March - Welcoming Spring

March is a month that promises Spring, but doesn't always deliver. With the weather still changing by the minute, it can be hard to beat the winter burnout and look toward spring. Take advantage of the warm days, and remember the cool and gloomy days are numbered!

March is a promising month for real estate! Spring and Summer are usually the busiest months for new listings, so March is a great time to start looking for your perfect home, and I would love to help in your search. 

Landscape Lighting

Landscape lighting is a great way to elevate your home's exterior, and is a low-cost way to add a touch of luxury to your landscape. There is a right way to light every feature of your yard to make sure they look their best. 

1. Make sure you have your yard landscaped properly before you begin to look into landscape lighting. Ensure that your porches are properly lit, your house has appropriate lighting, and that your landscaping is complete. Lighting will highlight the good and the bad, so making sure you are ready before you add the landscape lighting is ideal. 

2. Take advantage of multiple layers: If you want to really create a bright spotlight, avoid grouping a lot of fixtures and instead position several spotlights with different angles toward the object, like a garden statue or topiary, that you want to illuminate. This will reveal silhouettes and layers that make for a dramatic effect.

3.   Choose the correct type of lighting for your space. You can choose from LED, Halogen, or Fluorescent lighting. Halogen bulbs produce a higher intensity light that is whiter and brighter than fluorescent. They also use more electricity and emit considerable heat compared to fluorescent lighting, which produces very little heat while giving off cool, visible light. Fluorescent lighting is also less expensive and more energy efficient than halogen, but the bulbs do present a possible health risk if broken because they contain mercury, which is toxic. LED, on the other hand, is quickly becoming the standard favorite because of its performance. Burks states that LED is “longer lasting and the energy consumption is a lot less.” Whereas a 50-watt halogen light might have been the most effective choice for a homeowner in the past, a six- or seven-watt LED light can produce the same effect now.

4. Make sure you are choosing the right brightness for what you are trying to highlight. A tall tree requires much more light than a bush or a shorter statue, and too little light can create an effect that is not as beautiful. 

Flower Pots 

Bright and beautiful flower pots are a great way to accent your porch and add life to your home. They are easy to change out per season, and are also fairly inexpensive. Here are a few tips on how to create a flower pot that best fits your porch. It's a great chance to get creative and have fun with color and different types of plants. 

1. Plan your pot structure: You need to think about the plants eventual height, shape and growth habit. Most plants are either upright, broad, or trailing. The most successful container combinations usually include at least one of each form. Start with a tall, upright plant. Add one or two broad, mid-height plants and then select one or two trailing forms.

2.  Consider the growing conditions: If you fill a windowbox with shade-loving impatiens and then put it in a sunny, west-facing location, those impatiens will struggle to survive. You will also fail if you try to grow sun-loving ivy geraniums on a shady porch. Think about where the pot will be located and then select plants that will like living there. Plant labels usually list sun/shade requirements, so when you are shopping it is easy to find what you are looking for. 

3. Contrast textures: Foliage is just as important as color in creating a successful container planting. Once you've gathered a group of potentials, think about the size of the leaves and their surface texture. Contrasting foliage really grabs the eye.

4. Be bold with color: A well-composed container planting can be as visually stimulating as a great painting. Generate energy and excitement by combining complementary colors such as purple and orange or yellow and blue. Or paint a more visually soothing composition by limiting yourself to related colors such as blues and pinks or reds and yellows. You can also play with pot color, texture, and size. The pot itself can lend a lot to the feeling and visual effect of the piece. 

Business Highlight - Kelly Pack Landscaping and Design 

Kelly Pack Landscaping and Design is a woman-owned and operated business that has been open since 2003. Kelly has 10 employees that work for her, and she does a great job with custom landscape design. She doesn't have a website, but you can use her contact information below to get in touch with her. 

Phone: (801) 971.0123

Email: kellyapack@gmail.com

HOME SPOTLIGHT