With a little ingenuity and Knock Out roses you can transform your landscape into a real stunner.

(ARA) – You only get one chance for your home to make a first impression. With a little help from Mother Nature, you can demand a second look from passersby with a show-stopping front yard.

“Every canvas needs to start fresh and clean,” says James A. Baggett, editor of Country Gardens Magazine. “So roll up your sleeves, stick your hands in the dirt and get ready to personalize your yard with color and style.”

With a little ingenuity you can transform a ho-hum landscape into a real stunner with these simple tips that add professional-looking curb appeal to your home:

* First things first
You can’t enhance anything until you have a clean slate. So mow the lawn, get rid of the weeds, rake up and dispose of any leaves, edge the sidewalks and remove the grass growing between concrete seams and brick pavers. Prune the trees — especially the ones near or touching the roof — and add a layer of dark, natural mulch to any flower beds or under trees.

* Cover up the bald spots
Now you need to take a good look at your yard. How can you enhance your best features and minimize your worst? Here’s a great trick: Print photos in black and white and you’ll easily see the problem areas. Determine what “flaws” you want to fix. To update your look, fill empty spaces and add interest to a drab corner or “hide” unsightly spots with colorful, ever-blooming plants like the very popular shrub roses in The Knock Out family (www.TheKnockOutFamily.com). Available in seven shades ranging from raspberry pink to soft yellow, there is a Knock Out rose to fit any homeowner’s taste and landscaping style while providing year-round curb appeal.

Add interest to a drab corner or "hide" unsightly spots with colorful, ever-blooming Knock Out shrub roses.

* Put out the welcome mat
The entry garden is the most visible garden space and sets the mood for your entire home. Whether formal or relaxed, it should draw your eye toward the front door. Plant a pair of carefully pruned boxwoods on either side of the front door to add symmetry. Add a light fixture that matches the home’s exterior and shows your personal taste.

* Contain yourself
For those with minimal or no yard, or if you just want the elegance and ease of containers, pot up pretty annuals and perennials around your entrance, mailbox or along the front walk. To have striking color year after year, use perennials for fistfuls of continuous blooms that help stretch your dollars. Yellow and red are hot colors this year so plant the newest Sunny Knock Out rose paired with your favorite red annuals to be in step with the latest trends.

* Express yourself
Decorate a garden with a favorite antique, treasured collectible or statue. Look for objects such as driftwood, rocks or even empty mailboxes to punctuate certain areas. Use color to attract the eye. Paint your front door a bold, welcoming color or try a bright, punchy color on the shutters.

* Plan for sustainability
Look for plants that are easy to grow, save water and don’t require a lot of work. Pick plants that are native to your area for low-maintenance beauty. Eco-friendly shrub roses are a great choice, especially when paired with perennials for year-round color.

Baggett thinks shrub roses are perfect for first-time homeowners since they are extremely easy to grow and are low-maintenance. “Shrub roses give you a lot of bang for your buck,” he says. “They are really no work for the homeowner — and don’t require spraying, harsh chemicals, pruning, deadheading or lots of water. They bloom from May to the first hard frost in the late fall, offering season-long color and visual impact in the home landscape.”

The most popular shrub roses are The Knock Out Family of roses. They are available in seven shades ranging from hot raspberry pink to soft yellow, fitting any homeowner’s taste and landscape style while providing continuous year-round curb appeal.

Enjoy the days you get outside to renew your yard and garden. You’ll have folks taking a second look. For more information on The Knock Out Family of roses visit www.theknockoutrose.com.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

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Looking for instant color to dress up your deck or patio for that summer garden party or backyard barbeque? Or maybe you need a dash of color to brighten your landscape with long-lasting visual drama. Whatever your garden quandary, consider a low-maintenance shrub rose for nonstop color from spring until fall.

Shrub roses are easy to grow and cover any landscape with gorgeous color and flowers. They look beautiful spilling over the sides of a container, either alone or mixed with your favorite perennials or annuals. User-friendly and low-maintenance, they need little to no care for year-round color and nonstop blooms. Shrub roses are one of the hottest trends in gardening today, says Doug Jimerson of Better Homes & Gardens.

“Think of shrub roses as a flowering plant — not a rose,” Jimerson says. “The great thing about shrub roses is you don’t have to have a green thumb to make them grow. They are so easy — just plant in a sunny spot, water them and watch them grow. They’re the perfect plant for today’s busy homeowners.”

Jimerson recommends these four steps for a rosy garden:

1. Get Rich: Use healthy soil in a big hole for roses. Experts say to dig a hole twice the size of the container the rose is in. And be sure to provide ample space for the plants roots to assure healthy and beautiful roses.

2. Sun Kissed: For the most prolific blooms, plant Drift Roses in a location with plenty of sun. Hardy to zone 5, these ground hugging, ever-blooming shrubs are perfect as a border or bedding plant. Growing only about a foot around, they make a stunning low hedge or edge on a border.

3. Feed Me: Drift Roses aren’t fussy eaters. Give them a good dose of slow-release or timed fertilizer, which releases nutrients to the plant when the plant needs it most, and you’re set for the season.

4. Cover Up: And remember to mulch your roses. Mulching helps to buffer the cycle from wet to dry, keeps the feeder roots from drying out, and helps to establish the roots quicker. And less watering is required.

New Groundcover Roses Perfect for Your Landscape

This year try planting Star Roses’ new Drift Roses for a dramatic groundcover effect in your garden. They combine wonderfully with perennials intermixed with other upright shrubs like coreopsis, veronicas or lambs ear and even hostas.

Choose from four cultivars that bloom from spring to early frost. Ranging from scarlet red to bright soft peach, they provide the gardener with a complete range of color solutions for landscape use or in containers.

Two favorites in the collection are the Peach Drift Rose and the Pink Drift Rose. The most floriferous of the series, Peach Drift’s small bright apricot-salmon blooms have dark green, semi-glossy foliage and grow up to 2 feet in height. Pink Drift’s low growing mound of semi-double deep pink blooms, reaches 1-1/2 feet in height with a 3-foot spread.

Make no mistake that these are not finicky miniature roses. These hardy groundcover roses are true low spreading, dwarf shrub roses that grow only about a foot high by 1-1/2 feet wide and are covered with blooms that open to 1-1/2 inches. Drift Roses are perfect in small gardens, splashing your landscapes with visual delight.

Appealing to today’s busy gardener, these low-maintenance roses are highly disease resistant. They require no spraying except in the most humid regions of the Deep South. Bred to be “chemical-free,” Drift Roses resist rust, mildew, Japanese beetles and black spot while blooming for months on end.

Whether planting for a shock of ever-blooming color in a spectacular landscape or seeking easy, carefree ways to solve a gardening challenge, think easy-care Star Roses for long lasting, maintenance-free color.

To find out more about these and other Star Roses, or to find a garden center near you, visit www.starroses.com.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

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