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Nothing looks more stark and incomplete than a home without complementary landscaping to enhance, accent and highlight the home's inherent beauty.

Curb appeal gives people their first impression - and lasting impressions - of your home. For many people, purchasing a home uses much of their available finances, and they overlook upgrading the value of their home by not considering what's outside.

Professional landscaping enhances the value of a property. If two identical homes are for sale, the professionally landscaped property is more valuable because it offers greater appeal. Landscapers know the "secret combinations" of what is classically appealing, complementary, and proportionate to a particular home.

Landscaping provides beauty, shade, windbreaks, privacy, and color - for year round appeal. Lush lawns prevent soil erosion and add instant beauty and value; well-placed plantings along walls and corners soften the sharp edges of a home.

Mature trees can shade a wading pool or picnic area, support hanging-baskets of flowers and bird feeders, offer inviting areas for wildlife, etc.

An entry highlighted with symmetrical bushes or colorful plantings offers a warm welcome to guests. Well-chosen plantings add color, create focal points, conceal unattractive areas, and create areas for different uses.

Hedges, fences, walls and windbreaks offer privacy, reduce noise from neighbors or traffic, and create a visual boundary. Windbreaks and shade trees help save on year-round, home-energy costs.

Some contractors deliver and plant large trees, 20 feet or more in height, weighing several hundred pounds. Consider mature plantings as good investments with instant benefits: they make the home look more established in its space.

Professional landscaping should highlight or enhance the good and hide the bad. The placement of items, like landscape lighting, stepping stones, shrubs, ornamental trees, flowering plants, and water features - like fish ponds or fountains - should be diagrammed on paper or a computerized layout.

The finished look - formal, informal, English garden-style, etc. - should be up to you.

A pro should offer several ideas for creating the ultimate look you want, within your budget and timeline.

Find a reputable landscaper and work together to implement a long-term plan for increasing your home's value.

Learn more about this author, Karon Brandt.
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