The Value of Landscape

A Tree of Life designed landscape integrates with the Boulder, CO foothills.

By Johnny Moore

February 28, 2021

When it comes to investments, few rival the cost-benefit of creating a well-loved outdoor space. The houses and yards in which we live and raise our families are the tapestry that make our homes comfortable and create fond childhood memories. When the spaces we inhabit daily are prioritized, well-planned and well-built, the beauty of life around the kitchen table, games on the living room floor, or a bonfire in the backyard naturally unfolds. The memories we make in these places follow us all our lives, shaping childhood experience and forming our adult aspirations for owning a “nice” home.

When you ask yourself where to invest your money, the backyard is probably the one thing you attempt to spend the least amount of money on. But it is also probably the one place you’d really like to spend more time, if it were nice. It is, after-all, one of a home’s most coveted and prized spaces. While we are able to find countless justifications for a kitchen or whole house remodel, the idea of spending significant capital on the yard is often difficult to accept. Yet when we are buying a house, a “big backyard” or a great deck or patio are often reasons we make one of the biggest decisions of our lives—where we will live.

What is the Value of Landscape?

We should all be asking ourselves the question, “How much should I be saving to spend on my backyard?” Several case studies have shown that you can expect to see between a 5%-15% increase in your home's value by adding or improving your landscaping. Our experience shows that most homeowners will spend between 10%-20% of their home’s value on their landscaping, depending on if they are simply redoing their backyard or starting from scratch with a new home.

If you find yourself doing some quick math to find out how much money your new landscape dreams will cost, you may gasp and ask, “Does it really cost that much?”. The answer is yes, but that is not to say you can’t landscape your yard on a budget. You do not have to have a marble patio and Greek statuary. Simple but quality hardscapes and a good planting design can go a long way.

Mulch, pea gravel, and strategic planting make for a beautiful landscape with less formal materials.

What Goes Into the Cost of Landscape?

Good design is critical. Whether it’s an estate or a small backyard, getting the skeletal bones of your yard placed correctly is the first step. If poorly planned, the rest of the yard will be a struggle and not the inviting space you’re hoping to create.

Hardscapes are often the most costly part of the investment, due to material and labor costs, but they are an essential part of good design. If you plan to make a lifetime’s worth of memories in the space you’re renovating, choose materials that will not only endure but feel timeless. Somehow stamped concrete doesn’t evoke timelessness. Natural stone however never goes out of style—it’s classic. If you don’t have a budget for stone but don’t want to settle for manufactured pavers (a decent middle ground option), you can always pour concrete and face it with natural stone down the road. The space will feel a night and day difference when converted from concrete to stone, but “good bones” are being established.

Don’t underestimate the power of plants. The idea of paradise is still somehow wrapped up in the mystery of being in a garden. Because many landscape companies specialize in hardscapes, plants are often an afterthought. Plant-driven design is bringing us a fresh and brilliant perspective on palpable beauty that can be found in our own backyards. We are quickly moving from the world of daylilies and sod (a myopic view of nature’s vast plant palette) into the world of often unique and native plants that offer splendid interest all year long. The plants will provide the counter balance to the sturdy hardscapes you now have in place. Plants bring dynamism and mark time as you now not only feel but experience the seasons change. Each season brings a different kind of beauty to your garden, and the winter garden is no exception.

Plants in a Tree of Life commercial design soften the hardscapes and architecture.

The Bottom Line

This is not your grandmother’s garden, where hours a day must be spent pulling weeds, watering and tending. Thanks to good plant design, automated drip irrigation and mulch (which is not supposed to be a focal point), your garden can be extremely low maintenance, needing only the occasional weed pulled and to be cut back once a year after establishment.

The bottom line is, unless you are fixing up to sell, when you remodel your kitchen you choose the finishes you love. Your landscape investment should be nothing less. And that is a tough thing to quantify--the value of the spaces that will be host to, if not the catalyst for, years of enjoyment and some of life’s fondest memories. There is no going price for good conversations and a glass of wine with friends around a fire pit or gardens where our children’s imaginations can run wild and free. If we haven’t stopped to make space for these things to happen, it’s high time we do.