Curve Appeal: Give your Curb Appeal a boost with Curvy Beds

December 1, 2015 | By webadmin

Fall and winter are great times to step back and evaluate your existing landscape. Are you happy with what you see? Does your landscape design complement your home or does it make it look drab or dated? Too often, homes are bordered with traditional foundation beds that are just too straight and narrow. While it may seem logical to line landscape beds up to follow the straight lines of a home, walkway or street, that kind of repetition can result in a pretty boring and outdated looking landscape.

If your home is surrounded by straight landscape beds, it may be time to shake things up and add a little “curve appeal” to your curb appeal.  In most landscapes designs, even with very contemporary and linear homes, adding curves to the landscape beds can offer some much needed contrast and softening to the property. Plus, curves are much more interesting to look at and will naturally lead one’s eye around a landscape.

A softly curving border of hardy blue plumbago.

Widely curved beds can also make your home and property seem larger by pulling the eye out away from the edges of your home. Creating the illusion of a larger home and lot is key to good curb appeal, especially when selling your home.

If your current garden is just a narrow strip of overpruned boxed hedges, then now is a great time to rip them out and start afresh. By making beds wider and adding some natural curves you can create a better space for plants to thrive and bring your landscape up to date.

Are your beds too narrow?

It’s common for foundation beds to be build to a depth of only two or three feet. While this may seem like enough space when you’re putting in new plantings, you’ll soon discover that mature shrubs and perennials need more elbow room. Also, narrow foundation beds will be noticeably out of scale with your home. Consider extending and deepening your foundation beds so that their scale is appropriate to your home, and you’ll have more room for plants to grow to their mature size.

Scale  and depth are  important. Many homes in our area average in the 50 to 75-feet wide range. Foundation beds ranging in the 4- to 6-foot deep range will look more in balance with your home than a narrower bed. The longer your garden bed, the deeper it should be. Also, consider that there may be some areas in your yard too shady to accommodate healthy lawn grass. Extending foundation beds to re-captures these areas for foundation plantings will both look better and be easier to maintain.

A curved path through the landscape is natural and welcoming.

I have a deeper bed - now what?

Now it’s time to layer! The Thriller, Filler, Spiller method, a technique often used for creating container displays, can provide balance to your foundation plantings. Be sure to incorporate evergreen shrubs and perennials to provide year-round color and interest to your foundation plantings.

Your landscape makes a big first impression.  Adding depth and form to your curb appeal can turn a tired, outdated landscape into something fresh and new. A landscape refresh is like a new wardrobe for you home!

While many of our readers may be able to add smaller garden beds themselves, if you find yourself pressed for time or have a project on a larger scale, we’d be happy to refresh your foundation beds for you this winter. Give us a call.