scene.

Horseshoe driveway landscaping ideas are special because they allow unique shapes for the centerpieces. The outer edge can be landscaped with ornamental grasses and garden beds. 

To elaborate further, you can plant trees along the outer edges to add greenery and enhance the scene’s natural look. You can use a bricked driveway to make it stand out from the road. You can also use this opportunity to use materials closer to your house’s building materials for a coherent look.

This bricked driveway is a great idea to make your driveway stand out from the road in front. Its unique shape will be an unconventional feature unique to your home that will add to the value of your property. And the tropical theme will give you a refreshing feeling every time you step outside in the driveway.

10. White Rocky U-Shape

Like the driveway landscape idea above, you can use different driveway materials for variety and coherence with your property. An asphalt driveway does not go with every property and can give off a dull look.

For example, if you have a stylish big house with a beautiful front door, an asphalt driveway will look out of place and not part of your property, and even the unique shape will do nothing to your benefit.

This can be changed by using materials that make your driveway a part of your property, using gravel, mulch, or even stones, you can even use gravel or rocks of the same as your house. Add landscapes that add contrast to the scene. Plants trees centered around your front door.

Like every other idea in this list, the elements can be the same, but their placement and use are what will make your driveway a unique part of your property, different from all other houses in the neighborhood.

Add flowers and artificial plants at the center of the semicircle, and you are done. A beautiful U-shaped driveway specific to your house will instantly increase your property’s monetary value.

11. Small Crescent Shrub Garden and Lamp Post

One benefit of the semicircular driveways is their compactness. They take up way less space as compared to a circular driveway while providing the same benefits functionally, visually, and financially.

When faced with little space, you can go with a crescent-shaped semicircular driveway that allows you to take your care right at your doorstep. You can decorate the driveway in several ways.

Since there is little space between the driveway center and your home, you can cover the outer walls of your home with greenery by adding medium-height plants, artificial shrubs, bushes, or even plant pots. Adding trees is an obvious option as well.

As for the centerpiece of the driveway, you can choose to install a small post box or a lamp post. It will add functionality and act as the focal point of the driveway at the same time. Surround it with a garden bed filled with low-maintenance plants. This is an excellent opportunity to use artificial plants, as you do not want debris near your front door.

12. Long Semicircular with Flowerbeds

As with the oval-shaped circular drive discussed above, you can do the same with a semicircular driveway. It is a perfect option when you have a lot of horizontal space but not enough vertical space in front of your home.

You can use that space to make different landscaping designs for your driveway. The picture above shows how the designer separated both sides of the driveways into different sections with symmetrical landscape designs.

This arc-shaped or a semi-circular shaped driveway is an opportunity to put your creative mind to work, and you can create different shapes of flower beds with different colors and themes.

Conclusion

Countless circular driveway landscaping designs in all shapes, sizes and even textures will suit different scenarios. The driveway sets the stage for what to expect from the rest of the house, so it is crucial to have an impressive entrance.

There is no one-fits-all choice, so you must keep the strengths and requirements discussed in this article to make a good decision. Now that you know all about circular driveway landscaping, which idea do you think works best for your driveway?