At this Burbank home, the owner wanted the focus to be on adding curb appeal by breaking up the uninteresting grass front yard into colorful garden sections with low-water-use plants and drip irrigation.

garden with curb appeal

We started with just a long swatch of front yard grass.  Much of the grass was full of thatch (thick layers of both dead and live grass), as well as patches of no grass or fully dead grass.  There was also poor sprinkler coverage and surrounding dead plants.

Grass with no curb appeal.

You can see in this photo where some of the grass die out had already appeared, leaving just a dirt area.  We started to outline the new garden areas that would be designed from the available property space.

Starting to map the new garden for curb appeal

What had been unfortunate about the home is that because the front yard was so uninviting, the beautiful bring walkway and entrance was not highlighted.  We intended on bringing out the beauty of this hardscape with the new landscape design.

Front walkway lacking curb appeal

The landscape design cut out garden areas around the perimeter of the yard and also gave some tender loving care to the grass to make it healthy again.  The sprinkler system was redesigned to give the grass proper coverage.  A white birch tree was added to give eventual shade.

Landscape design with curb appeal

From this angle you can see how lush and upscale this new landscape design is.  Look at all the curb appeal.  There’s the different colors, the variety of texture.  Your eye wants to look at it for a while and enjoy the multi-layered display.

Planter garden with curb appeal

We took out the unhealthy plants under the windows and expanded the planter area with a bender board border.  Drip irrigation was installed for easy maintenance, and low-water-use plants in a variety of colors and textures were installed.  Professional landscape lighting was installed on an easy timer, and bark mulch gave it a polished look as well as a drought conservation measure to keep the soil moist.

Low water use planter garden for curb appeal

And here’s how the front walkway looked after we were done.  Such a difference!  You can actually appreciate the custom brick work.  Walking up to the home is a pleasure — and doesn’t everyone want to feel good when they drive up to their home and go through the front door?  The beautiful plants, along with a variety of textures and colors, makes for a very pleasant feeling.  It’s easy to maintain with the drip irrigation and low-water-use plants.

Front walkway curb appeal