4 Hot Spring Gardening Trends To Boost Your Equity

The arrival of Daylight Savings Time is the siren song for spring. Each new spring season, as in fashion, brings with it the newest trends in gardening and landscaping. Staying on top of the latest trends is key to getting the most out of your home, especially if you’re looking to sell. Curb appeal and keeping your landscaping up to par can be a source of instant equity.

Here are 4 new trends to boost your garden’s equity this spring:

1. Sustainable Landscaping

As we look for new ways to conserve earth’s resources, sustainable landscaping has become a must-have. Homeowners are less inclined to want to waste water simply to keep their grass green, never mind the high costs associated with maintaining grass-based yards. “Sustainable landscape is a big trend. We like to not only use drought tolerant, but wind tolerant and low maintenance plant materials,” says Keith Williams of premier landscape architectural firm Nievera Williams. Sustainable yards, are typically low maintenance for homeowners. They also present the added bonus of making your home green, a great feature you can tout to any future buyers. Using recyclable or renewable materials is key. Renewable items will regrow or replenish themselves, allowing indefinite usage.

2. Re-Growing Veggies

When it comes to your vegetable patch, sustainability trends are also big — and very cost-effective. Bryan Traficante, of gardening-made-easy site, GardenInMintues, says “Some of the most cost effective additions gardeners can make to their gardens is ‘re-growing’ veggies. Most produce that we all purchase can actually be re-grown from scrap […] it’s really easy, and actually gives you a faster yield than growing from seed.”

3. Fresh Annuals

Another way to achieve a big bang for your buck this spring is by looking to annuals. Zinnias, salvia, and marigolds are a reliable sources of go-to flowers for the season, notes Gardening author C.L. Fornari. They’re also incredibly cost-effective because eight six packs of annuals costs less than $15.00 and will provide hundreds of flowers through spring and into summer. To ensure their long-lasting life, Fornari advises planting them with organic fertilizer for an easy, slow-release.

4. Espalier (Growing plants on a frame)

This practice is typically used for ivy and vine plants, however Williams of Nievera Williams, notes this is a fun trend to bring variety to your landscaping. “I find lately that you can train almost anything to grow like vine. I try experiments with espalier of trees or shrubs to walls, which creates entirely different looks in the garden.”

With a few key changes to meet this spring’s trends, and a top listing agent, you can get maximum value for your home at sale time. If once you’re done sprucing up the yard, you find you’d rather enjoy these landscaping upgrades all for yourself, well, we can’t really blame you.

Originally published at agentace.com on April 3, 2015.