Easy Landscaping and Curb Appeal for Florida Homes

by: Bob Lipply

The idea that an appealing outside is your best offense for intriguing potential buyers is based on the simple concept that first impressions really count. The great thing about learning some key elements of landscaping is that you can apply them to a home that you are just settling into, as well as one you are about to sell. For those who are selling or buying real estate in Tampa Bay Florida, some extra curb appeal advice will go a long way.

Florida is popular for nature-lovers. Instead of trying to keep up with garden hobbyists, present a clean, green impression, rather than a mini-arboretum. The decluttered impression that you want for the inside, should apply to the outside. Imagine a buyer coming to view your Tampa Bay Florida real estate house and all they can think is either, “how will I keep up with all those tropical flower beds?” or “how long will it take me to undo all of this?” Not that you should tear down all your hard work from a spectacular garden; just be sure to have it freshly pruned, trimmed and weeded for buyers, so they don’t feel like they have to have a green thumb if they want to buy your home.

Select your plants according to how much sun and water they need. Then, focus on buying smaller selections (or larger if your budget allows) of some of Florida’s award-winning specimens like the East Indian Holly Fern, which is wonderful for mass ground cover, and the Dwarf Golden Dewdrop for a beautiful border shrub with its yellow-gold leaves. Make up for size with color, with the purple-blooming Princess Flower, or the Yellow Elder, that will grow quickly (up to eight or ten feet tall). The plants you pick should attract the eyes to the house with their complimentary shades. For example, forest green trim on a house is complimented by shrubs with yellow leaves, and homes with neutral features can always use a few splashes of dramatic color in their landscaping.

Take a picture of the front of your house with you as you visit nurseries and garden shops. Garden professionals can suggest which colors and varieties will work best for your particular home. They should also be able to tell you what kind of mulch, pebble or lava stones you should use for each. The colors of these can also add a lovely contrast of color.

Plant a few annuals near the mailbox and an odd number of shrubs or hedges in front of the house to create depth. Make your house inviting with colors that compliment, but don’t complicate. If your house is basic in design, plant a few romantic Magnolias or exotic Calathea to break up the lines. Likewise, a house with a modern exterior can be dressed down for the conservative eye with neatly trimmed Serissa Foetida hedges and simple splashes of annuals.

If you want something even more simple, try buying big, decorative pots and filling them with a few shades of hardy flowers. This takes care of catching the eyes of the buyer, yet implies the perfect level of impermanence for the more fickle-natured. You can offer to leave the pots, or take them with you if the buyer doesn’t want them. This can be a quick fix for those who are trying to move, sell and maintain a family and full-time job at the same time. There are plenty of ways to get elaborate with landscaping, but if you need to keep things easy, focus on complimentary colors, hearty specimens and as neat of an exterior as possible, so buyers and visitors will see your house as a breath of fresh, tropical air

About The Author

Bob Lipply is a licensed broker associate with Remax Realtec in Palm Harbor, Florida. He has many years of experience in selling Tampa Bay Florida Real Estate and has helped many families relocate to Florida and find their dream homes. Visit his website at http://www.lipplyrealestate.com or contact him direct at 1-888-423-5775. e-mail address is info@lipplyrealestate.com

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Great Tips for Backyard Landscaping

by: Morgan Hamilton

Backyard landscaping is absolutely vital if you own your home. There is nothing quite like a groomed and cared for garden. If you really want to feel your home as being “your fortress” you’d better start thinking about your individual style of backyard landscaping. It is a process that will take some time, but will make your backyard look really amazing!

The first thing you need to start with, is check which kind of backyard landscape you like to have in your garden. There are a lot of styles: you can have the garden full of trees, flower beds, vegetable beds. But plants take a lot of time to look after. If you are one of those hard-workers, who spend their entire day in full-time activities, you’d better start working on another backyard landscaping project.

One such project can rely more on stable decoration than on planting to make to whole outlook better. You can use a lot of decorative materials to make your backyard. First of all, you can cover some of the soil, which you don’t intend to use for planting, with plastic bags or other type of isolation materials. Then, you can make several footpaths that would wind across your garden. You may as well put some decorative stones all around, so that your garden looks really like an enchanted backyard of a castle.

You may as well plant hedges and see the glorious results of its growing in different shape according to the way you liked it! Planting ivy on your wall opposite your backyard is also a nice landscaping idea! It will make the whole atmosphere different, and even if you don’t have too much time for growing plants, an ivy will suffice in producing the effect of your backyard being green with different plants.Another important thing when trying to improve your backyard landscape, is to plan in advance exactly how much time and money you will need to make your projects.

It all depends on your job and your creativeness. If you come up with a nice and cheap idea, which is not time consuming at all, that would be the perfect solution! It is not important to feel under stress and press yourself to make backyard landscaping that you simply cannot afford. It is nice when you go for ideas that best fit your pocket as well as your willingness to work.When you do your best, there is nothing more rewarding to the praise of your friends and neighbors and their appreciation of what you’ ve done! Invite the people you like to see and assess your backyard landscaping. They may give some other useful ideas, which may motivate you to work further on.

Backyard landscaping should be done in a way that it stress your house , and enhance the influence of your personality. It should be done with a personal touch, because it is your unique area that you are trying to improve! It all depends on you, try it the way you feel like it. Remember that keeping things as simple as possible is also an option. Backyard landscaping shouldn’t be too complicated, as it would be hard to maintain the whole area afterwards.

About The Author
Morgan Hamilton offers expert advice and great tips regarding all aspects concerning gardening. Get more information by visiting http://www.groovygardening.com/gardening-information/gardening-tips/great-tips-for-backyard-landscaping.html.

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Landscaping…How Does Your Garden grow

by: Lisa French
The landscaping of the exterior areas around your house should be as personal in taste as your interior decoration.

A driveway and garden are usually the first impressions a visitor has of your home. They should always be as trim and well cared for as your house itself.

Naturally, landscaping, like most things, depends on individual taste. Some people prefer a wild, natural look in gardens and outdoor areas. Others prefer the clipped hedges, planned walks, planting and ordered flower borders of the stylized English garden.

Before planning your landscape, check the zoning regulations of your community, if you live in the city. This must be the first step, as many zoning laws determine the limitations on the height of trees, shrubs and other foilage, and their placement. Interior and corner lots often differ in these respects.

The cost of landscaping varies with each house, as does the planning. The location of the house on the property, the size, shape and elaborateness of areas planned for trees, shrubs, lawn and flowers are of course the controlling factors. The larger, more intricate garden naturally cost more than a smaller area.

Here are some good basic pointers to remember when planning your landscaping.

Privacy – Shrubs, bushes, a cluster of trees can serve as screens from adjoining properties, walks, roads and create a park like effect at the same time. Clever landscaping of a patio, terrace or swimming pool adds to their usability and attractiveness, also provides perfect privacy.

Integration – A driveway should be fully blended with the foilage to create an attractive first impression of your property. The proportion of trees, grass, shrubs, bushes and flowers should be carefully balanced with concrete, graveled, asphalt or flagstone driveways to dispense with a paved, sidewalk effect.

Shade – A single, large tree may be a joy to look at, but make sure it does not obscure the house or shade it too much. Plant a tree or cluster of trees at the edge of the lawn, so that you get the most benefit from the shade on hot days. Make sure the trees do not overhang swimming pools or sun patios, and obscure the sun. Also bear in mind that trees near a pool mean falling leaves and debris to clean out of the water constantly.

Levels – A garden on flat land can be planted with little regard to change in grade (level). Some land is not totally flat, so do not overlook grading problems in your plans. However, a garden that has more than one level is more interesting and much more effective designs can be achieved. But, naturally, the cost are higher.

Drainage – If you are designing your own garden before calling in a landscaper, remember to settle the drainage problems first, or discuss it with the expert. You don’t want puddles, ruined turf or plants, so settle the drainage system in the beginning.

Basic Planting – Once your design is complete, you have two courses you can follow in the planting plan. If your budget allows you to do the whole planting job at once, the sequence should be as follows: plant trees and shrubs first, then sod or seed your lawn. Should it be neccessary to carry your landscaping over a period of years, plant lawn first, add trees, shrubs and flowers later when you can afford it.

Plans – Your garden requires landscape plans, just as the interior of your home. If you have definite ideas about what you want, and the effect you wish to achieve, draw up some rough plans on graph paper. Then you can discuss the project fully with the landscaper. If you are an amateur gardener and wish to do your landscaping yourself, you will not need a set of plans to determine each area of your property.

About The Author

Lisa French is a freelance writer of home decorating articles and webmaster for Decorating-Country-Home.com. Use of article requires an active link to http://www.decorating-country-home.com/landscaping.html

 

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