14 - Friday, September 18, 1992 ~ North Shore News HOME & GARDEN Landscaping enhances value TREES, SHRUBS, lawn and flowers all combine to increase the beauty and value of your home. Experts in real estate and gardening say that landscaping not only makes your home a more at- tractive place for you, it has the ability to increase its worth to ~ potential buyers. Landscaping need not be pro- hibitively expensive nor difficult to maintain. A simple design, in- cluding a few well-chosen trees and shrubs and well-placed peren- nials, flower bulbs and annuals, will give you the basics for an eye-pleasing exterior. Since most home sales are made in the spring, a garden full of bright blooming tulips, daffodils, crocus, hyacinths and other bulb flowers can add substantially to the appearance of your property. - However, -to have flower bulbs in bloom in the spring, now is the time for acticn. All spring- flowering bulbs nvust be planted in the autumn. Kevan O’Connor, President, Ontario Real Estate Association, says that.a well-landscaped home presents better and sells faster than: a. similar dwelling which lacks yard and garden care. “In fact, poor landscaping can actually detract from the value of a home,”’ Kevan says. “If a prop- erty does not look appealing, ‘ often home shoppers won't even go in. A good first impression can make a big difference.”’ The esthetic and therapeutic values of gardening are well known, according to Chris An- - drews, executive director, Cana- ‘dian Nursery Trades Association. “*We-can all experience great per- sonal pleasure by losing ourselves in the beauty. of plants; nurturing and ‘watching them grow before our eyes,’’ he says. However, there are practical benefits from. gardening, too. For instance, landscaping. can help ‘reduce heating and cooling costs. Deciduous trees will: help’ shield a “.. . home. from: the hot summer sun, . .while conifers (i.e. evergreen trees) protect buildings: and homes from : the chill winter wind. . Andrews says that many * Cana- dians already © recognize the benefits of beautifying their prop- erty and protecting home owner- ship investment. In fact, the lawn and garden industry in this coun- try (which includes plants, decks, gazebos, etc.) amounted to ap- proximately $3.5 billion in con- sumer expenditures in [990. In addition, today we know that maintaining the green space around our homes is also of benefit to the global environment. Plants produce oxygen, while tak- ing in carbon dioxide, and many scientists feel they also play an important role in helping to minimize the effect of pollution. MAKE A PLAN Decks and patios can change the configuration of your lot and should be a focal-point in garden- ing planning. Garden centres and nurseries today offer such a wide variety of plant material and flowers, it’s easy to get carried away. So be- fore you lift a shovel or hoe, put a pen to paper. Make a plan or ask a landscape professiona! to create one for you. Remember that the various plants you choose will look best if they are integrated. Flowers, shrubs and trees can be used to. ’ show each other off to their best advantage. For instance, try mixing ground covers and bulb. flowers; e.g. Crocus and Galanthus (snowdrops) with Vinca minor (periwinkle) or Hedera_ helix (English ivy); Colchicum, ilies and Narcissus with creeping Cotoneaster; Chionodoxa (glory- of-the-snow) and Scilla (squills) with Lysimachia nummularia {commonly called moneywort or creeping Jenny or Charlie), or any of these bulbs with Ajuga reptans {bugleweed), Alyssum saxatile (basket-of-gold), Arabis (wall rock-cress), Thymus (thyme), epimediums, Gypsophila (baby’s-breath), Lamium ‘maculatum (nettle), or mossy Sax- ifraga (saxifrage). Bulbs ‘also make fine compa- nions with shrubs. Ribes Sangiuneum (flowering currant), Mahonia aquifolium (grape holly), or Amelanchier lamarckii (ser- viceberry) light up in combination eminie with daffodils — from the miniatures such as ‘February Gold’ and ‘Hawera’ through the tall, trumpet varieties such as ‘Carlton’ and ‘Golden Harvest’. Try Magnolia stellata (star magnolia) with Muscari armeniacum (grape hyacinth) or Magnolia soulangiana (saucer magnolia) with double, flowering pink tulips, such as ‘Angelique’. Many of the “Tittle”? bulbs work well with shrubs, too; e.g. Anemone blanda, Puschkinia, Chionodoxa (glory-of-the-snow), Scifla’ (squilis) and Galanthus (snowdrops). Tulips — especially those with a tendency for tenacity, sometimes called “perennial’’ tulips — also make stunning companions. Some examples are ‘Toronto’ (red and vermilion), ‘Purissima’ (white), ‘Candela’ (yellow) and ‘Beauty of Apeldoorn’ (magenta with gold rim). Hosta, peonies and other her- baceous perennials produce masses of foliage after the early bulb flowers have died down. By com- bining them, the perennials will help disguise the withering leaves of daffodils, tulips, etc. Grape hyacinths, Muscari armeniacum, works well with the greenish-yellow of Euphorbia polychroma (cushion spurge); large clumps of Alchemilia mollis (lady’s mantle), with their flowers of fine lace, form a delightful combination with Hyacinthoides non-scripta (called bluebells or wood hyacinths). Add some early alliums, such as A. aflaunense, A. cowanii and A. neapolitanum, and © you can use bulb flowers to bridge into the summer blooming season. Another way to disguise fading foliage is to plant bulbs with simi- lar foliage together. Inter-planting -Narcissus with Hemerocallis (daylilies), for instance, will keep the site looking colorful and fresh. - Remember, well-tended gardens enhance the whole neighborhood and thus increase the value of all & the properties together. 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