Curb appeal: you hear this term a lot but what does it really mean? In short, it’s the aesthetic value of your home as viewed from the street. It’s the first impression anyone gets of your home and it’s also a valuable tool in your arsenal for boosting your home’s value and overall feel. Cobblestone Homes wants you to continue customizing your already custom home in NW Arkansas.
Curb appeal includes everything someone sees from the street: your sidewalks, landscaping, driveway, even the front door. Landscaping often ranks among the first items on homeowners’ “curb appeal checklists,” and for good reason! Plants and other materials have the ability to add color and texture to the outdoor of your home, giving a sense of extending your home’s personality and charm to the outdoors. Beautiful, colorful landscapes need not stop their benefits with looks; native plants become a boon to your local environment and have several features that benefit you directly.
Low-Maintenance
Among native plants most beneficial-to-the-homeowner traits is their low-maintenance quality. Native plants have evolved in the NW Arkansas region, allowing them to grow well in Fayetteville’s soil and climate. Like most plants, many natives have preferences as to soil moisture and sunlight availability, but some grow in nearly any condition. While some native plants spread naturally throughout your landscape as they mature, they do not become invasive.
Wildlife
Your yard is part of the local ecosystem, albeit slightly modified. As the native plants have evolved over thousands of years in the region, much of the native fauna has evolved along with them. Among those most cherished by homeowners are birds and butterflies – native and migratory species depend heavily on the availability of native plants. Pollinators favor their native delicacies, while many birds feast on the insects that forage on the plants.
Native Selections for the Ozark Region
Cobblestone Homes is proud to create new-construction homes in Fayetteville among the surrounding beauty of the Ozarks. One glance out your front door reveals beautiful native species thriving in our dense outdoor wonderland. Hundreds of native selections work well for home landscapes. The eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis) with its stunning lilac-lavender to reddish-pink buds in the early spring will be among the first to bloom.
The buds of Sweet Crabapple (Malus coronaria) serve as an important source of nectar and summer-borne fruit. Trees and shrubs are not your only choices; hundreds of species of flowers, ferns and small shrubs call the Ozark region home. From the show-stopping purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) to the textured foliage of the northern Maidenhair fern (Adiantum pedatum), your bases are covered.
Selection
Several native resources exist for Fayetteville homeowners, allowing you to quickly see which plants will grow best in your yard (for example, an east-facing home will need plants that don’t require full-sun, and the south-facing landscape will often require full-sun plants). Wet- and dry-loving plants both exist – some even handle both! Your selection comes down to your planting site and your personal style.
Resources:
Ozark native Plants: Native Plants Catalog
University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture: Research and Extension: Arkansas Native Plants
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