When houses go on the market, realtors encourage home sellers to improve their home’s curb appeal. Real estate agents know that a house that looks attractive from the curb will attract a greater number of potential buyers. Good curb appeal is something every home owner should strive for. You want to be proud of the way your house looks as visitors walk up to your front door. Why wait until you sell your home to spruce up its street-side exterior? Add plants to the front of your home now and you’ll be able to enjoy the fruits of your labor for years to come.

When designing a front yard landscape, take into consideration your home’s architectural characteristics, any structural features you want to accent or screen, the positions of walkways, window heights and placement, and existing landscaping. It is simpler and less expensive to incorporate a few new ideas into your existing landscaping as opposed to tearing it out and starting fresh.

To get your creative juices flowing, consider the following ideas. They’re packed with curb appeal and guaranteed to make your house look more inviting:

• Sweeping flower beds that arch out into your lawn will anchor your house to the natural landscape. Fill these beds with colorfully hued, massed annual and perennial flowers such as Coreopsis (Coreopsis), Asters (Aster) or Celosia (Celosia).
• Groupings of flowering shrubs like Hydrangea (Hydrangea) nestled in English Ivy (Hedera) ground cover make attractive foundation plantings.
• Plant mounds of colorful flowers along walkways. Echo their bright colors by planting additional plants in containers grouped along porch stairs or flanking your front door. Try this with Chrysanthemums (Chrysanthemum) or Marigolds (Tagetes).
• Plant floral groupings in staggered heights against a background of evergreen shrubs to break up monotonous shapes and add interest to the front of your house. Good choices are Astilbe (Astilbe) which exhibits feathery blooms above mounds of green foliage or Delphinium (Delphinium).