How to Add Curb Appeal with Landscaping – Curb Appeal Hop Week 2

Hi guys! Welcome back to week 2 of our Curb Appeal Hop hosted by Deb at Seeking Lavender Lane.  If this is your first time here over the next few weeks 10 of my blogging friends and I will be sharing different ideas for improving the curb appeal of our houses.  If you missed week 1, you can find that here.  This week I am sharing how to add curb appeal to the front of your house by choosing the right landscaping.

Curb Appeal Landscaping

Here’s what our farmhouse looked like last week.  We had some pretty plants and shrubs already but the biggest problem with the curb appeal of the landscaping was that our front door was hidden.  I loved the look of the evergreen rounded look of the boxwood shrubs we had in the front but I really didn’t like that they blocked the view of the front door.  It was really important to us to have a clear sight line to the front.

The other main problem we saw with the front of our farmhouse’s curb appeal was that there was a lot of stone and tan siding making the house look very long and rigid or stiff.  One way to break up all those hard materials was to add some greenery.  The first thing we did after digging a few plants out was add a tree, a Hawthorn tree.

Adding a tree was also a great way to add  more shade to the front of our house.

I chose a Winter King Hawthorn tree because it has year round interest.

Beautiful grey bark, white flowers in the late spring and red berries in the fall and winter.

I transplanted 6 small hydrangeas from around the yard to go under the Hawthorn tree.  Hydrangeas are my absolute favorite shrub and I wanted to mimic the hydrangeas on the other side of the front walkway.

They haven’t started blooming just yet but they should sometime in the next few weeks.

 

We added 6 dwarf Buford hollies in the front of the bed to add some evergreen color to the front.  I really like the shiny glossy look of the their leaves and they also have pretty white flowers as well as red berries so they compliment the house and the tree we chose very well.

We transplanted some hostas from around the yard to fill in the blank spaces in the front.  I know we will be digging them out again in a few years but hostas are hardy plants that transplant well so I don’t mind the little bit of extra work for the reward of more green color through the spring, summer and fall.

We dug out and moved the boxwoods closer to the house under the kitchen windows where there was plenty of room for them to grow and they would add some green color year round.  I also dug out the 2 Annabelle hydrangeas from the front bed and moved them in place of barberry bushes against the house.

I wanted to place the hydrangeas under the windows so I could appreciate their blooms from inside as well as outside.

This type of hydrangea also tends to get a little droopy in the hot sun so I think moving it closer to the house were it will get more shade and water from the downspouts will make it a little happier:).

We added 2 more evergreens against the house a waxleaf privet, and an Autumn Moon Camellia in between the windows at the front of the house to continue to break up the siding.  At 8 feet tall by 4 feet wide these shrubs should fill in the blank spaces perfectly.  They look so pretty next to a rhododendron that was here when we moved in.  It has such pretty pink blooms.

In the landscaping the front of our farmhouse took a little longer but we found spots for almost everything we dug out which made me happy.  Reusing and transplanting shrubs and perennials we already had helped us save a lot of money because with the exception of a tree and a few evergreen shrubs everything else was free.  Yay for free plants!  We topped the new landscaping off with some new mulch to hide the dirt and keep down the weeds.  Next week we hope to tackle hiding the ugly concrete/ stucco wall that digging out the bushes exposed.

 

Lastly I moved our 2 cedar flower planters down to the driveway, flanking the front entry stairs.  I planted 2 red rose bushes in the planters to add more color and interest to the driveway.

They also smell pretty good too!

We aren’t done yet adding curb appeal to the front of our farmhouse but here’s what we have done so far!

Farmhouse Curb Appeal

• dig out and move the shrubs that are in bad spots in the front and place in better locations in the yard
• add a tree, some evergreens and other small perennials to the front
• hide the ugly short wall in the front
• add more comfortable seating to the front porch
• paint the entryway bench
• change out the front light to one that isn’t as bird friendly and has more of a farmhouse feel
• add more potted plants and porch decor
• time permitting extend the front entrance by adding a pergola

Thanks so much for stopping by & don’t forget to scroll down to check out what my friends are up to this week!!!

Don’t forget to pin My Curb Appeal Landscaping Ideas to your Gardening Boards!

Curb Appeal Hop

Seeking Lavender Lane / Simple Nature Decor / The Deans List / Mom Home Guide

Curly Craft Mom / My Life from Home / Lehman Lane / Knock it Off Kim

Paint Yourself a Smile / A Designer at Home / Our House Now a Home

You May also like these gardening posts from Lehman Lane:

7 Things I Do to get my Garden Ready for Spring

Gardening on a Budget – Free or Discounted Trees & Shrubs

Gardening on a Budget – Free Mulch from the Township

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