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Home landscaping
A home with a lovely, inviting landscape increases the perceived value of the home and inevitably lessens the amount of time that a home is on the market.
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Katherine Brooks
Katherine M. Brooks, VSLD, Virginia Certified Landscape Designer, is a regular column in The Local Scoop.
Soon after all the holiday decorations have been packed away for another year, the promise of warm weather begins to arrive, courtesy of seed and plant catalogs. What gardener hasn’t turned his or her attention away from cold, gray skies toward greener days ahead and outdoor pleasures while gazing at pictures of abundant flower beds and thriving vegetable gardens?
For those of us who love to dig in the dirt, landscaping and yard now become our focus. So many plants, so many ongoing issues—but then, there’s the budget. How much to spend? What’s the most important issue to tackle first? And when considering the cost and work involved, the biggest issue of all: how does landscaping affect our home?
A good landscape plan has multiple positive effects. It increases the value of a home. It helps us save on utility bills. It benefits the environment. And last but certainly not least, it enhances curb appeal when it’s time for resale.
Increasing the Value of Your Home
“Good landscaping can add up to 28 percent to the overall value of a house,” says John Harris, a landscape economist. But how much should you spend on your landscape? A budget of 10 to 20 percent of the home’s value is the standard percentage landscape professionals use. That figure includes not only plant material but also hardscaping, such as walkways, patios, irrigation, and landscape lighting. The higher figure applies to homes of greater value where swimming pools and tennis courts are considerations. Money Magazine reports that a well-designed and maintained landscape has a recoup value of 100 to 200 percent when the home is sold. That’s a solid investment.
Saving on Utility Bills
Large deciduous trees, especially on the south side of a home, provide cooling shade, thereby lowering utility bills. From personal experience, I know that after losing an eighty-foot-tall oak tree on the south corner of my own home, my electric bill increased by more than 30 percent the following summer. In the winter, trees and hedges act as windbreaks, helping to reduce heating costs.
Benefiting the Environment
All plant materials reduce soil erosion by allowing rainfall to slow and seep into the soil. They also absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere while releasing oxygen. Air quality is greatly improved by trees, shrubs, and turf, which remove smoke, dust, and other pollutants from the air.
Using native plant material makes sense. Natives are adapted to local living conditions and have a higher survival rate. They’re more drought tolerant, provide habitat for wildlife, and require less maintenance.
More shrubs and perennial beds mean less turf grass. The upside of less grass is less mowing and weed eating. Consider this: using a gas-powered mower to mow your lawn for one hour puts as many pollutants into the atmosphere as a 350-mile car trip! Lower your carbon footprint effortlessly with a smaller lawn to mow.
Enhancing Curb Appeal for Resale
A home with a lovely, inviting landscape increases the perceived value of the home and inevitably lessens the amount of time that a home is on the market. A tired landscape that’s been poorly maintained sends a subliminal message to prospective buyers that the whole property, including the home, has not been cared for properly. Because most homebuyers make a decision about buying a home in the first five minutes of viewing, it’s essential that the landscape impresses immediately.
What’s trending now? Gardening is a widespread passion, with outdoor entertaining areas that include kitchens and fire pits; environmentally conscious use of native plants with a limited amount of lawn; being green with low-voltage landscape lighting; health-conscious herb and vegetable gardens; and the convenience and ease of container gardening.
Armed with all these facts to digest, where do you start?
Whether you have a small or large project, your best bet is to consult a landscape professional who can direct you. Like anything else in life, you need a plan. Without one, it’s like building a home without a blueprint.
One way to assess how you use your yard and what you’d like to change is the “Landscape Questionnaire” that can be uploaded from my website. It assists homeowners by posing questions about their landscape, such as how it’s used, preferences, and budget.
Catalogs can be an inspiration to get started, one small step at a time. Dream big and then decide what project you’d like to tackle this spring.
Garden Spot by Katherine M. Brooks, VSLD, Virginia Certified Landscape Designer, is a regular column in The Local Scoop. Do you have a question about gardening in the Northern Neck or Middle Peninsula? Ask Kathy! Call her at 804-387-7402 or email her at gardenspot@localscoopmagazine.com. Visit katherinebrookslandscapes.com for more information about Kathy and sustainable landscape design.
This article appeared in the Spring 2015 issue of The Local Scoop Magazine, pgs. 42-43.