## Staging Your LandscapeBy: **Charlie Thigpin****"You want your landscaping to be attractive and inviting, but it also needs to meet your needs functionally."**
It should work with your lifestyle and the looks of your home. Unless you have an eclectic style in which you can do whatever you want! But if it’s a formal setting, you’ll want formal landscaping to go with it. If it’s a more natural style, you’ll want natural elements and design to blend with the surroundings. “I always tell people, you’re paying for it, so you do with it what you want. **Make it yours and incorporate your style.**”
**The main thing you want to keep in mind is maintenance.**
You can have the best design and put in the best features, but unless it’s maintained properly, it’ll get run down so quickly and you’ll lose your investment. **Think realistically to yourself, ‘How will I maintain this?’ and have a plan so the work doesn’t sneak up on you.** “I’ve never had anyone ask me to design high-maintenance landscaping for them. Not once. But often, they’ll ask for help with a low maintenance landscape.”
<<< **Pathways** can create an axis and sight lines to draw your eyes in and then the spot you want to accentuate can be the focal point. This can be anything you want it to be like a well-pruned Japanese maple, a birdbath, a water feature to those who want more maintenance, a really great looking container or an architectural fragment such as an old gate or an old metal wheel. A friend has a really amazing garden that incorporates the unexpected by playing off tension. He creates this feeling of tension by letting you see through a wall of trees to the other side. This way he only allows fragmented bits and pieces at a time to poke through. The walls create interest, suspense and intrigue in a clever way that finally opens up to let you see the whole magical garden.
<<< **Perennials** are great for the spring. They’ll bloom from now till the first frost. Perennials can enhance your landscape and since they come back every year they work great long-term making them a good investment. If you have a lot of sun (think 5-6 hours of full sunshine) look at Coreopsis, Perennial Lantanas (below) and Gauras. If your yard is more shaded (think morning sunlight or bits of sunlight throughout the day), look for plants like Hosta, Heuchera, and Toad Lillies. The Hosta and Heuchera won’t give you flowers but they will have outstanding foliage till frost.
**ARE THERE PLANTS THAT WORK AS NATURAL INSECT REPELLANTS?**
Citronella and lemongrass plants are supposed to help naturally keep mosquitos away. Bees and butterflies are good for your yard. Plus, I’ve never been stung while working in the flowers either, so don’t be afraid to keep the kind of plants they attract around.
## When it comes to accessorizing and styling, know when to stop. Practice restraint. Add a little bit of layer at a time so you can see how each step affects the overall design goal and you don’t do too much at once or it risks getting muddled and less cohesive. Think of it like arranging flowers in a vase; sometimes the hardest thing to learn is to know when to stop. Don’t go too far into the arrangement by adding too many layers of flowers just to step back and realize there’s too much going on. If you go slow and see it layer by layer you can make sure that it all mimics your personality while making sure the landscape and look of your home enhance each other rather than distract and take away from one or the other.
**Charlie Thigpin**, **Charlie Thigpen’s Garden Gallery** at **Pepper Place**
"More than a garden shop, we are a destination for inspiration! A sanctuary of soothing sights and sounds in our courtyard garden and adjacent shop. Both are filled with beautiful plants, water features, home decor, local art and gifts for all occasions."
