the headline says: "These 10 garden mistakes are reducing the value of your home." I could write a book titled: "The Guide to Garden Mistakes."
Here are the ones listed in the article:
Overly Intensive Maintenance Requirements
Over-Personalizing the Landscape
Ignoring Seasonal Appeal
Poor Plant Choices
Neglecting Lawn Care
Ignoring the Front Yard
Neglecting Your Boundaries
This seems to be about gardens. But there are competing recommendations on the internet. This one iis about the property/yard from more of a real estate point of view. Here are the top ten:
Unsightly garden items
Broken fencing
Destructive or invasive plants
A dead lawn
Artificial grass
A swimming pool
A water feature
Huge trees
High maintenance planting
Neglected hot tubs
Then the article goes on to list the garden Ideas that add value:
Outdoor kitchen
Well-kept lawn
Relaxing spaces
An outdoor room
Garden storage
Practical garden lighting
Landscape design
Robust flooring
Plenty of privacy
High-security features
This set of attractive features is where we are now in terms of outdoor spaces - almost a house outside. Gardens might be in the spaces, but no longer would it be called "House and Garden." What's the alternative? Doesn't House and Yard sound low-brow? What about House and Landscape? House and Property? That seems like real estate agent talk rather than home owner speak.
People who refer to their yard as "property" seem to want you to appreciate how large their "property" is and often use acres to describe it. Take a1/4 acre or 1/2 acre. A quarter acre is 10,890 square feet or 104 x104 feet. A half acre would be 200 feet long and 85 feet wide. That's more sizeable but still seems to be a yard to me. How big would your yard/property be for you to describe it in acreage? Maybe that would lead into a Guide to Garden Etiquette.
Here's a nice garden scene - this one from a Niagara-on-the-Lake garden tour. Maybe the cross is a bit too personalized in the landscape. What do you think?
