There’s something highly contagious gong around; perhaps you’ve seen it spread in your area. First it lands at one house and pretty soon it’s popping up all over the neighborhood. It unfolds a bit more slowly than the plague or a video gone viral, but spread it does. No amount of hand washing can stop it.
Be aware! Here is how the distribution happens: some people decide to improve the look of their yard. Maybe they dig a bed around the lamppost and plant flowering annuals. Perhaps it starts with old yews or over-sheared junipers being ripped out of a foundation planting, replaced with a selection of fresh shrubs and perennials.
Pretty soon other annual beds appear around lampposts down the street. More foundation plantings are improved. As this condition takes hold in the area, fences and fountains appear, frequently surrounded by rose bushes. Tufts of ornamental grasses show up with all manner of flowers. Before you know it, many in the neighborhood are planting trees.
Yes, home landscaping is contagious. Here’s what we know for sure: people like to be a part of something good. When they see their neighbors putting beautiful plants in adjacent yards and gardens, they are likely to want something similar on their own property.
Want a more beautiful neighborhood? You can grow that! Start planting.
When one person adds a diverse selection of plants to their front yard it gives their neighbors the desire to have more color and texture too.
Want to know your neighbors better? Create a front yard sitting area and perch there with your morning coffee or tea. You’ll meet the dog walkers, the moms and dads walking kids to the bus, and the joggers.
