Curb Appeal: 4 Tips to Stand Out in the Crowd

This post is sponsored by Monrovia

When I built my home ten years ago (and before the blog), playing in the dirt became one of my favorite past times. I would be outside for hours planting rows of annuals, pulling weeds and tending to my flower beds while my “littles” were playing. My neighborhood is filled cookie-cutter houses that all look the same, so the only real way to differentiate our home from everyone else’s was creative mixes of plants and flowers. (Keep reading to discover tips on how make your home stand out in the crowd). 

In early spring, this is what you’ll find as you pull up to my driveway.

Before my Monrovia plant makeover. To think, two months ago my mailbox was covered in a mound of snow, ice and salt.

My home’s landscape used to be my pride and joy, but extreme winter weather has decimated our greenery this year. We may have lost our favorite tree in the deep freeze, and we definitely lost several shrubs. Since we are starting over, we decided the most budget-friendly approach would be to keep things simple and start with a little curbside grooming. 

To start, I clicked on to Monrovia’s site:

I needed some guidance as we recreate our landscape. At Monrovia.com, you can create an online profile and determine what zone you’re in. I assembled a list of my favorite flowers with the following criteria:  long bloom season, perennial, and most importantly…those that would survive in my zone. 

I narrowed my choices down to the following:  

Monrovia long bloom season perennial: African Daisy

Monrovia long bloom season perennial: Raspberry Surprise Dianthus 

Monrovia long bloom season perennial: Coral Bells 

My front porch is next on the list, along with four additional flower beds for the #30DayFlip DIY Challenge. Here is what I chose for my trellis:

Here are four ways that YOU can make your house stand out from the crowd and give it additional curb appeal:

• Follow the “Three T’s” rule when grouping in containers– mix something, Tall, Thick, and Trailing. Don’t be afraid to use containers IN your flowerbeds. {source}
• Pops of Lemon Green: add in a bright lemony green plants to break up your color scheme and make your grouping stand out.
• Rocks:  instead of edging your flowerbeds with rows of rocks, try adding small groupings of rocks (groups of three) as an accent in your landscape. Not every open space needs a plant. 
• Mood Lighting: there are so many inexpensive solar lighting options available nowadays, check online for solar lights that blend and highlight your landscape.

Be sure to check back, my front yard full reveal is May 31st (with before and after pictures!) For this month’s challenge, we are focusing on outdoor spaces and adding curb appeal, too. Over 15 readers and I are happily crafting, planting and creating new outdoor spaces. Oh…how nice it is to be outside again, we’re loving it. I will keep you posted on how my plants are doing, too!  By then I hope they will fill in the space nicely…

Gardening and maintaining healthy and aesthetically pleasing green spaces can be quite easy, if you follow a few basic principles. And Monrovia is here to help with healthy plant growing tips. Monrovia brand plants are available at local garden centers and Lowe’s home centers across the country.

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Check back to see more before & afters! Our May #30DayFlip Challenge is still going strong!  Want to join us? Click below: