Does Landscaping a Garden Add Value to your Property?

If you are a lover of plants or a gardener, then you must be right now in your happy place. All the dangers of frost have passed, the air is quite warm, the sun shines every day, and the flowers are blooming. Also, your vegetable garden might be coming in. All of your window boxes and ornamental pots are looking incredible.

So, you might be considering what else you can plant in your beautiful garden or how to expand and make it look more amazing. However, is it going to add value to your property? Not all of us stay in a forever home forever. Many people eventually have to sell their houses. So, does a garden or any kind of landscaping add value to your property?

You may be surprised to know that the answer is no. Not every garden adds value to your property. However, many types of landscaping do add a lot of value. If you are considering what to add next to your garden, then this article can provide you with some good recommendations.

 

The Enhanced Value of Gardening

People always use terms, such as curb appeal when they talk about home value. There are even shows on television regarding gardening, which are completely dedicated to producing a lush outdoor area for raising your home’s value.

There is no denying that great curb appeal definitely goes a long way to get people into your house when you like to sell it. This helps in getting net higher offers as compared to a lackluster exterior of your house. However, there is not a concrete number for an ROI for landscaping but usually, it tends to be higher. Several reports suggest around a 150% return on investment, while some go over 200% ROI and up to 1000%.

If the usual advice of a realtor is precise, then it does pay in dollars if you take additional care of your landscaping and lawn. Although it depends entirely on what things you are paying attention to, it is important to consider the basics.

 

Basic Tasks of Home Gardening

• Edging
• Weeding
• Mulching
• Stone planters
• Well-cared and well-placed deciduous trees
• Flagstone walkways
• Putting in colors with perennials, flowering shrubs, and annuals
• Taking care of the grass for making it green and full, preferably with no chemicals

 

Gardening Strategies for Adding Value

When it comes to creating an appealing landscape, there are lots of things to consider. By employing some gardening strategies, your garden will appeal not just to your guest and family, but also to potential buyers.

For this, you need to read up something on your property’s architectural style and complement your landscaping style to the same. Another way is to look for the low-maintenance, most attractive plants for creating the bulk of your landscaping or garden and put in some bright annuals.

Here, you can go for the perfect perennials. You should choose the plants that thrive well in your region with minimal watering. Select plants and then mulch enough that potential buyers do not find a weeding nightmare in the future. So, the golden rule is to invest around 10% of the house’s value in landscaping. This is to get back all that you have spent over many years or upfront.

Cost-Effective Landscaping Tips

If you are looking for some cost-effective tips to improve the curb appeal of your home, then consider the following things:

• Ensure that your grass is green, full, edged, and mown.
• Paint the front door and buy modern house numbers.
• Add potted flowering plants near your door.
• Ensure that your garden is well-mulched and weed-free.

 

How Gardening Can Subtract Your Home’s Value

While adding value to your garden through gardening, there are chances you can go all wrong with it. This is when you overdo it. It is not that you should stop cultivating the lush rose garden that you have always desired for. However, here are some examples that could hurt you in the long run!

1. Front Yard Gardens

Many gardeners see pictures of old-fashioned, lush gardens with tiny meandering paths. We long to create that kind of wonder for our visitors. The problem with those gardens is that they require a lot of time and energy. People are just going to see your years of that painstaking work.

2. Extensive Landscaping

It looks like a burden! Many potential homeowners will see extensive landscaping in that way. Whereas one can take care of grass easily, landscaping needs work, including dead-heading, weeding, watering, and mulching.

So, you need to think carefully while expanding your garden way too much. Instead, you can go for hardscape, which is attractive, low-maintenance, and modern. For example, a pergola, a fire pit, a low deck, or a flagstone walkway.

3. Shrubs Around the Front Door

Do you find flowering, huge shrubs appealing to your eyes? Those shrubs that you love, could be an eyesore to other persons. So, it is better to get rid of them if you have placed some in front of your home. They actually hide your house. So, it does not matter how beautiful they are, they can subtract your house’s value.

4. Vegetable Gardens

Vegetable gardens look wonderful. Who would not like to move into a new house having a garden plot already fenced-off and tilled? However, the only problem is that not everyone likes to grow a vegetable garden.

With no actual growing plants, it is just an unadorned patch of dirt with an unappealing fence around it. That’s why raised beds may be a nicer option if you do not intend to stay in that place forever.

 

Takeaway

It is a good thing to do landscaping and gardening at your place. However, if you are not going to live there forever, the best thing is to take good care of all the basics before you opt for high-maintenance plants and landscaping. Additionally, if you are considering to add value to your property, then you cannot definitely go wrong with colorful, bright annuals in window planters and pots across your house’s front.