Here’s a few tips you can try to bring your front yard back to life!
Your home front yard landscaping plays an integral part in setting the curb appeal tone and how your property can be valued and interpreted. A good design may also reflect the type of family that lives at home and how they feel about their home, especially after a sodding lawn replacement.
Landscape design features will reveal the home itself and set it apart from other homes in your neighbor's cottage. A house with the right mix of plant beds and lawn areas, with a sound palette of color and seasonal appeal, would produce a more desirable property than merely covering your front garden with a lawn and a tree. Investing in curb appeal, incredibly initially with new construction, would pay off the value-added for the possible list price and sell the home faster.
Create a focal point.
The view in your landscape needs to have a focal point. Your front yard's focal point is the front door, so be sure you don't hide it even after the resodding lawn. If you're planning significant plantings such as trees, think about how they're going to surround the front door as you enter your home.
Use land covers.
Land covers are a low maintenance alternative—and complement—to the turf. Because they are down to the ground and dense, they give a neat appearance with very little maintenance even after the resodding lawn. These also allow you to introduce spring bulbs to your landscape because the cover of the ground hides the dead leaves after the bulbs bloom.
Set the direction.
When choosing the driveway's direction to your front door, remember that your instinct is to take a direct route to where you're going. The curved path to the front door is cool, but there might not be a meandering path. If you're going to take your visitors on a circuit route, be sure you're going to plant densely along each side of your way.
Rethink the plants at the base.
When sodding a yard, avoid treating the foundation plants as if they were little soldiers pressed along the perimeter of your house. For a two-story house, the foundation plantings should be at least eight feet out of the house. Before you plant the shrubs, think about how they would appear in three or five years. You don't want to choose a variety that will block your windows.
Add privacy.
If you're trying to bring more protection to your yard, try a shrub buffer. When sodding a yard, a buffer that includes multiple plants at varying heights can do the same thing as a reliable hedge or fence but is much more welcoming. Alternatively, whether you're only trying to hide a view from a specific space or part of your yard from your neighbors, plant a few trees or shrubs with strategic precision.
Consider long shrubs.
If you plant trees in front of your home, prepare 12 to 15 years out. They're considered a permanent fixture of the landscape, so you want to make sure they're not too close to the house. If you want to sell your home, a tree can be an asset—unless it's one that prospective owners believe they will have to remove—then it's a liability.
Add a blossoming tree.
A flowering tree offers a beautiful curb appeal and is friendly to welcome for those few weeks in the spring when it's in bloom. Flowering varieties provide color and scent, and since they appear to be smaller plants, they typically do not obstruct the building.
Define the order of your plants.
Promote order by restricting the number of species of flowering plants, shrubs, and trees. Look for no more than five to ten perennial species, three to five separate shrubs, and one or two forms of trees.
Although it's enticing to buy new plants when they catch your eye, fight the urge when it comes to shopping for the front yard landscape. Fewer species can result in a habitat that holds well together, rather than looking to be a variety of separate small gardens dotting the yard. Plant as a genus in groups and repeat in the park.
Dream big despite the cost of sod.
Plan for planting beds that are wide enough to fit the perfect plant mix. Planting beds that cover at least half the width of the house is always a safe bet. Often, the sweeping beds that stretch from the home to the sidewalk or highway are sure to keep the planting bed with the house on an excellent scale. Anchored by a tree and packed with shrubs, these large beds do not need to be labor-intensive. You're likely to find that they need less upkeep than the grass.
Let things flow.
Repeat the plant shapes and textures to unify the plantings. Guide guests to the front door by planting bold perennials along the curb or the pavement. Repeat the planting along the entrance walkway. Even with the cost of sod, you must do this at approximately halfway between the roadway and the house. Repeat the process.
Caring about your yard is key to the long-lasting preservation of your curb appeal. A clipped, fertilized lawn and plant care would demonstrate how you handle your savings and respect your possessions. Daily upkeep will ensure the things in your yard mature correctly and last longer.
Louie is the father behind the travel blog Browseeverywhere.com. He has a background in photography, E-commerce, and writing product reviews online at ConsumerReviews24. Traveling full time with his family was his ultimate past-time. If he’s not typing on his laptop, you can probably find him watching movies.
