It is the kind of snow that everyone is excited about in October, but completely sick of by April. If you live in the midwest you likely understand the excitement of the first snow of the year. When that snow arrives in October, it can be even more exciting. It is fun to have a little bit of the fluffy white stuff for the kids to play in when they get home from school. Knowing that there are more warm days ahead means that parents often have all kinds of patience when it comes to an October snow. They will, for instance, help their children gather all of the snow into one place so that it is possible to make a snowman or, with some real work, build a fort.
When the last dose of snow dares to show up during the first week of April, however, few have patience for Mother Nature’s April Fool’s joke. In fact, when the snow falls and covers up the pot holes that were caused by an entire season of freezing and thawing, in fact, the dangerous roads just add insult to injury. If you are someone who loves to garden, an April snow is even more annoying. Sure, you may be able to get a few clever pictures of bright yellow daffodils poking out of the white snow, but after those pictures are taken, most gardeners just want to move on. Get their flower beds and vegetable gardens ready for planting.
Garden Centers Offer a Variety of Products to Help You Get Your Lawn and Garden Ready for Spring
Even if the seed catalogs arrived a month ago, there is nothing like walking through the local plant nursery and enjoying the plants that are just waiting for the snow to melt and the garden being ready to plant. Finding the patience to make it through the last of the April showers that are so cold that they turned to snow is the one thing that can be the biggest challenge for many gardeners.
Consider some of these facts and figures about the gardening industry and the role that it plays in increasing the value of a home as well in the nation’s economy:
- 90 million households participated in do-it-yourself gardening and lawn activities last year, some indoors and some outdoors. That’s nearly 75% of all U.S. households.
- Spending as little as 5% of a home’s value on landscaping may get a return on investment (ROI) of as much as 150%.
- 51% of home owners who are upgrading their outdoor spaces spend at least six hours there every week. The top three uses of this space include relaxing, gardening, and entertaining.
- 90% of real estate agents encourage home owners to invest in landscaping before they get ready to sell.
- 97% of real estate agents recommended landscaping as one of the top five home improvement recommendations. In fact, this group of agents indicate that a home owner can expect a 215% return on these landscaping investments.
- 92% of property owners who are adding plants to their yards, are selecting plants that are native to their region.
A landscaping and design company can help home and business owners add both value and beauty to properties of all size.
