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Beyond Beauty
The Benefits of Landscaping
by Carrie P. Williams
Many people, perhaps including you, would love to renovate their
landscape, but they just can't justify putting the time, effort, and money into
it right now. After all, it's only contribution to your property would be visual
interest, right? Maybe first you will get that new pool installed, and next year
you'll find the time for your landscape. Unlike a landscape, you can use a pool.
What other benefits does a landscape have to offer anyway?
Hold off on that pool idea for just a minute. Perhaps
surprisingly, landscaping your property can be a benefit for you in many ways.
Yes, everyone knows that landscaping your yard will make it 'look pretty,' but
less people know of the ways in which landscaping can actually increase the
value, usability, and aesthetics of your home.
In an article from Money magazine (April 1986), the value of a
landscape is discussed. A landscaped property can increase the value of your
home from 100 to 200 percent "if it is well done and harmonizes with foliage
nearby." They compare this to the added value of other popular home
improvements, such as a kitchen renovation (75-125%), bathroom renovation
(80-120%), adding a new deck or patio (40-70%), and the addition of a swimming
pool (20-50%). If you believe you might sell your home in the future, creating
an attractive landscape will significantly add to your home's value. If you are
quite content with your neighborhood and house, read on: there are other
benefits of landscaping.
A landscape provides a very functional role in that it can
increase the usability of your property. A carefully planned and landscaped yard
can double or triple the square footage of living space through the creation of
outdoor rooms. By creating different areas for cooking, dining, recreation, and
relaxation, you have more living options than if you relied on the inside of
your house alone.
Don't forget about those trees; they can add quite a lot to your
landscape. If placed properly, trees can help you save up to 25% on heating and
cooling costs by keeping your climate system running more efficiently. They also
provide shelter from wind, rain, and the hot summer sun. Along with these
benefits, planting a nice tree will look marvelous as well.
And now we come to the most well-known benefit of landscaping:
if planned out well, landscaping will increase the aesthetic quality of your
property. A nice assortment of trees and shrubs help your home to blend into the
surrounding environment, and thus it becomes more visually pleasing. With the
addition of annuals and perennials, color and visual contrast is added to the
landscape. With a quality landscape that is well-maintained, you will feel good
to know it has been shown that an attractive property will reflect positively on
it's owner.
Whether you want to increase the value, the usability, or the
aesthetic quality of your home, installing a superior landscape will do the
trick on all counts. If you are thinking about expanding your kitchen area for
more dining room, refurbishing your bathroom so the house has a better chance to
sell, or building a tall fence to block the view of the neighbors, try fixing
these problems with your landscape instead. You could come out a winner on all
counts.
Carrie P. Williams is a
professional landscape designer with Turf Tamer, Inc. She has written many
informative landscaping articles for Turf Tamer's Tip of the Week program. Want
to learn more landscaping tips and tricks? Go to
http://www.turftamerinc.com/tip.shtm to sign up for the 'Tip of the Week'
and learn more tips!
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