ENHANCING CURB APPEAL

Curb Appeal: Neutral paint adds elegance; flowers add flair
By Suzanne Rowe 
The Gazette March 11, 2014

A retired couple from Laval enjoy the location of their bungalow. This home, in which they've raised their children, is filled with precious memories.

The stone-grey shingles were in good condition. I felt that by painting the two pipes and the metal flashing at the base of the chimney in the identical shade of the roof and in a flat finish, these details would look less obvious. The white siding and other white elements were in perfect harmony with the neutral coloration of the beautiful brickwork. With time, these components may look a bit dingy. If so, they ought to be resurfaced with a few coats of exterior acrylic paint in a flat finish to rejuvenate their brightness.

The reddish orange accent on the posts conjured a distracting effect and gave these banal parts too much importance. In most cases, columns ought to reflect the same hue as the windows and fascias. After removing the third beam that was leaning on the corner of the wall and centring the second post between the small windows, the trio, as well as the new linear planks above, will be painted in a crisp white. The colour emphasis will now be provided by the freshly painted cranberry door, which is the new focal point.

A custom-made flower box would measure the entire length of the large widow and at least 20 centimetres high. It will be opaque stained in a dark warm grey tone in a soft sheen. The louvres as well as a tall but narrow vessel would reflect the same coloration. The container will be set near the entrance and host red annuals and climbing greenery. Our homeowners enjoy their well-groomed rock garden. Although being a welcoming feature on the side of the driveway, it is pretty much a secret landscape from the front view.

It could afford to flow more toward the centre lot in a curvy paisley form. The two main beds were timidly connected to each other with a slim strip of soil in the middle. I propose to exaggerate the outline into a more dramatic arched shape. I have redistributed the owners' oddly placed but meticulously pruned evergreens inside the two convex spaces. Alongside the stretch of the porch walk, a sequence of Buxus persistent shrubs will permanently camouflage the base of the floor without ever visually encroaching over the front portal. Bright lime and yellow foliage from some perennials and shrubs will provide an interesting interplay with a few purplish Cimicifuga Brunette and the red and gold petals of the Stella Ruby Hemerocallis. A snowy Clematis will embrace the newly painted white standing light fixture. Strings of transparent fishing lines, installed on this post will motivate the plant to climb. Inside the bed on the right, a miniature white blossoming tree will reside among three different-sized grey boulders. Before all ground cover has a chance to blanket the soil, a generous layer of black mulch is recommended between plantings.

Finally, the rotten gate at the end of the driveway will be substituted with a new one in which planks are of equal height and closely fitted together. This will ensure more privacy from the street perspective.

These simple upgrades on the facade and the enhancement of the garden composition will make our residents fall in love with their home all over again.

Vegetation (left to right):

- Clematis Duchess of Edinburgh (climber, double white blooms, cut back low over a set of fat bulbs every spring)

- Hemerocallis Stella Ruby (perennials, red with yellow heart, both beds)

- Spirea japonica White Gold (low shrubs, white blooms, yellow leaves, both beds)

- Buxus Green Velvet (owners' recuperated shrubs in both beds and new bushes alongside the porch walk)

- Cimicifuga ramose Brunette (perennials, white candles, deep purple, to hide white ramp and front of brick strip on the right bed)

- Owners' Thuja (small globular and egg-shaped evergreens, throughout beds)

- Hosta Sum and Substance (perennials, white blooms, yellow lime, in line with left window, disliked by slugs)

- Lamium maculatum White Nancy (perennials, white blooms, silver white with green edge, ground cover, both beds)

- Heucherella Stoplight (perennials, white blooms, lime leaves with a dark red vein, base of Buxus hedge, compost in spring, thick layer of black mulch)

- Impatiens Wallerana Dazzler Cranberry (annuals, red blooms, all containers, do not over-fertilize)

- Hedera helix (cascading greenery, green or variegated, take indoors for winter, return outdoors in spring)

- Hakanechloa macra Aureola (ornamental grasses, yellow ribbons, green stripe, left of right bed)

- Onoclea sensibilis (ferns, soft green, copper in fall, beneath centre of flower box)

- Euonymus fortunei Canadale Gold (low persistent shrub, green and gold leaves, front of right bed)

- Malus Sir Lancelot (small crab apple tree, white blooms, centred in the right side of bed away from window view)

- Hydrangea arborescens Annabelle (shrub, white blooms, front right of Cimicifuga, right bed)

FLOWER POWER

Need immediate garden impact? Buy larger plants
By Donna Balzer
Calgary Herald June 28, 2012

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER - The spring garden frolic for serious gardeners is over, and dabbling gardeners are buying now for parties, garden events or real estate open houses. Instead of tenderly planting promising seeds or tiny fragile annuals, latecomers to the garden party buy their fully-grown plants in big pots. This allows a wow effect without the early work. One 14-inch (35 cm) hanging basket will comfortably fill one 18-inch (45 cm) decorative pot. Where five bare-root hostas may have suited dormant planting in March, one large three-gallon pot will fill the space now for instant beauty and summer balcony or patio enjoyment.

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The long days of summer are upon us and this means it’s outdoor patio season. If your spring garden efforts failed to launch, it’s time now to fluff your space with green and blooming plants. Donna says at this time of year, you’re better to start with bigger plants, set them up with watering systems and finish your weeding before the seasonal parties begin.

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Better Late than Never

The spring garden frolic for serious gardeners is over, and dabbling gardeners are buying now for parties, garden events or real estate open houses. Instead of tenderly planting promising seeds or tiny fragile annuals, latecomers to the garden party buy their fully-grown plants in big pots. This allows a wow effect without the early work. One 14-inch (35 cm) hanging basket will comfortably fill one 18-inch (45 cm) decorative pot. Where five bare-root hostas may have suited dormant planting in March, one large three-gallon pot will fill the space now for instant beauty and summer balcony or patio enjoyment.

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SIPs For Summer Homes

Like good gossip at work, the news about self-irrigated pots (SIPs) is spreading from gardeners to the retail world. These pots hold water and don’t dry out on balconies the way conventional pots do. YouTube videos have fanned the flame for homemade SIPs: plastic bins and recycled pails, adapted from third-world designs. These SIPs are ideal for low budget hippie-style gardens. Better-looking commercial self-watering pots are available now for patio-grown annuals and vegetables. If you are away and unable to water longer than a few days, a better choice is an automatic irrigation system for pots. Connect a splitter, timer, control valve and individual bubblers on pots to keep them evenly moist.

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Weeding

The worst weedy offenders in older neighbourhoods are seeds falling from overhanging trees. Dry propeller seeds from maples and ash sail to the ground in fall and winter and sprout in spring. Birds drop the remains of berries all winter in eavestroughs or sidewalk cracks, where they sprout and become permanent fixtures if left in place. New gardens with more recently farmed soil are likely to have weeds like thistle, stinkweed and stinging nettle. Pull or cut these before they go to seed. A new crop of chickweed will appear with every soil rotation, so cover the soil with newspaper and bark to stop existing chickweed seed from germinating.