The Art of Creating a Welcoming Entrance: A Guide to Transforming Your Home's Exterior

As I stepped into Jen's lovely home, I couldn't help but notice her beautiful Japanese maple and hydrangea trees. She shared with me that they've been part of their landscape for about six years, and despite the initial intention of it being a starter home, they've fallen in love with their neighbors and decided to make it their permanent residence. This sentiment perfectly encapsulates the importance of having a welcoming entrance that not only reflects one's personality but also fosters a sense of community.

Jen pointed out that her backyard is an amazing space, complete with a treehouse, level playing lawn, and even a drought-tolerant area that's still pretty awesome despite the dry spell. She expressed her desire for a more hospitable entrance, which she believed would be achieved by incorporating layered elements such as evergreen shrubs and seasonal perennials. By combining these elements, they could create a visually appealing space that would provide structure in the winter and color throughout the spring, summer, and fall.

To achieve this vision, Jen gathered various plants from her truck, including spring peonies, Salvia, Loria piece called Lily Turf, Sedum (also known as dragon's blood), cone flowers (echinacea), leukanthium (otherwise known as pasta Daisy), anemones, and a little limelight hydrangea. She explained that the former would provide texture, color, and interest throughout the growing season, while also transitioning into each other to create a sense of continuity. The latter would add structure in the winter with its evergreen foliage.

For the layering effect, Jen suggested incorporating shrubs like dwarf boxwoods, which are relatively low-growing and could be used as a base for the structure. She also proposed using mating grasses to add texture and movement to the space. These grasses come in various heights and textures, making them perfect for creating a sense of depth and visual interest.

As we began to work on transforming Jen's entrance, it became clear that compost would play a crucial role in providing organic matter for new plantings. The composted manure they picked up was rich in nutrients and would help the plants thrive. By gently removing the existing grass, which had become dry and brittle due to the drought, we made way for the new additions.

As we planted the various elements, Jen shared her enthusiasm for each species, highlighting their unique characteristics and benefits. She explained that by mixing the fertilizer into the soil in a zigzag pattern, it would create a more natural look and prevent the plants from becoming too uniform. As we finished up the project, Jen's excitement was palpable, and I couldn't help but agree – the new entrance was indeed magnificent.

As we took a step back to admire our handiwork, I noticed that the Tupelo tree Jen had brought over added a touch of elegance to the space. Its unique foliage would provide shade during the fall season, creating a beautiful contrast to the surrounding landscape. The addition of mulch around the perennials helped keep them healthy and thriving.

Jen's dedication to keeping the new plants alive was clear, as she promised to water them every day for the next two weeks before scaling back to every other day. With her commitment and care, I had no doubt that this entrance would become a stunning addition to their home, providing years of beauty and enjoyment.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enforeign hi Jen so excited you're here yeah it's so nice to be at your lovely home I love your Japanese maple your hydrangea thank you yeah it's a bit of a work in progress we've been here about six years we thought it was going to be our starter home that have since fallen in love with our neighbors all my kids friends live back here so I think we're sticking around you have to you cannot leave good friends that's what it's all about oh it's so true not guaranteed absolutely not so this is the area this is the area if you arrive to our house in the spring or summer or fall really this tends to be the primary entrance it's really a secondary entrance to our home I mean this backyard is amazing the tree house nice level playing lawn I mean drought aside it's pretty awesome so you really want to guide everyone through yeah we'd love a more hospitable entrance here I think we could do something yeah so what are you thinking what kind of vibe are you going so we'd love like a layered look here we would love some Evergreen here that doesn't die in the winter and then lots of perennials that bloom kind of seasonally so we always have some color yeah so the shrubs will give it structures in the winter and then the perennials will die down but we could pick something that blooms spring summer and fall exactly awesome so I've brought a few things for you to look at in the truck to see if you want to put them in awesome let's check it out okay so your area is full sun and so I had to pick full sun plants oh I love them I know right so much texture so much texture and color so starting the spring peonies I love peonies yes of course you'll see the flour now but that will be blooming and then I kind of picked plants that are going to transition into each other like it might they might not go at the same time but there's always going to be something blooming this one's called Salvia it's gonna be a purple Spike flower usually starts around may this is Loria piece called Lily Turf but that typically starts blooming in in June July depends where you are okay um so I love the texture of those guys no and okay this is the type of Sedum called dragon's blood it's going to stay low and it's it'll be along the pathway okay so it'll kind of guide you in does it spread or Mound it'll spread and bound and it's a mounting spreader okay and then it'll have a pink flowers in June oh beautiful so we got a couple of those and then these are called cone flowers I love the color on those and there's so many different varieties now so it's called echinacea coneflowers so these are going to be summer bloomers and they'll go into like early fall yeah Let's see we have the leukanthium otherwise known as pasta Daisy you know this one I do it's a great flower so it's beautiful yeah it'll add a pop of white and then also to go right after that we have ah anemones oh I love these they're so dainty so beautiful even before they open up they're just gorgeous this is a fall Bloomer so it indicates going back to school yeah you know it's just kind of that time of year so but it'll open up to this beautiful pink flower and they are gorgeous plants okay dainty and lovely and then this one is a little limelight hydrangea the normal limelights get eight to ten feet tall this is a little Limelight so it'll start and it'll get up to three to four feet okay so I was thinking for the layering we could do this shrub and then for your structure in the winter I bought dwarf boxwoods these are green velvet boxwoods they're a relatively low grower okay so I was thinking these along the foundation and these in the front and as those go dormant this will be your structure in front of that okay great and then for the other side of the walkway I was thinking this mating grass you know just two of them they get pretty tall but just the texture yeah the height wispy and lots of movements yes movement in the garden is important if you approve let's get planting yes I wholeheartedly approve okay awesome what we're going to do is remove all the grass it's very dry very very dry well if you didn't know we were in a drought before this seriously no no now the Earth is so dry so when we get down to the soil we're going to add some compost now what exactly is in compost gen because it has a little bit of an odor compost could be anything from your food waste broken down to this I think this is composted manure is what we picked up today so for new plantings you're going to need organic matter to help them thrive okay and so see these roots we just want to like gently yeah just not so it falls apart but like so it could reach out to the soil it's perfect all right that looks like a good hike to me I have a little fertilizer okay yeah just mix it in a little bit they look more natural if you plant them in a zigzag rather than a straight line but look at that the beauty I thought you needed a little scale here so got you a Tupelo tree it's a native tree really the show with it is not a flower it's the Fall Foliage and it's not going to disturb your sun Garden because the shadows will be cast a different way got the mulch just don't bury the perennials keep it off the base okay hey Heather hey I'm glad to see you watering yes all right so I think we've accomplished what you wrote in about I mean what do you think about space it's amazing it's really magnificent I love the color palette and this seasonal color we're gonna get I think it's gonna make a real difference yeah you just have to keep it alive I I'm gonna try water every day for the next two weeks you know you could just spot water like that you know you're not gonna waste it yep and then then scale back to every other day and then I think you're gonna be good set off into the fall okay okay awesome thank you so much you're welcome thanks for watching this whole house has got a video for just about every Home Improvement project so be sure to check out the others 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