#InTheMoment –Tuesday’s Landscape Focal Point

A garden focal point for the late summer, early fall -

© Image of a Franklinia Alatamaha blossom (Franklin Tree) by Ann Bilowz

When looking for focal points in your landscape, we often turn to a specimen tree. So here’s the Tuesday’s #InTheMoment landscape focal point. Named after Benjamin Franklin, the Franklinia Alatamaha, commonly known as the Franklin tree is not a typical choice for many landscape plantings. Yet with so many wonderful features and attributes, including its blossom alone, it’s deserving of the spotlight today. 

This Fletcher Steele favorite blooms in late summer, early fall; the perfect filler when much of your flowering landscape might appear tired. But this is more than fill and fluff. This specimen tree also becomes the focal point of your garden with its amazing fall foliage. Coupled with its delicate late blooming flower,  is there more you could want in a garden focal point?   

As Benjamin Franklin once pointed out, “If everyone is thinking alike, then no one is thinking.” So when everyone’s landscape looks typical and similar, it’s time to think out of the landscape box. Think Franklin, late blossoms and amazing fall foliage. That’s it for your #InTheMoment – Tuesday’s Landscape Focal Point.  And if you missed yesterday’s post, ‘Fallingfor the Landscape’  there is plenty of incentive for an outdoor facelift this fall.

© Image of a Franklinia Alatamaha blossom (Franklin Tree) by Ann Bilowz

If you like this blog, hope you check in for your daily share's worth of inspiration, design, and garden tips; always original, not cookie cutter and copied. Just like our design work, we strive for unique! We invite you to contact Bilowz Associates, Inc., or to browse our portfolios for inspiration. Like our Facebook follow on Twitter or subscribe to the blog to receive posts daily via email or a feed. Either way, we hope you follow the postings somewhere in cyberspace and share it with your gardening friends. You can follow with visuals on Pinterest and find us on LinkedIn and Houzz, too.  And you can also find us back on our Google+ Business Page. (Landscape architecture/Design/ Massachusetts.)

Falling for the Landscape

What draws you into a beautiful home? A well-thought out design inside and out. 

Making your landscape stylish and welcoming is a selling feature for your home.

What draws you into a beautiful home, especially when you haven’t seen its interior, its inner structure and bones? It's a Monday morning, fall wake-up call for anyone putting a home on the market. There's a lot of planning involved in successfully selling a home.

What's first on your agenda? The landscape should reflect the wonderful features waiting to be discovered inside the home. Your potential buyer might envision certain rooms before entering but it’s the architectural lines and the well-designed landscape that define a home's welcome. And while beautiful, pristine locations can be an easy sell, this recent article from Ball Publishing’s newsletter Buzz spells out why it is that perception, that first impression of what you see on the outside first, that setting, the landscape that can often sell your home.
 
If you live in New England, fall is an optimum time to market your home. Think foliage, pumpkins and apple pie as helpful selling features but if certain outdoor curb appeal is lacking, there could be lots of potential buyers taking that infamous U-turn before one even sets foot inside your home.

Take a few tips from this Ball Publishing article – fall for the landscape and then the home. And one big P.S. - never underestimate the value of a well-thought out landscape lighting plan. Light is a welcoming element and it should not get the axe or cheapened out when lighting your home. 

© Copyright note: this image and design have been developed by and are the property of Bilowz Associates Inc. and should not be reproduced in any manner nor are they to be assigned to any third party without the expressed written permission and consent of Bilowz Associates Inc. 

If you like this blog, hope you check in for your daily share's worth of inspiration, design, and garden tips; always original, not cookie cutter and copied. Just like our design work, we strive for unique! We invite you to contact Bilowz Associates, Inc., or to browse our portfolios for inspiration. Like our Facebook follow on Twitter or subscribe to the blog to receive posts daily via email or a feed. Either way, we hope you follow the postings somewhere in cyberspace and share it with your gardening friends. You can follow with visuals on Pinterest and find us on LinkedIn and Houzz, too.  And you can also find us back on our Google+ Business Page. (Landscape architecture/Design/ Massachusetts.)

Stepping Out

Bilowz Associates Inc. Landscape Design - 'Stepping out'

It's a known fact that a walk outdoors or spending time in a garden aids in our breathing. Another plus - creativity often flows better in places where it's easy to unwind. But these days, finding that OFF button means we must literally 'unplug'. One of the best ways to leave behind the tedium - create a green space where it's easy and available for 'stepping out'.

Not ready for a landscape challenge? Lace up your sneaks. Make a date with nature to enjoy on any given day. 

What sets the tone for creativity is experiencing nature firsthand.

© Top Image –‘Stepping out’ Copyright note: this image and design have been developed by and are the property of Bilowz Associates Inc. and should not be reproduced in any manner nor are they to be assigned to any third party without the expressed written permission and consent of Bilowz Associates Inc. 

© Sneaker and Sunrise Image by Ann Bilowz

If you like this blog, hope you check in for your daily share's worth of inspiration, design, and garden tips; always original, not cookie cutter and copied. Just like our design work, we strive for unique! We invite you to contact Bilowz Associates, Inc., or to browse our portfolios for inspiration. Like our Facebook follow on Twitter or subscribe to the blog to receive posts daily via email or a feed. Either way, we hope you follow the postings somewhere in cyberspace and share it with your gardening friends. You can follow with visuals on Pinterest and find us on LinkedIn and Houzz, too.  And you can also find us back on our Google+ Business Page. (Landscape architecture/Design/ Massachusetts.)