Jump-Start Your Dazzling Fall Garden With Just 1 Simple Plant

Imagine the impact of a pot of brightly blooming flowers set on your doorstep. The eye is immediately drawn to the color, skimming over other areas of the porch, perhaps not noticing details like peeling paint or steps in need of a sweep. In the same way, adding just one colorful perennial or a shimmering ornamental grass can rejuvenate tired, end of season borders. Give them a boost with one of these high-impact plants that cross over from summer to fall.

Take a look at how planting a single fall favorite, such as gold-petaled black-eyed Susan or purple fountain grass, can gracefully transition beds from summer to fall.

‘Autumn Joy’ Stonecrop 

(Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’)

This easy-care plant is a popular choice for fall gardens, with good reason. Its standout blooms come into their own in September, turning from pale green to rosy pink and then to deep pomegranate, just as many other summer flowers are beginning to fade. Sticking just one of these clumping perennials into a garden bed will immediately draw the eye and the attention of butterflies and other pollinators.

Paintbox Garden

‘Autumn Joy’ stonecrop with fountain grass (Pennisetum alopecuroides)

Pair it with: Ornamental grasses and fine-leaved perennials, such as artemisia or thyme. The contrast in textures between stonecrop’s succulent leaves and chunky flowers and feathery grasses or small-leaved plants makes for a standout combination.

Where it will grow: Hardy to minus 35 degrees Fahrenheit, or minus 37.2 degrees Celsius (USDA zones 3 to 10; find your zone)
Water requirement: Moderate; low once established
Light requirement: Full sun to partial shade
Mature size: 1½ to 2 feet tall and wide

Black-Eyed Susan
(Rudbeckia hirta)The cheerful golden-petaled and dark-centered blooms of black-eyed Susan, also called gloriosa daisy, enliven late-summer and fall borders. The plants, native to prairies of the central United States, are much beloved by butterflies. Cultivars may be available at your local nursery, producing flowers in shades of red, bronze and orange and with bicolored petals.

Pair it with: For a fall bouquet garden, pair black-eyed Susan with other late-summer blooms that work well as cut flowers, such as shasta daisy (Leucanthemum x superbum; shown here with black-eyed Susan), annual sunflowers, chrysanthemums and coneflowers (Echinacea spp.).

Where it will grow: Hardy to minus 35 degrees Fahrenheit, or minus 37.2 degrees Celsius (zones 3 to 7)
Water requirement: Moderate; low once established
Light requirement: Full sun
Mature size: 2 to 3 feet tall and 1 foot to 2 feet wide

Mardigras Sneezeweed
(Helenium spp.)Look past the unattractive common name for what is a gorgeous late-summer bloomer. Flowers bloom from August to October, with petals in yellow, orange, red and striped variations that grow from the center like rays of the sun.The plants grow in clumps that can mature to be about 3 to 5 feet tall and 2 to 3 feet wide. To refresh borders this season, remove tired-looking summer annuals and fill in the gaps with budding sneezeweed.
Pair it with: The chocolate centers of sneezeweed flowers play well with plants that have brown or deep bronze hues. In this border,  sneezeweed is combined with the brown seed heads of a rush (Juncus sp.), purple-bronze leaves of ‘Grace’ smoke tree (Cotinus ‘Grace’) and dark-centered black-eyed Susans to make a stunning quartet.

Where it will grow: Hardy to minus 35 degrees Fahrenheit, or minus 37.2 degrees Celsius (zones 3 to 9)
Water requirement: Moderate
Light requirement: Full sun
Mature size: 3 to 5 feet tall and 2 to 3 feet wide, depending on variety
Purple fountain grass and lion’s ear (Leonotis leonurus) line a Southern California pathway.

Purple Fountain Grass 
(Pennisetum setaceum ‘Rubrum’)The grande dame of ornamental grasses, purple fountain grass can grow up to 4 feet tall and 2 feet wide in a single season, with arching purple leaves and fuzzy, caterpillar-like seed heads. The commonly available ‘Rubrum’ cultivar does not reseed as other Pennisetums do, making it a good variety to plant in the home garden.

Pair it with: While purple fountain grass is often added to planting beds studded with other deeply saturated hues of red, orange and gold, it can be paired with silver and blue-green foliage to create a subtle, elegant vignette that looks particularly fresh in fall.

A few silver-leaved plants to consider: Chamaecyparis lawsoniana ‘Blue Surprise’ and dusty miller (Senecio cineraria), as pictured in this combination, varieties of stonecrop (Sedum spp.) or variegated ‘Marjorie Channon’ kōhūhū (Pittosporum tenuifolium ‘Marjorie Channon’).

Where it will grow: Hardy to 25 degrees Fahrenheit, or minus 3.9degrees Celsius (zones 9 to 10)
Water requirement: Moderate
Light requirement: Full sun to partial shade
Mature size: 3 to 4 feet tall and 1½ to 2 feet wide

Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea), dense blazing star (Liatris spicata) and ‘Phantom’ Joe Pye weed (Eupatorium ‘Phantom’)

Coneflower 
(Echinacea spp.)

Another fall garden favorite, coneflower is easy to grow, drought-tolerant once established and consistently in bloom from June to late August or September. Pollinators adore the blooms, which can be left to go to seed, providing a food source for birds and seeding new plants in garden beds.

White and pink coneflowers surround blue oat grass(Helictotrichon sempervirens).

Pair it with: For a naturalistic meadow look, plant coneflowers blooming in shades of pink, white and pale yellow in beds with mixed ornamental grasses or lavender-blue-flowering Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia).Where it will grow: Hardy to minus 35 degrees Fahrenheit, or minus 37.2 degrees Celsius (zones 3 to 8)
Water requirement: Moderate; low once established
Light requirement: Full sun to partial shade
Mature size: 2 to 5 feet tall and 1½ to 2 feet wide
New Zealand Wind Grass 
(Anemanthele lessoniana)This cool-season grass is a medium olive green for much of the year, but come fall the wiry blades turn a brilliant orange. Once the color change occurs, the grass appears to burn like a fire in planting beds —particularly when backlit. New Zealand wind grass has the added benefit of being resistant to deer and tolerant of difficult growing conditions, like rocky and windy slopes. It does, however, need excellent drainage; if you have clay soil, amend heavily before planting.
Pair it with: Given its fiery golden orange color and distinctive texture, New Zealand wind grass stands out next to most other plants. Play with subtle combinations of it and plants with gray-green and silver foliage, such as silver carpet (Dymondia margaretae), shown here, or low-growing stonecrop. For more drama, combine it with purple-leaved plants, such as spurge (Euphorbia ‘Blackbird’) or dark purple smoke tree (Cotinus spp.).

Where it will grow: Hardy to 20degrees Fahrenheit, or minus 6.7 degrees Celsius (zones 8 to 10)
Water requirement: Moderate
Light requirement: Full sun to partial shade
Mature size: 3 feet tall and wide

Planting Tips

For instant results, look for semimature to mature plants at the nursery. For perennials, pick plants that look vigorous and are in bud; for ornamental grasses, choose ones that look full in their containers.

As always, pay attention to the growing conditions each plant needs to thrive: Does it need full sun or partial shade? How much water? Choose the placement in your garden accordingly.

Once you bring the plants home, get them in the ground as soon as you can. More mature plants run the risk of being root-bound in their nursery containers, so it’s best to carefully loosen roots before planting and to plant your choices relatively quickly.

Bonus: While you may be planting now to refresh your late-summer garden, you’re actually getting a jump-start on next year’s spring garden as well. Perennials and ornamental grasses planted in fall make use of the cool winter months to establish their root systems. Come spring, they’ll be ready to burst into growth, giving your garden a head start.

10 Surefire Ways To Boost Your Curb Appeal

There’s no need to buy a new house or take on an extensive remodel to get the curb appeal you want. There are many ways to approach your exterior to give it a serious update without a serious overhaul. These are my 10 favorite tips for you to boost your house’s first impression.

1. Stairs. If you update the stairs leading up to your front door, it’s amazing how much of a statement you can make. To beef up the entrance without building a whole new porch, consider a tiered stair design like this one in Boston to give your entrance more presence.

2. Railings. A new railing at the front of your house can really transform its look. Choose a style that reflects your taste. It doesn’t necessarily have to match the style of your house, as eclectic-style homes are the norm these days. Besides, none of us is truly 100 percent one type of style.
3. Overhangs. By adding a stylish overhang above your front door, not only are you adding something functional to shield you from the sun and rain, you are adding character to the front of your house. Get creative with your overhang and incorporate some architectural screens like this home in Denver.
4. Materials. Covering your house in a new veneer and siding can breathe fresh life into your exterior. You can layer on brick or stone veneer to bring substance to the front of your home. Also, consider the underside of your overhang — adding tongue and groove cedar can raise your front porch to a new level.
5. Pathways. You don’t need to spend a fortune on all new landscaping. Start with an interesting walkway to your house and slowly work on the surrounding landscape to get it to where you want it to be.
6. Soft and hard landscaping. If you want to take on a bigger project, adding soft and hard landscaping is one of the most effective ways to transform the front of your home. It’s best if you work with a landscape designer to come up with a cohesive plan for your walkway, stairs, plants and flowers. This takes some planning and it can be costly, but it’s satisfying to witness the transformation.
7. Paint. A simple paint job for the front of your home can work wonders. There are a lot of computer programs that let you see the exterior of your house in various color combinations. Find the combo you love most and go for it. If you grow tired of it, you can always change it.
8. House numbers. Adding new house numbers is a simple way to make an instant impact on the exterior of your home. Besides just picking out new numbers, consider where they will work and look the best. It might be a different location than your current house numbers.
9. Front doors. If your budget lets you update just one thing at a time, you may want to start with your front door. Consider choosing something that lets light into the interior of your house. That serves dual purposes, by changing the feel of the outside of your home and altering the inside too.
10. Lighting. It’s amazing how much lighting can transform a space, even on the outside. Consider wall sconces, overhead lighting and path lights for maximum impact.

Buyer Demand Continues Outpacing The Supply of Homes For Sale

The price of any item is determined by the supply of that item, as well as the market demand. The National Association of REALTORS (NAR) surveys “over 50,000 real estate practitioners about their expectations for home sales, prices and market conditions” for their monthly REALTORS Confidence Index.

Their latest edition sheds some light on the relationship between Seller Traffic (supply) and Buyer Traffic (demand).

Buyer Demand

The map below was created after asking the question: “How would you rate buyer traffic in your area?”

The darker the blue, the stronger the demand for homes in that area. Only three states had a ‘stable’ demand level.

Seller Supply

The index also asked: “How would you rate seller traffic in your area?”

As you can see from the map below, 21 states report a ‘weak’ sellers traffic, 25 states report a ‘stable’ sellers traffic, only 4 states and DC report a ‘strong’ sellers traffic. Meaning there are far fewer homes on the market than what is needed to satisfy the buyers who are out looking for their dream homes.

Bottom Line

Looking at the maps above, it is not hard to see why prices are appreciating in many areas of the country. Until the supply of homes for sale starts to meet the buyer demand, prices will continue to increase. If you are debating listing your home for sale contact me, your local real estate professional, who can help you capitalize on the demand in the market now!