Essential Landscaping Tips and Tricks

Details such as landscaping designs and quality craftsmanship in a home can make a dramatic first impression on prospective home buyers. D. Fritz Appraisals Inc. has decades of experience and ideas to help homeowners increase the curb appeal of their homes.

Industry experts agree home landscaping provides an excellent return on investment. From simply edging your front walkway to creating a luxurious backyard paradise, carefully planning your project will yield the best results.

Don’t overlook the power that landscaping can have in a competitive real estate market. Join us as we cover 5 standout landscaping tips and backyard landscaping designs to increase your home’s appeal (and value!) and make a lasting impact.

1. Planning Is Paramount

A simple plan keeps you on track and inspires you to dive into your outdoor transformation. Carefully considering your landscaping goals will help you keep your project on time and within budget.

Let’s start with a bit of elbow grease:

Cleaning up broken pots and planters, removing dead plants, trimming overgrown trees and pulling weeds will go a long way to help get any landscaping project started. Best of all, they’re free.
From here, move on to repairs, like replacing rotting deck boards and loose railings, fixing anything that could raise red flags with real estate agents & prospective buyers.
Finally, when ready, you can tackle the more significant projects on your checklist.

For more complex aspects of your plan, hire a professional landscaping company to ensure your design is accurate and achievable. Their expertise will ensure your outdoor design is well-balanced and elevates your property’s overall style.

Prefer to keep it simple? Here are a few straightforward backyard landscaping designs that will have a significant effect without being overwhelming.

Plant evergreen shrubs and low-maintenance grasses for year-round colour
Create captivating borders with potted plants
Position cozy seating to highlight viewpoints
Define an eating area with a fun all-weather rug
Add trailing vines to a pergola or arbour for shade

From potted plants to luxurious patios, landscaping design options are limitless. Let your budget, timeline and imagination guide your backyard renovation.

2. Plant Trees Strategically To Create A Private Oasis

Potential home buyers highly seek trees and privacy. Why not combine them and reap the benefits of both features? Trees, specifically mature trees, are an excellent way to create low-maintenance privacy barriers that offer shade, filter the air, and, when positioned correctly, can reduce your home’s energy consumption.

When planting trees, you’ll want to keep the following in mind:

Avoid planting trees too close to your house, driveway, plumbing or septic systems. This will prevent encroaching root systems from causing damage and stop branches from brushing against rooftops, siding and windows.
Contact BC 1 Call before you dig to locate buried power lines and save yourself from costly and dangerous power line strikes. It’s free!
Plant as early as possible. Some tree species require several decades to reach maturity.

Check out your local nursery or seek advice from a landscaping expert to ensure that you’re choosing native plants and trees that are low maintenance and are most likely to survive in your specific climate.

3. Brighten Your Outdoor Living Space With Landscape Lighting

Imagine your outdoor oasis backlit with soft lighting while guests gather around your patio’s fire pit. Outdoor lighting is the perfect way to extend your time on your beautiful backyard deck or patio.

Not only does it create an atmospheric entertaining area, but lighting also improves safety along walkways, stairs and steep drop-offs. Targeted lighting enhances home security, highlights architectural features and can help showcase landscaping.

With a wide range of options from solar to LED to hard-wired, there’s sure to be a light that will fit your style.

4. Give Your Front Walkway a Facelift

Potential buyers are judging a home from the moment they set foot on the property, and an attractive front walkway could make or break a future sale. These simple and affordable landscaping tips will help create a welcoming front pathway to ensure buyer interest.

Ensure your pathway is weed-free
Replace broken pavers
Power-wash the grime away
Add fresh mulch to gardens
Remove dead plants lining walkways
Add a clean edge to walkways and gardens

If you’re looking for design inspiration, Better Homes & Gardens is a great jumping-off point for garden pathway ideas.

5. Add An Eye-Catching Pop Of Colour

A bold pop of colour in the garden will undoubtedly draw a prospective buyer’s eye. Shrubs that bloom with brightly coloured flowers such as red or pink can be impactful. Red is often the first colour the human eye notices and stands out nicely against a backdrop of green leaves.

A carefully planned garden with plants that flower at different times throughout the year will brighten your walkways and garden beds year-round. Adding large plants will anchor your garden design as they are noticeable from a distance. However, don’t let the foliage overflow and crowd around doorways or windows.

Consider consulting with a landscape designer to select flowers and plants that accentuate your home’s colour palette. For example, with the proper lighting, white, cream and pastel blooms give the illusion that the flowers glow at night.

Don’t forget the greenery, after all, what’s a garden without green? Green shrubs, grasses and tree foliage are the foundation of a memorable garden.

D. Fritz Appraisals Valuations Will Optimize Your Landscaping Dollar

A home valuation with D. Fritz Appraisals will help you determine which landscaping designs will increase your home’s value the most. Our recommended listing prices result in quick home sales and command top-dollar returns.

Serving Victoria to Nanaimo and the Gulf Islands of British Columbia, our professional appraisers prioritize understanding the West Coast marketplace trends.

Let our team of expert property appraisers, certified by the Appraisal Institute of Canada, guide your landscaping design decisions with a comprehensive, accurate valuation.

Contact D. Fritz Appraisals Inc. today for a professional and tailored appraisal report to meet your lending, selling, and appraising needs.