Landscaped To Perfection!
We love living and working in this little city, but as we all know, the weather here in Pōneke can be a bit like riding a rollercoaster (turbulent to say the least). This is probably why a lot of homeowners in Wellington don’t prioritise jazzing up their outdoor spaces. It makes a lot of sense, given the amount of time we’re able to use and enjoy them throughout the year. However, when we show a buyer through a home where the owners have put some love and care into their outdoor spaces, it goes down a treat and can sometimes be the thing that sets a property apart from the rest!
With a gorgeous new listing in Island Bay hitting the market today, we thought it might be inspiring to share some of our favourite aspects of the incredible landscaping at 292 The Parade. Whether you’re looking to sell or simply enjoy your property to the fullest over Summer, putting some love into your outdoor living space is always a worthwhile investment…
Formal First Impressions…
The previous owners at 292 The Parade planted some beautiful box hedging in the front garden, creating a formal entrance that works so well with this character property. When getting your property ready for sale or simply creating a home that you can enjoy, the entrance or front garden space can often be overlooked. But, having this formal entrance gives you an immediate sense of how much love and care has been poured into the home and beckons potential buyers or guests inside to see the rest of the property…
Working with box hedging can be a little finicky and high maintenance, but there are plenty of other hedging plants such as Corokia and Griselinia that offer a similar formal look and don’t require as much looking after.
Hard Landscaping…
Hard landscaping is the perfect way to create zones in your garden. When you’ve spent enough time living in a property, you’ll get a good sense of where the sun travels throughout the day and where the prevalent wind is coming from. You can then decide how you want to use your outdoor space to make the most of every little corner.
Hard landscaping such as decking, paving or stones can provide separation between zones in your garden and allow you to use the space to the fullest, regardless of how much space you have to work with. Placing comfortable outdoor seating, a dining area, coffee nook or even a firepit (if you’re sheltered from the Welly wind) in those hard landscaped areas allows you to enjoy each zone throughout the day and through every season!
Planter Boxes…
The classic planter box is always a great addition to any outdoor space. Whether it’s used throughout your garden to grow fresh vegetables or herbs, or around the border of your garden to provide a nice frame to the space. Planter boxes at the base of your fencing or hedging is the best way to create a garden with plenty of depth, with infinite planting possibilities to add height, colour and textures to the space.
We have added planter boxes to several properties over the years and if you’re up for a bit of DIY, you can build them yourself very cost effectively. Or even splashing some paint on some readymade planter boxes to tie into the existing colour palette of your home, we have often opted for black in the past as it really makes the surrounding greenery pop!
Hedging…
As well as the wonderful formal box hedging at the front of 292 The Parade, there is also some very cleverly used hedging out the back of the property. This hedging provides a leafy barrier between you and the surrounding properties and is a much softer, more organic alternative to a fence.
Of course, most box hedging starts small and matures over time, so some patience is required for that delayed gratification! However, you can purchase mature Griselinia hedging, something we did for our own front garden. So, if you’re looking to create a privacy screen somewhere in your outdoor space, Griselinia is always an excellent option, not to mention it’s hardy nature works perfectly in this windy Welly climate!