First impressions go a long way. This is applicable to not only when you meet someone new, but also when somebody sees your house for the first time. Regardless of whether it’s a friend or colleague coming over to visit or a prospective buyer looking at a property you’re trying to sell, the importance of curb appeal shouldn’t be underestimated.
You might think that it takes a lot of work and money to update the curb appeal of your home, but that doesn’t have to be the case. It’s possible to significantly increase the curb appeal of your home and your property just by changing your landscaping. Here are a few ways that your landscaping can change up the look of your property and give your overall curb appeal a significant boost.
Adjusting Existing Landscaping
It doesn’t take a lot to turn around your existing landscaping and dramatically increase your curb appeal. Depending on the state that your trees, shrubs, and other plants are in, it may just be a matter of trimming everything back and taking the time to shape some of the more unruly growth you’ve got going on. Trim down bushes and create a more uniform texture, cut back overgrown limbs, get vining plants under control, and otherwise reign in your existing growth so that it looks much more manicured.
Once you’ve got your current growth under control, consider adding some accents to your landscaping. This can come in the form of colored mulch or gravel beds to add more definition to some of your flowers or plants, fountains or other features to provide a bit of contrast, and possibly even removing a few plants or moving potted plants to a new area to ease up on crowding and create a bit more symmetry in your yard. Even if you don’t make major changes, these little accents and changes can still make a big difference.
New Landscaping Additions
If you want to make bigger changes, consider adding more plants to your yard that will accentuate what you’ve already got there. Put in additional bushes or shrubs of similar types to what you’ve already got on your property to help fill out areas that seem a bit thin in coverage. Add sod to create more uniform ground coverage so that the various clovers, creepers, and other plants don’t distract from the look of your home. Put in some flowering annuals if most of your landscaping contains plants that don’t really flower to add splashes of color to break up all the green. Just look at what you’ve already got and think about how you might improve it.
Of course, it’s important to remember that sometimes a bit of contrast can really help your landscaping as well. Don’t be afraid to add flowers or other plants that don’t seem to go with everything else if you find something that you really want to stand out. If you take the time to come up with a landscaping plan that will be visually striking, it will really get people’s attention the first time they see your home.
Give Your Landscaping a Boost
Depending on what you have in mind, there are a number of ways that you can change up your landscaping through DIY projects. In some cases, though, you may need to bring in a landscaping pro to make more significant changes to your home’s landscaping. Not only will a professional be able to tackle larger projects more quickly, but they may also be able to offer suggestions on the specific shrubs, plants, and other landscaping choices that you add to your property.