Summer Entry and Easy Ways to Add Curb Appeal

May is my favorite month. It’s finally warm enough to start thinking about our Summer entry and easy ways to add curb appeal.

Poppy wanted to help me welcome you to our home!

We’re delighted to be taking part in Satori Design for Living’s OUTDOOR EXTRAVAGANZA. This will be going on for the next couple of weeks but today’s post is all about plants and flowers.

I don’t know about your neck of the woods, but here in New England, the winter stretched on and on and on. Only now, in May, does it feel like summer. I must admit I signed up to take part in this tour months ago and I was getting pretty nervous with all the Nor’Easters and rain that I wouldn’t be able to take part.

Earlier this week I shared this photo on Instagram:

We’d just got back from the Home Depot and I was so surprised by all the comments and likes. Boston Ferns are classic and they’re currently in stock! I got so many questions that I thought I’d share some easy tips for sprucing up your exterior.

Easy Ways to Add Curb Appeal

This post contains a few affiliate links for your convenience, if you purchase via one of these links I may receive a portion of the sale. Thank you for supporting my blog in this way.

Boston Ferns

I discovered Boston Ferns a few years ago. The front of our home is mostly shaded, well it gets some morning and evening sun, but the sun goes around the side and back of our home. I had the hardest time with flowers in my urns. Things would die and I’d get mad.

If you’ve had the same problem then you might want to try Boston Ferns. I’ve heard that they aren’t good in Florida because the leaves burn in the heat, but here in New England they thrive and last into the fall months.

All I do is get the hanging ferns and plop them in my urns (still in the containers). I give them some plant food and water in the morning.

Classic, Elegant and Easy.

Home Depot has the hanging ferns in stock for $14.99. We grabbed some for our entry and some for our back deck.

Just to give you an idea, this is how they were looking last fall:

Accentuate Your Entry With a Brick Walkway

This is a little more time consuming and costly, but adding a brick walkway to your entry makes your front door a focal point. The previous owners added the brick path and I love it so much! Other options are pea gravel, crushed shells or mini marble chips.

Paint Doors and Shutters A Cheerful Color

I love blue and knew that I wanted to paint our door and shutters this color when we moved in. The front door used to be a buttery yellow and the shutters were black. I get asked A LOT what color our front door is. It’s Buxton Blue in high gloss by Benjamin Moore. This color looks perfect in EVERY season.

The wreath is faux succulents by Balsam Hill and the wreath hanger is by Smith & Hawkins. We have a storm door for those New England winters so I like to hang wreaths on the exterior door.

Oversized Window Boxes

We have very large window boxes which were added by the previous owner. They are an all weather material which means we don’t ever have to paint them which makes me happy. At first I was very intimidated and didn’t know what to plant in them.

Now, I look forward to doing the window boxes and changing them with the season.

My favorite thing is potato vines. Last year I experimented with mixing different colored vines and loved how that looked. When you first plant them they look like the above photo (you can also see some vinca vine which I’m using this year as well).

As the summer progresses and then fall, the vines look gorgeous and trail down onto the ground. It’s such a romantic, cottage-y look that is so welcoming. You can see how they vines trail here:

Isn’t that beautiful?

For planting, I usually do something for height, usually ornamental grasses, then fill with flowers and potato vines. I find shade loving plants or sun loving flowers that are small work in our window boxes.

I make sure to water our window boxes every day.

Plant and Fertilize Grass

I realize our grass is just coming back right now. It was a long winter. Last year we put down loam, reseeded and fertlized the lawn with organic fertilizer. This is how it was looking last summer:

See how lush?

Well, it was a looooooonnnnnggggg winter. We added more seed and also more organic fertilizer and I’m relieved to report it’s coming back. Phew.

Plant Hardy Perennials

When we first moved to our home there were no shrubs int he front. We’ve added them over the years. We’ve done boxwood, Delaware White Azaleas (one of my dad’s favorites).

Last year we added a holly which is so pretty in the winter.

We mulch every other year. Last year, Luke put down a really thick layer of mulch and this year I’ve turned the mulch over. You want to be careful not to put too much mulch up to the wood shingles because it can cause the wood to rot or water to flood up over the sill into the basement.

Mulch insulates the plants and also cuts down on weeding. That’s always my job so love when there aren’t tons of weeds. We like organic dark mulch because it makes the green of our bushes pop.

Add Some Pops of Color

Many garden centers and hardware stores have ready planted pots and hanging baskets. I find this a great way to add a little pop of color.

Before the ferns arrived I had these in my urns.

Now they’re on a step to add more pretty color to our entry:

Faux is Fun Too

As I mentioned the wreath is faux, but the bunch of flowers in the striped tote are faux too. 😉

They’re actually tulips in a glass vase and the striped tote I got at the Haven Conference last year.

I hope this gave you a few easy ways to add curb appeal to your home.

Thanks for stopping by. Poppy and I enjoyed showing you around now that weather is lovely to be outside!

Be sure to visit all my friends who are taking part. They have some lovely plant and flower ideas!

Satori Design for Living | On Sutton Place | City Farmhouse | Maison de Pax

The DIY Mommy | A Pretty Life | Vinyet Etc. | Life On Virginia Street

The Happy Housie | Clean and Scentsible | Casa Watkins Living | Postcards from the Ridge | Finding Silver Pennies