August 2009 Archives

At some point, you’ve driven by or visited a house that just grabbed your attention the moment you saw it. I’m not talking about the look of the house itself per se. I’m referring to the overall good feeling or karma you experienced as you took in the view. You can give “curb appeal” credit for that.

Curb Appeal is just what the name implies. The appeal of a house and landscape as you view it from the street or curb. It has nothing to do with the size or grandeur of the house. Instead, it relates to the sense of balance and harmony of the landscaping with the house; call it the ying and yang. It’s often a personal experience, sometimes difficult to put into words. Many times what gives a house curb appeal are the collective subtleties throughout the landscape. But here are some specifics to help you zero in on making your own landscape more curb appealing.

Scale
When plants and trees are of an appropriate size to the house, they are “in scale”. They are neither too large nor small. They fit with the overall structure. Trees and shrubs don’t overpower the house, yet at the same time, you don’t have to strain to notice them.

Balance
I refer to balance in a landscape as visual weight. You don’t have to have a mirror, symmetrical image of the right side plantings with the left, although in a formal landscape this is often the case. For most homes, an informal landscape is more appropriate and inviting from the street. Yet, symmetry can still be achieved in an informal way by placing trees and shrubs or even flowers so that generally what’s on one side mimics the other, through size, form, layers, texture and color.

Curves
As you face the house, what’s more inviting, a dead straight walkway leading from the house out to the road or sidewalk, or one that has a gentle serpentine curve? For most homes, the latter is more inviting. The same goes for bed lines. In a formal landscape, straight lines are the norm rather than the exception. But curb-appealing homes most often are characterized by soft eye pleasing curved walks and beds. They seem to say, stroll on up here, have a seat and stay a while; you’re welcome here. Conversely, (to me anyway), straight lines say, hurry up, get your business done and move on. Now I realize that seems a bit harsh, and it is an over generalization but it makes my point.

Odd Numbers
When planting beds, especially when using shrubs or trees, think in terms of odd numbered quantities.  From a design standpoint, our eye tends to be more comfortable with odd numbers of plants such as 1,3,5…9,etc. In most home landscapes, a more informal, asymmetrical look and feel is appropriate.  Odd numbered plantings help to accomplish this. The exception would be a formal landscape design when you are deliberately trying to achieve symmetry in which case, even numbers and mirror images work best.

Color
One of the easiest ways to help create curb appeal is by choosing plant colors that compliment the house, without being distracting. In fact, in a house with curb appeal, the landscape plants blend together seamlessly with the house color scheme. Don’t place much weight on flower color. That is fleeting. Instead choose plants for their foliage color, and remember to consider their fall display.

Layers
On the theme of casual balance, layers mimic nature and nature is the best case of curb appeal on a grand scale. Layers abound, from groundcovers up to the tallest trees, up to seven layers total. Don’t feel like you must include every layer in your curb appealing landscape but its not hard to do and the variety will make such a positive difference.

Variety
Speaking of variety, landscapes that are pleasing to the eye do so by mixing it up. Having said that, you can easily overdo it. Just like with loud colors, too many plant types can be confusing and distracting to the eye. A few groupings of different plants, trees and shrubs, provide enough change without overdoing it.

If you’re ready to add some personality and charm to your front yard start by asking yourself, what’s not working in the current landscape? Then apply the concepts above and you’re on your way to having your own curb appealing landscape.

Living in the real world version of Mayberry (seriously, Andy Griffith grew up here in Mount Airy, NC so Mayberry is modeled after us), Barney Fife is an icon I see nearly every day. If you’ve ever watched the show, and who hasn’t, you likely know of his one trusty bullet, dutifully resting in his upper shirt pocket. It’s always at the ready should a time come (God forbid) that he’d ever have to load it into the chamber. If I were Barney, I’m not sure I’d take great comfort in having just one bullet, or in my case, one tool, to take care of whatever challenge is before me.

For me, narrowing down the tool choices to just one would be nearly impossible.  I have gardening tools I’ve never used, tools I’ve never seen, and tools I’ve seen that I don’t even know what they’re for. I certainly don’t need them all, but I can’t get by with just one either. I have my favorites and I know what I like.  In the spirit of a Barney’s six-shooter, let’s load it up six of my favorite tools for in and around the garden.

1.    Pruners, but not just any pruners. I rarely head out into the garden with my Fiskars PowerGear Bypass pruners. I was a fan of these long before my relationship with Fiskars. But now that I’ve had the opportunity to demonstrate them to other more skeptical consumers, seeing is believing and I believe we’ve converted many a gardener over to the PowerGear design. For the money, there’s no better pruner on the market. Better yet, it, along with other Fiskars models are the only ones certified by The Arthritis Foundation for the prestigious Ease-of-use Commendation. I already loved them. But the older I get, the more attached I become.

2.    If I’m heading out to the garden with only one tool in my hand (and pruners on the hip), it’s my favorite weeding tool, the CobraHead. Many weeds have deep taproots and without the right tool to extract them all, the weed will quickly grow back.  That’s no longer a problem with the CobraHead. It’s like a steel fingernail.  I actually derive great pleasure in popping tough weeds out after plunging the CobraHead into the soil and under the weed and roots.

3.    When it comes to watering, I found a nozzle a few years ago that I can’t live without. It’s called the Dual-flo nozzle and here’s why I like it so much. First, it blasts out a high-pressure stream of water, more powerful then those cheap, flimsy models. But the beauty is in how with one simple turn of a lever on the handle, the flow is diverted to a gentle trickle; perfect for watering a thirsty container of filling a soapy bucket.

4.    For working the soil, a lot of people would turn to their trusty tiller, if they had one. Not me. My favorite tool for turning the soil, and I use it often, is my old-fashioned garden fork. With tines wider than a pitchfork, it’s broad enough to actually turn the soil. And with the thickness of the steel tines, nothing can stop it. Unfortunately, my antique hardwood handle broke a few years ago. But I was able to replace it with an even better version made by Fiskars.

5.    I’m not sure gardening gloves count as tools, but every gardener has a pair or two and I’m no exception. But, there’s really only one pair of gloves for me that I wear on all but the toughest jobs: Atlas Gloves. They fit like a surgeons glove but have all the feel you’ll ever need. And they’re so comfortable I almost forget I have them on. For a price around six bucks, buy several pairs. They’re well worth it and last surprisingly long.

6.    I’m a big composter and fan of mulch. I use both all the time. Not long ago, I found a tool that I love that lives in my compost pile but when I need to spread mulch or scoop up either, I use the Unifork, by Union Jack. Unlike heavy metal forks that can rust, and stainless steel that can be expensive, the Unifork is lightweight and made of very strong plastic so it can be left outside (right by your compost pile) with never a concern of rusting or frostbitten hands from grabbing a cold metal handle. The sides of the Unifork are slightly raised and it works much like a scoop or shovel and the rounded tips provide a better way to scoop mulch or compost from the surface without getting the prongs stuck in the ground.

Simple tools that provide great results are always a favorite of mine. Over the years, I think I’ve settled into a few tools I’ll never be without…but I’m always looking. So now that you know about some of my favorites, what’s in your tool arsenal that you can’t live without?