Your home can get a fresh new look with this simple idea - tips and tricks included

Have you heard of the HGTV program called Curb Appeal? It's a great program that focuses on house front facelifts, real life solutions to front entryway problems, eye catching exterior makeovers, and front yard landscape issues. There are 146 videos that are 3 or 4 minutes long you can view online that all deal with adding curb appeal to your home. That is a lot of ideas for you to glean from and make your own to fit your home.

Curb appeal is the first impression your home makes to those that see it as they drive by, pull into your driveway, and walk up your front walkway. It's the attractiveness of your property and it's surroundings as viewed from the street or the curb.

Front yard landscaping, the front entrance, and the condition of the paint or siding are the biggest factors in curb appeal.

A pretty impressive way to add curb appeal to your home is to paint your front door. It sounds a little intimidating, but that punch of color will make you wonder why you didn't do it before now.

Here are three great links to help you learn how to add some curb appeal to your home by changing the color of your front door. There are all kinds of tricks and tips from the right kind of paint, the preparation needed, to when is the perfect time to paint and what to avoid.

1.  DIY Network- Read this before you paint your front door.

2.  All Things Thrifty - How to paint your front door in a snap.

3.  I Am Hardware - Paint your front door and totally like it.
She uses a gel stain for those of you that might think a turquoise door is just too much for you. It looks great!

If you have been itching to paint your front door, now is a perfect time. Be sure to check out the three links above for helpful tips. If your front entryway would benefit from a bigger statement than just painting a door, the link to the HGTV Curb Appeal program will get your creative juices flowing. It's amazing what a difference just a few changes can make in the attractiveness of a home.

Brought to you by Heath Harvey @ HeathsHomes.com

A few newly listed Heber City homes under $320,000

In the Heber Valley, we have a real estate sellers market this year, a situation in which houses are not as plentiful as buyers. Here are five houses that are sure to not be available for very long. If you are looking for a home under $320,000 these are great options.

* $300,000
* 2056 square feet
* 4 bedrooms
* 2 car garage
* .24 acres with great deck and fenced yard
* JR Smith Elementary School


* $315,000
* 1720 square feet
* 5 bedrooms
* 2 car garage
* carpet, hardwood, laminate, and tile flooring
* Heber Valley Elementary School


* $285,000
* 1575 square feet
* 3 bedrooms
* 1/4 acre
* updated kitchen, new carpet, large back yard
* Old Mill Elementary School


* $319,000
* 1741 square feet
* 3 bedrooms
* 2 car garage
* 2 story, fully landscaped
* JR Smith Elementary School


* $314,900
* 1950 square feet
* 3 bedrooms
* 2 car garage
* beautiful brick home in Wheeler Park area
* Daniels Canyon Elementary School

Give me a call if you are interested in viewing any of these homes in Heber City. 801 631-3430

Brought to you by Heath Harvey @ HeathsHomes.com

Great recipe for the week - quick, easy, warm, delicious, kid and adult pleaser, and it almost makes itself.

Dinner time is a bit stressful sometimes, unless Heath cooks dinner. He makes the most delicious meals.  They usually involve quite a bit of prep time but not this one.

This recipe is amazing and every single kid (ages 15-4) at our table ate it and loved it.

AND IT'S EASY!

Crock Pot Chicken Enchiladas

Put 2 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breasts in the crock pot.

Pour 2 15 oz cans of red enchilada sauce on top of the chicken.

Cook on low for 5 hours.

Shred chicken with two forks.

Stir in one cup of grated cheese and 1/2 can of sliced olives.

Cook for an additional hour.

Cut up 15 corn tortillas into pie shaped pieces and mix into the chicken mixture.

Add 1 more cup of cheese and sprinkle with the rest of the olives. 

Cook for one hour.

Serve with sour cream, refried beans, and rice.

So delicious.

AND EASY.

Brought to you by Heath Harvey @ HeathsHomes.com

What's your garden style? Part 2

Here is Part 2 to the weekender plant purchasing guide for your yard. Part 1 talked about Victorian, cottage, alpine, farmhouse/countryside and modern garden styles and what kind of plants to purchase in order to achieve the look you want. This post highlights formal, butterfly and bird, family-oriented, and high desert garden styles as we well as a little more general yard planning advice and tips.

The formal garden can be thought of as a well ordered paradise. It's usually symmetric with simple geometric designs. There are clean lines and everything is in it's place. It has a plan. A formal garden is not thrown together. Formal gardens feature repetitive plantings which create lines. Green leafy plants with foliage that can be trimmed and shaped, and the shrubs create the backbone for the garden. In many formal gardens, white flowers are the choice for floral color.

The most common way to get the formal garden look, is to start with a focal point then plant beds with rows of foliage plants that mirror image itself. This focal point can be a water feature, a gazebo, a topiary, a simple archway, a bench, an incredible tree, an urn, a sundial, anything really. Hedges are very common in formal gardens. They act as borders. Then the actual color is inside the hedge borders. You can fill in the the walkways with gravel or even brick to finish it off.

Plants that you can train into hedges for the formal garden are currants, privets (Ligustrum), boxwoods, yew, holly, arbor vitea, junipers, even dwarf arctic willows. Just anything that you can easily trim and that can handle pruning. Sages, rosemary, and other herbs are popular in formal gardens. 

Formal herb garden in Ireland at a culinary school.

When it comes to filling in the space inside your hedges, you can use any kind of perennial or annual you like. Usually the plants are neat and tidy varieties that are kept looking nice and full. Do this by planting close together and use a limited color palette of just two or three colors. Astilbe, hosta, hydrangea and begonias are commonly used for the shady areas. Lavender, roses, coneflowers, marigolds, asters, lambs ear and salvias are great varieties for the sun.

A great advantage to formal gardens is if you have a small space, you can make it grand by making it formal. You can even have a formal vegetable garden. You just need to make it symmetrical or a mirror image of itself.

There are a few things that you need to include in your garden if you want to lure all kinds of birds and butterflies and make them want to stick around. You need pollen and nectar rich flowers. Wildflower and old fashioned varieties are the best. You also need flowers that are in bloom throughout the season so there is always something for them to come to your garden to visit. It may seem daunting to always have something blooming but with a little planning it really isn't difficult.

Providing supplementary feeders as well as blooms full of pollen and nectar will ensure frequent visitors but if you want them to stay you need to provide water. Birds and butterflies require a water source. You can install a water garden, a bird bath, a catch basin, or even drippers for the birds and butterflies.  Muddy water puddles even attract butterflies as they are looking for salt and nutrients as well as water.

Buddleia, commonly known as Butterfly Bush, looks similar to lilac.

Some great plants that attract birds and butterflies are milkweed and butterfly weed (aeschlepia), alyssum, butterfly bush (buddleia), daylilies, bee balm (monarda), coral bells, lilac, Joe-Pye weed, zinnias, hollyhock, delphinium, scabiosa, verbena, and many others.

If you have a family with kids at home then having a family-oriented backyard and garden is pretty important. The key is balance - everyone needs a space. Adults need a space to relax without Dora and Diego sand toys in their way, younger kids need a safe place to play, and older kids need a space where they can enjoy being outside but supervision isn't needed. A family-oriented yard and garden doesn't have to be a space with a beat up lawn and a trampoline. It can be beautiful and mature as well.

The most important item in your yard is you and your favorite people. The best way to make everyone feel welcome and allow it to be a place to escape to is to design a portion to make everyone happy. Everyone loves to eat outdoors so making a place to grill and/or eat outside pleases everyone. This should be a priority in your plan. Your yard should be kid friendly, but not so much that adults can't kick back and enjoy the evening without sitting on water toys. So everyone needs to give and take. That might mean you must give in for room for the fort but take that dream of having an amazing rose border and raised bed full of perennials and shrubs. You can give the sweeping lawn for cartwheels and football practice, but keep and take your wishes for a romantic but tidy entertaining area.

One suggestion to meet everyone's needs is by thinking in concentric rings radiating out from the house. That first ring closest to the house is the ring for the little ones. They can be supervised and safe. Providing some kind of outdoor entertainment for them close to the house is needed. The next ring out from the house is for older kids. They can play within earshot and even within your line of vision if you are on the deck or even in the house looking out the window. The outermost ring is for the teen and preteens that want to enjoy the outdoors but want some privacy as well. Providing a space for them to relax and unwind outside will instill a love of being outside and enjoying nature.

There are all kinds of great kid friendly ideas on Pinterest and all over the web if you search for them. You can find ideas for huts, teepees, forts, playhouses, swing sets, little pools, sand boxes, tic tac toe boards, chalk painted fences, hopscotch pads, outdoor water kitchens, fire pits, backyard games, race car tracks, sensory and fairy garden ideas, marble runs, climbing walls, and thousands of projects the kids can make as well.

As far as plants go for a family-oriented yard, anything goes. Whatever look you want, you can have on that whole give and take deal. Try to be patient however when soccer practice ends up in your flower beds once in awhile. Lamium is a ground cover that is really tough you might want to try. Butterfly bush (buddleia) is also pretty tough and attracts butterflies. Lambs ear is great filler plant and is a pretty fun plant to touch, even adults like to give lambs ear a little rub as they walk by. Snapdragons are kinda fun. Kids can make little monster faces out of them by squeezing the sides together and make them 'talk.' There are chocolate smelling cosmo varieties, and what kid doesn't like sucking out the nectar of a columbine bloom? But honestly, don't be afraid to put a strategically placed barberry bush where you don't want kids to go. They will stay out of an area if there are a few pokeys.

A high desert garden is considered to be above 4000 feet in elevation and receives less than 10 inches of rain per year. According to www.usclimatedata.com, Heber City receives 16 inches of rain and Midway get 20 inches per year. So a high desert isn't exactly perfect for the Heber Valley, but there are many places in Utah that fit this classification. And, if you love the look, you can make a lush, beautiful, full high desert garden here in the Heber Valley.

Large fluctuations between the daytime and nighttime, as well as between the winter and the summer temperatures are a characteristic of high desert climates. That means bulbs like tulips and daffodils that require a cooler dormant period do great in high deserts. High winds and late spring frosts are also common in the high desert.

Don't think that high desert means you must xeriscape and don't think that xeriscape (water conserving landscaping) really means ZEROscape. High desert and even xeriscaped gardens can be very lush, full and beautiful when the right plants are chosen. A few tricks to high desert gardening is to water deeply every few days rather than shallowly every day and to use mulch as much as possible. Mulch keeps the soil cool, it insulates plant roots and also prevents water from evaporating too quickly.

The best way to achieve a bountiful high desert garden is to create small pockets of plants with a BIG BANG for the best visual effect as well as ease of maintaining. These pockets are investment zones that can be just miniature gardens throughout your yard. One pocket by the front door, maybe one closer to the street by the mailbox or driveway. Possibly plant another one in the corner between your garage and house. Seasonal color in these pockets have a lush and full look when they are blooming. 

Grouping plants according to their water needs and how much maintenance they require will save you work as well as save water. Planting investments zones full of plants that work well together is the best way to maximize your high desert garden.

So here are a handful of plants that work hard for you all season long, look great, and thrive in high desert climates.  Potentilla, coreopsis, daylilies, oregon grape, lavender, penstemon, daisies, knifofia (red hot poker), irises, sages (salvias), California poppy, snow in summer, spirea, currants, Russian sage, catmint, and Johnson's Blue geranium. 

So, now that you have some other garden and yard styles to think about, remember that you can ultimately do whatever you want. You don't have to stick with just one certain style. You can mix and match. Have a cottage style front yard with a Victorian back yard and a formal deck and patio area. You can design a rock/alpine garden on a steep side slope of your yard and let the remainder of the yard have a countryside/farmhouse feel. Throw in a formal veggie garden in a family-oriented backyard. Whatever you want, whatever makes you happy, whatever fulfills your yard and family's needs. 

Here are a few design concepts to think about. They come naturally to people that love gardening but may not be quite so obvious to those that are new to playing in the yard all year. 
- The summer sun pounds the south side of your home and yard.
- Because we live in the northern hemisphere, the north side of your home doesn't get the intense summer sun. 
- Morning sun shines on the east side of your house and therefore the east side is shaded in the late afternoon and evening.
- The west side of your property gets intense sun all afternoon and evening.

- With that knowledge you can plan where patios, decks, shade trees, benches, flower beds, swing sets, and other landscaping items work the best.
- If you want to plant an evergreen tree like a spruce or a pine, you probably want to avoid planting it close to your home on the south side. It may seem great that it blocks the hot summer sun coming in the windows, but that means it also blocks the warm winter sun that really helps keep your home warm during the cold winter months. If you want to plant them on the perimeter on the south side, that is great. Or evergreens are great on the north side of the home. You don't have to worry about blocking the sun and can add privacy if you need it. However, planting a deciduous tree on the south side of your home to shade those south windows is a great idea. It looses its leaves in the winter to allow the sun to shine in.

- If you want to plant trees for shade, they should be planted along the perimeter of the south and west side of your property for them to actually provide shade for you when it gets hot.
- If you want to provide a shady spot for the kids to play and just sit outside during the day when its July, the north side of the house is a good place to start or the east side of the house because it is cooler in the afternoons on that side.
- The plants that require part sun, not full sun, do amazing on the north and east sides of your house. 
- When you are thinking of a place to dine outside or entertain, think of how your house is situated on the lot and plan so that the western evening sun doesn't bake you and your visitors on those fabulous August afternoons. Provide some kind of shade structure, tree, or even move your dining area to another cooler part of the yard.
- You know those little tiny swimming pools for kids? Placing it on the east side of the house in the morning and filling it up, and then letting it warm up all morning long in the morning and early afternoon sun is great. By 3:00 pm the water is so warm from the sun but the house is beginning to shade the pool as the sun moves west so then the kids can play in warm water but not the blazing sun so they don't get sunburned. 

- When a plant's tag says FULL SUN, that means plant them on the south and west sides where they will receive the best rays for most of the day.
- It is sad to see fun yards or playgrounds for kids that are not very well thought out when it comes to the sun. There is a playground on Midway's main that has awesome shade trees planted on the east side of the property. That's all good but the south and west sides of the playground are completely plant-free. So, when the sun comes out and the kids are out playing, there is shade available in the morning. That's great but not really super necessary because the mornings here aren't too hot. But in the middle of the day and in the afternoon when it gets toasty on the playground, there isn't one lick of shade from any trees or shrubs.
- If we can be more aware of where the sun is, where to plant what, and make our yard dreams come true, then everyone enjoys being outside so much more. 

Happy landscaping, dreaming, planning, weeding, planting, creating, and enjoying this spring and summer!

PS, if you want to learn how to add value to your home by doing one of your favorite hobbies, gardening, click here for another one of my blog posts.

Brought to you by Heath Harvey @ HeathsHomes.com

What's your garden style? Part One

Plants are arriving every day now in local stores and nurseries. It's so exciting! Spring is here! Before you go wander around wondering to yourself what would look good in your yard, take a second and think about what kind of yard and garden you want. There are all kinds of garden styles. The trick is finding the right one that goes with your house and your personal taste. Your house needs to match your garden, somewhat.

An ultra modern home and an English cottage style garden are not a good match. A Tudor style home with yuccas and cacti adorning the front lawn looks much to awkward. Plus, if you personally don't like the look of yuccas, clipped hedges, or flowering crab apple trees, then you shouldn't have them in your yard.

So here are a few garden styles and the plants that make them up for you to read and look at BEFORE you go shopping and you put who-knows-what kind of plant in your cart. 

An alpine garden is considered to be one in colder climates and higher elevations. Even though that is isn't EXACTLY our conditions, it's fairly close. When you think of an alpine garden, think rocks, and think small and dwarfish because that is the kind of plants that really grow in true alpine climates. 
You can easily pull off an alpine rock garden in your yard. It's easy to turn an ugly mound, slope, or side hill into a gorgeous alpine, rock garden. If you have a spot that is prone to erosion, an alpine rock garden may just be the perfect answer.
To create an alpine garden you must start with the base - rocks. Cool ones. Big ones. All kinds of rocks. If you think a rock is too big, it's not. Once it is in place and foliage is growing around it, that rock won't seem big at all. So get the biggest, coolest ones possible. Once the rocks are placed how you want them you get to fill in with plants.

Conifers are the trees in alpine climates, so if your garden space allows, plants some taller conifers in the back and smaller, dwarf varieties in the middle and towards the front. Then place some shrubs in the back and middle areas. The fun part is placing the perennials in the little gaps and filling things in to look nice. 
Your alpine rock garden is not going to look super full when you first make it. Actually it may never look full, it's just the nature of an alpine garden. It will take a few years for it to really fill in and look like it's always been there. If you want to add some gravel in the emptier spots along with smaller stones from your yard, that would be great.

Betty Ford Alpine Garden in Vail, Colorado

Plants that give the alpine feeling are conifers of course, holly, azaleas, cotoneaster, phlox, aubrieta (rockcress), columbine, irises, snow in summer, iceland poppies, and creeping thyme. The best part about most of these plants is that deer usually leave them alone. 

The true Victorian age is from about 1840 to 1900.  When you think about this age and this kind of garden, you think about a prosperous time where people had more time to really garden for pleasure rather than just work to exist.
To achieve a Victorian garden feel, the lawn is very important and then you work out from there with trees, shrubs, perennials and annuals. Trees in a Victorian garden are placed where shade is desirable like patios and outdoor living spaces. Trees are also placed along the street to add privacy to the yard. Weeping trees as well as other interesting specimen trees have a very Victorian feel. Shrubs are used as fences along property lines or along walkways and paths.
If you place yourself into a Victorian garden, you think of iron benches and other seating arranged in a cozy layout, and some wicker furniture used on the porches and in the sun room or under the gazebo. Wrought iron furniture and wrought iron garden accessories like trellises and arbors are used throughout the Victorian garden. 

The Victorian age was full of chubby little cherubs, angels, and Victorians loved whimsical fairies. Empty urns and sundials are the sort of garden design elements you'll want to add. Window boxes and vines like morning glory and clematis are very Victorian. Try to avoid using wood in your garden design elements, but if you can't, paint it a crisp white. Victorian gardens are about clean lines and everything in it's place.
Good trees and shrub varieties to use are weeping trees forms (willow, cherry, birch, etc), hydrangea, barberry, spirea, peony, and yew. Perennials and annuals that fill in and help with the feeling to create a Victorian garden are ferns (Victorians LOVED ferns and yes, they will grow here), all kinds of sages (meaning Salvia, not sagebrush!), periwinkle, campanula, pansies, impatiens, begonias, primrose, and all kinds of bulbs. 

When one thinks of a cottage garden they usually think of an English cottage, romance, reading in the garden, lazy summer days. The cottage garden is usually somewhat small, compact, and filled to the brim with color. It often surrounds a house, a porch, or a shed. There usually isn't room for lawn, just pathways. There is an informal and breezy look to the garden, but it is very well planned, especially in the heights of the plants.

Taller plants are in the back, along the fence, porch railing, or house. Mid level plants are in the middle and the shorter ones are in the front. Sometimes the beds are lined with bricks that really add to the cottage feel. Many cottage gardens have a color theme with pinks and whites or blues and yellows. 

This cottage garden is in Cedar City at a bed and breakfast.

You can make your own cottage garden in your yard. All you need to do is find a spot that fits, that matches the garden's style. Pick a spot near a shed, a chicken coop, the garage, a fence or wall, and start with tall plants. The trick to getting a cottage garden to look right, is you need to plant in small pockets rather than large drifts. Plant two or three plants of the same kind together, side by side; that's a pocket. Decrease the height of the plants you place as you move towards the front of your garden bed. Add a birdbath or an old wheelbarrow. Pathways and arbors are great if you have more space as well as a few benches.

Start in the back with tall perennials like lupines, hollyhocks, larkspur. If you have the room for a larger garden, a snowball bush (Viburnum), honeysuckle, lilacs and climbing roses are wonderful backbone plants. Coreopsis, bleeding heart, English lavender, sweet peas, geraniums, day lilies, heliotropes, daisies, forget-me-nots, wallflowers, and canterbury bells are mid and small sized for the front portion of the garden.

The beauty of a farmhouse or countryside garden is the chance to appreciate the vistas of a pastoral landscape and rural area. To make the most of those great views, the landscaping plan needs to accentuate the views. They should be kept unobstructed and available to see from multiple vantage points on the property.

To get the farmhouse garden feel, chose local stone and other materials native to your region so your rural home and garden fits in with the surrounding area. Stacked stone walls, irregular flagstones, rustic garden accessories add to the style and ambiance.

To achieve this kind of garden at your home, avoid man-made edgers in the garden; no plastic or metal dividers. Cut a deep edge between your lawn and your garden beds and maintain it with a string line trimmer. The best way to control weeds is to mass plant ground covers. Stay away from modern design elements with sleek, cold lines and keep the added elements fitting with the landscape like wooden chairs and benches, a rope swing with a wood seat, and wooden barrels for plantings. Rustic is the word. Birdhouses and wishing wells are right at home.
Garden beds filled with shrub roses, willows, lilacs, hydrangeas, black-eyed susans, cosmos, catmint, lambs ear, lilies, fountain grass, daisies, and rudbeckia are perfect for the farmhouse and countryside garden. Large shade trees are of course needed for that rope swing.

The modern/contemporary garden is usually a simple and water-wise garden plan and style. This type of garden is usually a smaller area with a mature feel. There is alot of hardscaped areas of stone, wood, and concrete. Sleek materials are used with a minimalist design. Water features and incredible outdoor lighting are a good possibility as well as artsy sculptures. There is a contrast in colors, shapes, and materials that gives the garden that modern feel. Most plants used are bold, architectural plants that make a statement.

You can create a contemporary garden by using neat and tidy containers with topiaries, sedges or fountain grasses planted in them. Use plants that have incredible, dramatic foliage rather than flowers. There are many beautiful perennial ornamental grasses available on the market that bring out the modern style you can purchase. Keep the lines of the garden clean and crisp and consider using spheres as a contrasting design element. Concrete spheres, glass spheres, ceramic spheres, any kind of sphere shape just yells 'modern'. Also try using a decorative repetitive element like empty terra cotta pots all along a walkway, or concrete pavers perfectly spaced along the patio, or arrange furniture in a repetitive order.

Using plants with a lot of foliage is the key to planting a modern garden. Hostas, cannas, New Zealand flax (Phormium), sedum, yucca, yews, boxwoods and all the ornamental grasses you can handle are perfect.

We've shared 5 different garden styles with you. Next week in the part two portion of this post we'll share four more - high desert, butterfly and bird garden, formal garden, and suburban/family garden styles as well as some helpful design and garden tips.

Keep in mind that these styles are just somebody's guidelines. They aren't your style. You get to decide what works best for your yard, your lifestyle, and include what YOU like. These style highlights are just to give you ideas so that you can create what you love in your own style.

Watch for Part Two next week and happy designing and planting in the meantime.

Brought to you by Heath Harvey @ HeathsHomes.com