Depending on your neighborhood, the yard may be flat or steeply sloped. There is either a sidewalk and parking strip, or just a sidewalk. Many lots have rock walls or small patches of grass, perhaps a small planting of flowers or shrubs against the house or along the sidewalk. Security is often a problem, since theft of plants from front yards has become more of a problem. Generally, not a lot of time is spent in the front yard, since it is quite public.
Most people try to level off the front yard.
One of our family homes when I was growing up had a steep grassy slope that you'd take your life in your hands trying to mow. In many cases, fill dirt and construction rubble has been used to build up sloping yards. Not a lot of creativity is expended on front yards. And yet the front yard has a lot of potential. One of the gardens on Portland's garden tour at the last District convention had a bulkhead and low wall built of brick.