5 Ways to Boost Your Home’s Curb Appeal with Flowers
5 Ways to Boost Your Home’s Curb Appeal with Flowers
By Susan Martin for Proven Winners
Photographs courtesy of Proven Winners
When you take a walk around your neighborhood, there are probably a few houses that always stand out to you as your favorites. Maybe they have a beautiful garden in front or an extra special front porch. If you’ve been wondering how you could make the front of your home look prettier too, we have five ideas for you here. By making a few simple enhancements using flowers, you can achieve fantastic curb appeal.
Selling your home? A study conducted by Michigan State University showed that putting in effort to enhance your home’s curb appeal can increase its perceived value by 5-11% to prospective buyers. It can also make your home sell faster. After all, first impressions make lasting impressions.
1. Add hanging baskets
One of the simplest things you can do to boost your home’s curb appeal is to add hanging baskets to the front porch. They instantly make it feel friendlier, plus well-tended baskets show people you care about keeping up your home. The baskets pictured at this home are filled with sun loving Supertunia Mini Vista® Pink Star petunias. You can also try our Container Garden Recipe Search tool to find a hanging basket recipe that will work with the colors of your home here.
2. Install window boxes
The structure of this brick bungalow already has great curb appeal. Installing window boxes under the front windows draws your eye, gives the home a more cheerful look, and softens the hard lines of the windows. Purple tones were used in the window boxes and pots on top of the front pillars to complement the reds of the brick. Supertunia® petunias, Sweet Caroline sweet potato vines and Diamond Frost® euphorbia fill these boxes. Find more window box recipes for sun and shade here.
3. Bring in matching planters and add unique hardware
Matching planters have a more formal feel to them, especially when they contain plants that have a defined shape like these Pinpoint® Blue false cypress. At this home, the shrubs remain in the porch pots year-round while the surrounding flowers are changed out seasonally. Find complete details about these four-season planters here.
Unique hardware used at your front entrance, whether it is an iron grate on the door, matching lanterns or new address numbers, will all help to boost your home’s curb appeal.
4. Create a welcoming front porch
If you want your home to have a “door’s always open” feel to welcome in family and friends, spend some effort to create a welcoming front porch. Several things are working in tandem at the home pictured here to give it that feel.
Warm colors tend to draw people in. The buttery yellow paint, warm red brick, and coral-red furniture on this porch all say, “We’re glad you are here.” The bench, chairs and tables where friends gather here were all picked up at a local flea market and painted to match. A contrasting shade of bright blue on the door creates an extra pop of color from the street. Beachside Drive planters add the finishing touch to this friendly home.
5. Use strong lines softened with flowers.
The architecture of some homes is so amazing that they just exude curb appeal. That’s the case with this unique stone home in southern Illinois. However, the age of this home could make it feel outdated if it weren’t for a few special elements added to the surrounding garden.
First, notice the strong lines of the curved garden beds, stone walls and pathway leading up to the front door. These lines create order in the space and make it obvious to visitors where they should enter. Well-defined bed edges and a repetition of plantings in each bed give them a more formal feel.
Also, see how the brightly colored pink, purple and lime green flowers brighten up this otherwise neutral colored space. Overflowing pots of Supertunia® petunias, pink geraniums and Snow Princess® sweet alyssum greet people at the entrance while smooth hydrangeas like Incrediball® brighten and soften the area behind the rock wall. The addition of these plants, coupled with the home’s unique architecture, is what makes its curb appeal so strong.
Patent Information: Supertunia Mini Vista® Pink Star Petunia USPP28028 Can5517; Diamond Frost® Euphorbia USPP17567 Can2830; Pinpoint® Blue Chamaecyparis lawsonianaUSPP30707; Snow Princess® LobulariaUSPP21594Can4189; Incrediball® Hydrangea arborescensUSPP20571, Can4166
Susan Martin is an avid zone 6 gardener and professional garden communicator who enjoys spreading her passion for plants to her fellow gardeners across North America.
All articles are copyrighted and remain the property of the author.
By Heirloom Roses
Images courtesy of Heirloom Roses
Insects can create quite a headache for rose lovers. But think about a proactive approach for your garden’s health instead of a reactive response once the pests arrive.
Think beneficial insects. Click here for an informative article on the topic.
Click here to sign up for our monthly NEWSLETTER packed with great articles and helpful tips for your home, garden and pets!
