It’s a simple pleasure in life to stroll through someone’s carefully manicured and tended backyard or to go by a neighborhood of houses that all have lovely landscaping, whether it be tasteful arrangements of trees, shrubs, and flowers, or well tended walkways leading out to scenic views or a small picnic area. Having a pleasant green space to escape to or one that is pleasing to the eyes can help a person emotionally and being out and physical in your yard is always a good thing. Landscaping services provide far more than just aesthetic appeal, however. Landscaping done well can also add significant value to the home and even have an impact on your heating and cooling bills. If you’ve never been the kind of person to have a green thumb or knack for design, no worries! That’s what landscape services were created for! They’ll help you install the perfect walkways and find the best landscape ideas to complement your home and taste.
What Are Some Benefits of Having Good Landscaping?
First and foremost, you’re adding resale value with good landscaping, even if it feels like you’re losing money by paying for it. This is true for both residential and commercial buildings — offices that had good quality landscaping had rental rates that were 7% higher. Money Magazine reported that if you landscape right, you could have a recovery value of 100-200% when you go to sell and spending even 5% your home’s value on landscaping can bump your resale value up by as much as 15%! Plus, in a recent survey, it was noted that over 60% of those surveyed said they’d be willing to shell out a little extra money for a place that had well tended green spaces and 60% cited well landscaped yards as a factor that influenced their buying choices.
If that weren’t enough, good landscaping can also help you cut down on heating and cooling costs by around 20%. If there’s a well-placed tree near an air conditioner outside, it can make it more efficient by about 10%! Air conditioning can be cut in half if your landscape is placed to shade windows and walls, says the American Public Association, and one urban tree can provide almost $275 worth of air conditioning, pollution fighting, erosion and storm water control, and wildlife shelter benefits.
Good landscaping also has the added benefit of keeping allergens like ragweed at a minimum, which is good for people or families with severe allergies. The United States Environmental Protection Agency also reports that trees can keep irritating noise down by 50% and can replace unpleasant or unwanted noise with more soothing and likable ones.
What Should I Be Attentive To Once My New Landscaping Project is Complete?
If you’ve put new grass in — especially around new walkways — you’ll want to make sure it’s nitrogen-rich. You should have 3-4 pounds of nitrogen even thousand square feet and apply it several times during optimal growing season for the lawn. Keep off your grass if it’s very dry out — it’s easy to damage brittle grass blades. If you’re watering your lawn or your plants, you should do it during the cooler parts of the day, especially early in the morning. It ensures that your plants don’t lose too much of the water to evaporation and that insects and fungal diseases aren’t attracted or helped to grow at night.
You should also be cautious when buying plants that are fully bloomed — they may look pretty now, but it’s a sign they’ve been in their pots for too long a time. You should also organize your gardens in terms of how much water they need. A landscape consultant or expert will be able to help you figure out what looks best and what will make the most sense as your plants grow and move forward.
Hiring a landscaping company to transform your yard — be it with arbors and walkways or new garden beds and trees — can have a positive impact on almost every area of your life. Go green today!