Planting the Seeds for a Successful Home Sale

Are you trying to sell your home? One way to rise above the competition is to add curb appeal.

Color, especially flowers, gets properties noticed. But trees add the greatest value, according to the American Nursery and Landscape Association, so start them first.

Take pictures of the garden at its showiest times to show prospective buyers the possibilities. My clients have told me that new owners welcomed photos and information about their plants. Even buyers who are razing a house and starting over like to see a property's potential.

Here are some landscape design concepts and guidelines to enhance the front of your property, where, obviously, curb appeal begins:

Balance. Both sides of a property should be equally weighted in front, such as with a large tree to one side and shrubs to the other. The ornamental plantings should show off the entire front yard, not hide the house. Sweep beds wide, eight to 12 feet, around the front corners of the house, with a vertical element, such as holly, Hinoki false cypress, star magnolia, Allegheny or arrowwood viburnum, anchoring it to the landscape. It makes the house appear more expansive, while large plants placed tightly against the wall will make the house look smaller.

Sequence. Design beds so that plants are sequenced -- low plants to the front, taller ones to the back of the bed. This is why large beds are most effective. There should be room for a wide variety of foliage and color, with each plant installed in large enough groupings to have impact. The front of the bed might hold candytuft in filtered sun, backed by several dwarf weigela, a compact plant with maroon foliage, and some daphnes and azaleas in the middle for mid-spring color and early spring fragrance. Back these plants with Iroquois or Oneida viburnum, bred for their flowers, berries, attractiveness to birds and fall color. Fill in with assorted groupings of shade-tolerant perennials and annuals that flower at various times throughout the growing season. This type of arrangement needs a bed 12 to 15 feet deep to accommodate mature plants.

Comfortable entry. You should not need a sign to find the door. The entry should be a comfortable and inviting configuration that takes you to the entrance in the most efficient manner. Make your walkway at least 42 inches wide, with a grade of no more than 5 percent. If steps are necessary, always plan at least two; a single one is a "trip step." Build each riser a maximum of six inches high. Make the part you step on (the tread) at least 14 inches deep.

Landscape lighting. Use this for aesthetics, security and safety. Illuminate the entry. Down-light from trees overhead, and use a few lights against the house and on plants with an interesting growth habit. Invite buyers to drive by in the evening to experience your home in a completely different light.

Color, texture and form. For the greatest impact, use sweeps of the same or similar colors. Look for shrubs with interesting architectural form and texture, fall color, berries, flowers, summer leaf color, and foliage variations. Choose shrubs for their year-round ornamental value, especially if you don't know when you will be selling. Some shrubs and trees offer 12-month interest, such as kousa dogwood with spring flowers, edible summer fruits, fall color and a winter bark that is mottled tan and brown. Virginia sweetspire ( Itea virginica) has at least three seasons of interest. It displays deep maroon stems in winter and thick-textured, maroon fall foliage. It's forming panicles of flower buds now that will open into eye-catching, white, fragrant, horizontally growing panicles in late spring and summer.

Containers. They can enhance any entry and wow a prospective buyer. Almost any plant that can be placed in the ground can be grown in a container, including annuals, perennials, vegetables, shrubs and trees. And almost any object that will hold soil can serve as a container, as long as it has holes punched for drainage. You can install trees, shrubs, annuals, perennials, and most fruits and vegetables, provided that the container is of a proper size for the plants.

Containers offer tremendous versatility. You can have plantings in places they wouldn't ordinarily grow, such as on a deck or patio, a balcony, or a roof. They can provide a garden around homes that have no space for a traditional garden and will help overcome poor soil aeration and drainage.

The greatest risks of container gardening are drying and drainage. Container plantings are much more susceptible to drought than flora planted directly in the ground. Watering at the time of planting is essential. Containers, especially hanging baskets, might require watering every day during the summer if they are in the sun. While clay pots are more aesthetically appealing from a design standpoint, plastic or fiberglass that looks like clay will be far better for moisture retention. Plastic containers don't "breathe," so they won't need to be watered as often as clay. Plastic is also light and easy to move around.

Repetition. Repeating plants in mass and repeating the same colors in large sweeps has an eye-catching effect. So if you are planting black-eyed Susans in full sun for selling a house over the next several months, plant them in groups of three to five in several open sunny beds. They seldom fail to get attention, and you can assure the buyer that they will return annually. Bath's pink dianthus is another good plant for fragrant flowers, just fading now. It also forms an evergreen mat of blue-green foliage that has spread six feet over asphalt and flagstone in four years on our property.

Sculpture. Place a special piece of outdoor art, or feature a specimen plant near the entry. But use only a piece or two. The sculpture should serve as the contrasting element, with the garden plants dominating and the specimen or sculpture as a focal point.

Proportion. Design plants in proportion to the size of your home or property. A large home can accommodate larger plantings than a small property. However, all yards tend to expand when they are broken into smaller, room-size areas. So even small properties can be subdivided to create a more expansive feeling.

All of these ideas and suggestions will help you make your property pop.

Joel M. Lerner is president of Environmental Design in Capitol View Park, Md. E-mail or contact him through his Web site, http://www.gardenlerner.com.