Seven Landscaping Ideas That Can Add Value to Your Home

Here are seven landscaping ideas from Money magazine that can help add value to your home:

• Edge the beds
• Nourish the grass
• Scatter color throughout
• Cut back the jungle
• Add drama with foliage
• Consider new angles
• Cover your rear

Here's where we stand on each of these:

1. Why is it that it's hard as heck to get grass to grow in the yard but it's more than willing to over-grow bedding edges and into flower beds?

2. I fertilize a few times a year. i used to do so five times a year but all that seems to accomplish is set me up for more lawn mowing and dumps unneeded chemicals into the ground.

3. They're right -- for almost nothing you can go and buy flowers that will make your yard look great. My wife spent $30 this year and our front yard is exploding with color.

4. I'm in a battle for the corner of our house with a tree that was small several years ago and is now towering over the roof. I'm winning so far, but it's keeping me busy. ;-)

5. The one caution I'd give here is don't be too unique. When we bought our place the owner had a couple huge rocks in the front yard overgrown with a juniper bush. It took me three years, bit-by-bit, but I eventually turned it into a rose garden.

6. Same comments as #5 above.

7. We live in a sub-dividsion but we still have woods behind our house -- one of a few homes to have this. Our kids love hplaying there and we love the privacy in the summer (when the trees have leaves, you can't see the neighbors behind us.)

How much value can this stuff add? Actually, a decent amount:

A recent Michigan State University study found that depending on where the house is located, high-quality landscaping adds 5 percent to 11 percent to its price.

As stated above, I've added a small rose garden to the front of our house and my wife has added other flowers around the front too. The roses save us money and all the flowers make our house have more curb appeal, something we'll be thankful for if we ever decide to sell it.

Comments

[Jeremy]

Good info, and very true. I have to side with the MSU study since I got my undergraduate degree in landscape architecture from there ;)

I'd just like to add to number 2 a bit. If you have a large patch of grass, especially in the front yard it can pay dividends to have a nice looking lawn. You don't need to have an expensive irrigation system and put 10 hours a week into maintaining it, but some simple care tips such as mowing it to the right height and at proper intervals, applying occasional fertilizers and killing off the weeds can produce a great looking lawn over the course of just a few seasons.

I saw a report somewhere, it may have even been at hgtv.com about how a nice looking lawn alone can increase the selling price of a home by about 5%.

[FMF]

Jeremy --

Do you make house calls?

My yard could use a doctor! ;-)

[Minimum Wage]

Are you sure you want to increase the value of your home? I don't see how that could be a productive investment for you. :)

I went to MSU and all I got was a worthless liberal arts degree.

[Kim]

I think that a well kept garden, does help with the selling price of ones home. The garden is the first thing that the potential buyer see's when entering the property, its like the first impression, and that has to be good.