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LANDSCAPING

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GOOD LANDSCAPING INCREASES YOUR HOME VALUE BY AT LEAST 10%

Landscaping increases home value

In general, you can feel good knowing that your landscape project will be a real investment in your home if you are spending about 10% of your home value.  Certainly, some projects will yield more than others ... we can talk about that together.  Certainly if you spend nothing at all, your home value will diminish, making your home appear uncared for and, oftentimes, either barren or overgrown.

 

Here are a few helpful articles:

 

Washington Post, April 2015

 

Homeguides SF Gate

ARE THE DEER EATING YOU OUT OF HOUSE AND HOME?

Deer with attitude

I know.  I get it.  

 

They are so cute, but they are eating all of your plants.  There are two ways you can go ...

 

There are some plants deer love love love, and there are some they just don't want. They don't want anything thick, anything with a strong taste or smell, anything that has a weird texture. However,  like many picky toddlers, they might nibble these things when they are super  hungy.  

 

So for you, I limit your plant selection to plants that are deer-resistant. That's number one.

 

Second, for any plants we are worried about, you can spray them with a deer repellent.  You can find this at most garden centers.  There are several different types ... they smell just horrible when you spray them, but the scent in your yard goes away ... it just stays on the plant, and the deer don't like it.  It also comes in a granular form.  

 

This helps a LOT,  but there really is no 100% guarantee.  Deer have even been known to eat tender new growth on thorny things like hollies and roses!

PLEASE DO NOT TOP YOUR CRAPE MYRTLES

Crape murder comparison

Crape myrtles bloom on the new stems that grow in the spring. Because of this, years ago landscapers thought perhaps if they forced all new growth, crape myrtles would bloom even more ... so they began the practice of topping, or harshly cutting, crape myrtles.  Studies have long-since shown this does NOT produce more flowers at all.  Worse, all of this new skinny, dense, Chia-Pet-looking growth is largely unsupported and it flops over, is more prone to pests and diseases, and just looks horrible.

 

Many professions call this practice "crape murder." 

 

You should prune your crape myrtle as a tree ... thinning out the branches that grow toward the middle and pruning to create a pretty, open, supported tree.  

 

If your crape myrtle is too tall for its space, then you have selected the wrong variety of crape myrtle.  There are many different kinds of crape myrtles, ranging from short ground-hugging ones all the way to over 30 feet tall.  

 

Click the photo to see the photo a little better ... I found these crape myrtles in two yards next door to each other recently.  The one on the left has been pruned properly ... see how pretty it is?  And the one on the right has been a victim of "crape murder"... see how awful it is?

WHEN SHOUD YOU PLANT YOUR ANNUALS?

Annual flowers at mailbox

Annuals are the flowers you plant that only last half a year. Their job is to bloom their heads off all season and then they want to set seed.  They don't really seed reliably and where we want them to,  so we pull them and plant new annuals. You have warm season annuals and cool season annuals, so we have two different planting seasons.  

 

You will have a nice long growing season if you aim to plant your spring/summer annuals by MOTHER'S DAY and your fall/winter annuals by HALLOWEEN.  If you don't hit those marks, don't stress ... a bit after is fine, but this is a great way to remember!

© 2020 Staci's Outdoor Living
 

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