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Sellers: Your Front Yard Deserves a Spring Makeover
It may be a bit chilly yet to starting thinking of spring gardening, but it's high time to start planning a spring makeover of your front yard, especially if you're planning to list your home among Edina homes for sale or Detroit Lakes homes for sale. Start by walking around your property and assessing what needs to be done to boost your curb appeal. Keeping the grass mowed and the shrubs trimmed will help, but adding some color, taking out damaged plants and replacing them in bare spaces with healthy new specimens, and filling in the winter-ravaged ground cover if need be are three projects that can enhance your listed property's looks so potential buyers will stop and take a second look.
- Add Some Color
Planting annuals is an easy, no-brainer way to dress up your property and catch the eye of potential buyers. Perennials are great, but they take time to get established, so you may want to concentrate on bright annuals along sidewalks and in beds fronting the house to dress things up. Paint a picture in your mind with drifts of annuals such as dahlia, calla lilies, various kinds of daisies, salvia, pentas, nicotianas, and many more. Although annuals usually need to be replaced every year, it's worthwhile to plant these big swatches of color for an instant wow effect. - Create a Xeriscaped Bedding Area
You may not want to invest in total xeriscaping if you're selling your house, but you can create a xeriscaped bed, either in a circle or oval in the front yard or a sunny area along the front of the house. Xeriscaping is a way of planting that uses minimal water and tends to be more resource-efficient. Take out old plants and line the area with weed-barrier. Cover it with good soil for planting, then add a layer of mulch. To plant larger plants, you'll need to poke holes in the barrier, but you can plant smaller plants in the dirt, and they should grow alright through the barrier. Some homeowners opt for white or some type of stone instead of dirt and mulch. - Spruce Up Your Ground Cover
Maybe you have an existing ground cover area, or you'd like to establish one as a contrast to the lawn. This spring, you will want to remove any dead or unhealthy-looking ground cover plants, weed the area, and either replace those empty spots with new plants. To create a new ground cover area, mark off the perimeters by installing flashing or another kind of border, and select some kind of ground cover to plant. Some low-maintenance choices are creeping thyme, Nepeta catmint (look into some of the newer, less invasive cultivars), Angelina sedum, or creeping phlox. These plants are easy to grow, will crowd out weeds, but won't become invasive. - Plant a Native Tree
Perhaps you've got an older tree that just isn't looking as good as it used to. Maybe it's time to have it removed (including the stump) and plant a new tree. Plant them a sufficient distance from the house so they don't threaten the roofline when they mature. Trees native to Michigan are among the best choices, such as these evergreens:
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- Eastern hemlock
- Eastern white pine
- Eastern red cedar
You might also look at maple trees (red, black, silver, or sugar); the flowering and shady northern catalpa, which also mature faster; and oak trees, such as bur, red, black, white, and pin oak. Grow hornbeam or blue beech if you need a smaller tree.
Need more landscaping tips? Call today.