Apr 13 | Posted by Barry

Last month, I discussed home staging and some techniques used to properly showcase your house. The psychology behind staging is to leave the buyers with the best possible impression. And what they notice first is the front lawn, garden and street façade. Now that it’s planting season, making your curb as appealing as possible is a very apt subject matter.

The first step is a thorough spring cleanup. An orderly front yard will let you accurately gauge what else is needed. Start by picking up natural debris, smoothing out walkway and flowerbed edges, and power washing hard surfaces. Next, check for signs of winter burn and remove any damaged shrugs or dead trees branches. Pruning should be given some thought at this point as it not advisable to trim your plants during the blooming season. Last, test your water features and lighting to ensure that they still function. If not, get them fixed as early as possible because piping or wiring issues can involve digging up parts of your garden and uncontrolled water flow can disrupt flowering cycles.

The second step is to prep the soil. Tilling ensures that there are no leftover ice crystals, and you’ll know when you’ve done a good job because handfuls of soil will crumble easily. Next, apply a fertilizer that is designed for early spring and lawn pre-emergence. Also, consider using this grass booster in tandem with a weed killer so that you halt the growth of weeds before they are visible.

Now it’s time to give some thought to your ‘Focal Points’. These are major features that will draw the eye and act as centerpieces. Examples include doorways, garages, statues, fountains, flowerbeds, garden arbors, landscape bridges and wishing wells. The key here is to think of what features you want to highlight and how to lead a viewer’s gaze to those elements using landscaping techniques.

For instance, if your property has a straight driveway that ends at a plain garage door, then it would not be advisable to place vibrant annuals along the driveway’s edges. This would draw attention to the garage, instead of other more illustrious aspects of your lawn. However, if it’s a U-shaped driveway that goes to the front entrance, decorating its sides with colorful flowers will boost the viewer’s perception of this focal point.

The concept of focal points also applies to the overriding geometric patterns of your lawn. If your lawn is dominated by rectangular shapes and edges, avoid emphasizing this by planting your flower beds in straight lines. Instead, add some complexity by staggering plots, alternating plant heights or working in circular units.

This last point ties into the concept of layering. That is, how you can enhance the visceral texture of a house façade to better appease the eye; not just in shape but in color variety as well. Think of your garden as having three levels, with the back row comprising your tallest plants, and your front row, which is most visible, containing most of your flourishing and colorful flowers. This creates a seamless pattern that will compliment the front of a house, or any other focal points, and it will also elicit a feeling of unity.

The layering of your garden will help you determine where to correctly place annuals and perennials. Evergreens, or hardscape as they are also called, make for great back row flora because of how they keep their verdant color year round. As well, perennials should not be the only plants in the front row because they blossom at different times, and often later into the summer months. This is where interspersing lush annuals will really pay off, helping provide continuous color throughout the late spring, summer and early fall.

In terms of getting a head start early in the season, there are several other pointers to keep in mind. First, planting bulbs in the fall means that they will flower earlier the following year. Second, if it is still cold outside, you can start cultivating the flowers inside then transfer them later. This works especially well if you are planning a vegetable garden. One plant to also try is the Creeping Phlox, or Moss Pink, because they produce small flowers with a range of available colors and because they bloom very early in the season. Creeping Phlox makes for excellent groundcover along the front when layering because they only reach half a foot in height.

Last, you should pay attention to how winter will corrode your landscaping. Some perennials cannot tolerate road salts and will die if planted directly adjacent to hard surfaces. Care should also be taken not to place shrubs too close to the driveway because shovels or snowplows can tear them from their roots. This zone is best left for annuals as winter damage is a nonissue.

These are just a few tips to make your entrance sparkle, both in the short run, and as consideration for later on down the road. Above all, it is critical to start the curb appeal process early. That way your gardens have the most breadth of time for maturation. And if you need extra advice, call me so I can refer you to a knowledgeable landscape designer. Enjoy!