I just can’t say enough about how much I love beautiful flowers and fabulous landscaping! I have created several Boards on my Pinterest page with flowers, gardens and outdoor spaces that I am in love with. Flowers and gardens give me a sense of relaxation. I stay really busy with my life as a Realtor, so coming home to flowers and a lush garden just make me feel warm and fuzzy inside…content.

I wouldn’t go as far as to say beautiful gardens increase the value of your home, BUT, I would say it certainly makes a home look great and sell well. Think about what you look for in a home. A nice, well maintained yard, is most times on the list of “must haves”. Compare a home with absolutely no landscape to one that is lush, gorgeous and inviting.  Which would you choose?  I know which one I would choose!

I know you are most likely thinking that gardens take a lot of water to maintain the lush look. Not so much. Flowers adapt nicely to your watering schedule. I choose flowers though, that do not take much water. Roses are probably one of the best examples of low maintenance and low watering requirement. Think about the rose bushes you see in cemeteries. How much watering takes place in a cemetery? Virtually none!  Many new home developments around the Austin area are requiring that the homeowner only have 50% of their yard in sod, the rest in draught tolerant plantings. The subdivision, Rancho Sienna, is one of those.

….By the way…. It appears that the City of Austin is looking into the processing of gray water for our use here in Austin. More on that in another blog post.

All around Austin you will see Knock Out Rose bushes everywhere! That’s because they do not require much water; i.e.: draught tolerant. They give a huge burst of color into the landscape. More bang for the buck, so to speak. In fact, you may not know that many varieties of roses were created from grafting rose stems from rose bushes in cemeteries…thus the name antique roses.

Now that I have given you something to think about in the landscape….. Which home would you choose? The yard with the beautiful landscaping or the one without?

Patti Simon ~ Austin Tx Realtor