Curious About Curb Appeal?

~ There are so many ways you can improve your back garden, lawn, yard, vegetable patch or patio, that you could completely forget about the very front face of your property. The front of the house welcomes visitors, including the owners, inviting them to feel safe, loved and secure. The curb appeal of the house is most important when you market your house for sale. At times, potential buyers do not even want to walk in the house when it appears unkempt and thus, move on to another housing choice. The question is then, how can we create a front garden that adds a great impact, but also improves the overall appearance of the home? What are the guidelines?

Work With The Street

Every street has a specific look, don’t you agree? Whether you are in a community or situated right in front of the busy road, the plants that are best to select are those that match the style of the house you reside in. What if you live in northern states and you select tropical plants to accompany your brick house? Not only they will look out of place, the plants most likely will not survive the geographical location and its environment. Broadleaves love humidity and sun, and do really well in Florida, for instance. Yes, that is where I reside now and love it. What if your garden has such a strong contrast to the rest of the community? Imagine ornate stone statues, such as antique goddesses or lions in the townhouse community.  They are very pretty, but perhaps would work better in the neighborhood that features European architecture. What about zen shrine among your front landscape, where the rest of neighbors have just modest plant here and there, among white picket fenced houses. Sometimes such over improvement looks a bit out of place, don’t you agree? The yard setting and location matters a whole lot these days. First, see what ideas your neighbors included already in their landscape and decide if it esthetically works with your own front yard.

Be Careful Of Planning Rules

You may have some grand plans for your front garden. But it’s important that you know your boundaries, literally. If you don’t know the specific regulations to your area, it’s important to go to your local authority or the planning department to see what you can and cannot do. You might be surprised as to how high you can have your shrubs, for example, or how many fruit trees you may plant per household. Ahhhm, yes, that type of neighborhood will not work for me or my local gardening plants. BTW, while we are on the topic, become friendly with your neighbors. You never know when you will require their friendly support or they will need yours. If you decide to dig up the lawn and replace it with luscious hardscaping and rockery retaining walls, be sure that you check with your local zoning and home association. No need to get anyone upset, pay fines and create negative impressions. Certainly, the neighbors will remain happy with your choice of yard decor before you get in contact with New Life Rockeries or another hardscaping company. Ultimately, this is the everyday relationship that could flourish in fruitful friendship!

Think About Bright Colors

I just love to add hanging baskets or flower pots in front of any front door. Recently I visited a house that was beautifully remodeled but was lacking a punch of color inside and especially at the front door. If the family would only have a colorful basket of Summer flowers, the property would look homier. All you need is two matching containers with colorful seasonal flowers or plants with a cascading grass coming off to the side. Anyone could do this and the house will spruce up instantly. It does look more inviting having living plants outside. Sometimes people ask if they can just have fake ones. “Wow, really?”,that is my first thought. The second thought is: “Do you really want no flow in your living space with cooped up energy?”, but then I simply utter, “Not so much, its just bad Feng Shui”. Let’s just leave fake, aka dead plants at that note…

Think About the Future

You may not think about selling right now, or in the near future. The market is on fire now with everyone moving and relocating. New neighbors wave happily to introduce themselves, greasing the wheel of moving thoughts. Curb appeal is very important to any home, but it is about striking the balance. You may very well want to broadcast to the world something that is very you but think about your investments carefully. Curb appeal is about looking neat, uninformed, trimmed, pretty, welcoming and your front lawn or garden reflects the thought, love and care you put into it.

Make it a very green day, my friends.

Luda@PlantsandBeyond🌿

All photographs belong to Luda @PlantsandBeyond.com

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