Does your parking strip need to be resuscitated?

If that spot between your sidewalk and the street is looking pretty raggedy, now is the perfect time to be taking care of that. Parking strips with lush grass that look perfect are one thing, but most parking strips aren't lush and full and green and pretty. They're sad little extensions of our yards that we as homeowners are responsible for, and they usually look less than ideal.

Here are a few easy steps I found at Sunset Western Gardens that I added to as well, They will help you get yours looking spiffy before the heat of summer hits us. Because face it, you would rather be out there digging in the sweet April warmth than the tough July heat radiating off the pavement.

1. Remove weeds and unwanted plants, which is usually the half-way alive grass. For some stubborn roots and plants, give them a little shot of Round-Up or Killzall.
2. If the soil is compacted and lifeless, you need to till it up and add some compost or well rotted manure as well as a bit of fresh topsoil if needed. (I know that sounds super easy, but we all know that takes some time and some muscle.)
3. Figure out your layout. If it's a long strip, you will for sure want to add some stepping stones, pavers, or a few paths for people, mostly kids, to walk through. Plus, hard-scaped materials like rock, stone, and wood just make landscapes look better.

They add an element of structure, stability, and permanency. Even if your strip isn't really long, a nice path that takes your feet from the road to the sidewalk looks good and it reduces the amount of space you have to plant.

4. Think about smart plants for your space. There may be an existing tree or shrub you can work around or totally remove. Your choice. Is your spot sunny or shady? Is there water readily available or do you need to figure that out? Do automatic sprinklers hit that area or do you need to figure out a soaker hose solution? Will the plants deter or be harmed by snow plows or mail delivery? Do you know how tall or wide your new plants will get? Heber City Ordinances say this about landscaping parking strips:

The area of the street right-of-way between the curb line, or the proposed curb lines as established by the City Street Standard, and the property line (park strip) shall be landscaped, maintained and kept free of weeds by the abutting property owner with any combination of lawn, shrubs, trees, flowers, growing ground cover, small rocks, bark, and non-grouted/non-bonded pavers. Park strips may not be hard surfaced except for approved driveways, bike trails, equestrian trails and walk areas. No objects or plantings shall be placed within the right of way which would obstruct the visibility of street signs or which would obstruct the intersection visibility triangles. Such objects and plantings are deemed a public nuisance.

Heber City also has ordinances for street trees. What kind to plant, what not to plant, where they may be planted in association with hydrants, corners, other trees, stop signs, etc. Click here to visit their website to see this ordinance. Midway City doesn't have any ordinances regarding parking strips other than it is the owner's responsibility to improve and maintain them.

5. Purchase plants and get planting. The best overall look will result from planting in drifts. Choose a handful of plants and buy a few of each one. Plant three of the same kind of plant in a triangle together. This method will get you a a simple, classic and cohesive look. If you want a more bold look, you can plant them more sporadically or perfectly symmetric. 

Sunset Western Garden says you should make your plant selections with these traits: unthirsty, unfussy, persistent, compact height, attractive foliage, tidy growth, variety of textures and shapes, and varied bloom times.

This photo shows moderately carefree, easy, drought tolerant plants. Irises are very easy to grow and get thicker and thicker every year. Their water needs are moderate to low once established and after they are done flowering, their lush green foliage looks great for the rest of the season.

Because we live in Utah, we need to be smart with our plant selections even more than other areas do. There are so many varieties of perennials and shrubs that still look great with less water. When you go shopping, ask the nursery employees and read the tags. Visualize your parking strip area and the amount of water, sun, traffic, and maintenance it will get and make a good choice. 

6. Mulch your area and make sure it gets watered well to establish your plants. If you plant now, by July they will look fuller and more beautiful than if you wait to do this project in the heat of the summer. And of course, you need to weed. Give your new plants the benefit of not having to compete for water or sun with weedy plants.

A spiffed up parking strip at your house will be well appreciated by you and everyone else that gets to walk, bike, and drive past your property. Your enjoyment increases as well as your curb appeal. - Rachel

PS - for a look at some gardening styles you can incorporate into your yard, click here and here.

Brought to you by Heath @ HeathsHomes.com

Add value to your home by using 1 of these 4 methods

Expanding your living space into the great outdoors is one of the top four ways living landscapes can add value to your property and extend the usefulness of your home. 

Yards can be outdoor family rooms and are becoming a more and more important element for those of us that like to spend time outside and provide a safe place for our kids and pets to play outside as well. Merging indoor with outdoor living to increase living space is a huge trend right now and will in most cases increase the value of your home and make it more desirable to home buyers as well as yourself.

Adding curb appeal is something also commonly talked about when discussing ways that living landscapes can add value to your property. A first impression is very important to most home buyers and the front yard and front entry is the ticket. Studies show that improving curb appeal by beautifying the lawn and front landscape can boost property values by as much as 17 percent.

The third way to make your living landscape work for you is by adding trees. Mature trees are a positive point for home buyers. According to the Society of Arboriculture, each mature front yard tree adds 1 percent to a homeowner's sale price and a large specimen tree can add as much as 10 percent to a property's value. That 1 percent may not seem like much, but given that the usual commission of a real estate agent working for you receives 3 percent of the sale price, that little tree investment is pretty awesome.  The research suggests that if you plant 3 trees to increase your price by 3 percent, then you've technically paid for a real estate professional to help you with the contracts, deadlines, and hassle of selling your home.

The other top four method to add value with living landscapes is to actually plant and nurture them. Living landscapes impact monthly utility bills. The U.S. Department of Agriculture tells us that strategically placed trees can save up to 56% on annual air conditioning bills and in the winter, evergreens that block winter winds can save 3% on heating costs. Even your lawn is beneficial and can impact your energy efficiency. According to the Alliance for Water Efficiency, cumulatively, eight average sized front lawns can provide the cooling equivalent to air-conditioning for 18 homes. 

So as you decide what living landscape projects you want to undertake to increase your property value as well as your own outdoor family happiness, consider these statistics from the National Association of Realtors:

Seeding the family yard will recover 417% of the project cost.

Updating a landscape with sod will result in a 143% recovery of costs.

Adding a new patio will recover 102% of the investment.

Building a new wooden deck will recover 106% of the project cost.

It looks like any beautification or enhancement to your outdoor living space will pay off financially as well as let you enjoy the great outdoors to a fuller extent.

To read the full article I found about this topic, please go to www.LivingLandscapes.Matter.com. 

Brought to you by Heath Harvey @ HeathsHomes.com

A Few of the Beautiful Front Yards of Wasatch County

I was driving down center street, minding my own business on May 17th when I saw this beautiful yard. I had to stop and take a picture to send to my mom.  She appreciates a gorgeous spring yard almost as much as I do. The bulbs were in full color-display and were completely showing off. That photo started it - my quest for the prettiest front yards in the valley.

There were other pretty yards beginning to come out of their winter and spring sleep but that one was the best I had seen all year. As the weeks passed and the temperatures warmed up, I began seeing other beautiful yards starting to fill in, so I took pictures of them. I took pictures until July 8th. 

This video is the compilation of those pictures from the past 8 weeks. I have recently driven by some of the yards that I photographed just a few weeks earlier and they are even more gorgeous!  Most of the photos were taken in early June, so I actually missed the grand show that most are displaying now.

So there they are - some of the most beautiful front yards in Wasatch County. I know I have missed some incredible yards; ones that are not on the main roads that I seem to travel on as I take children to various activities. I apologize, I would LOVE to see yours as well. And backyards!  Don't even get me started because I don't want to start jumping fences and running from dogs to see those beauties! 

Thank you Wasatch County for making our valley even more gorgeous with your green thumbs and hard work. If Better Homes and Gardens ever published anywhere in the west besides Denver and San Francisco, they would be proud of you! - Rachel Harvey

Brought to you by Heath Harvey @ HeathsHomes.com

A tangy spin off of a favorite summer treat

Take advantage of the season and your love of all things vinegar with this delicious cucumber recipe.

Slice up about 6 cups of cucumbers and 1/2 of a red onion and place in a bowl.  Sprinkle 1 tbsp of salt over the top. Let it all sit for about 2 hours then drain off the liquid. In another smaller bowl mix 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of cider vinegar. Pour the sugar/vinegar over the cucumbers and onions. Let them sit in the refrigerator for about 12 hours for the full experience, but if you can't wait, its understandable.

This recipe is a bit different from the usual cucumbers in vinegar and its a delicious! For all you Heber Valley folks, cucumbers are 3 for $1 at Rancho Market this week!

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