21 Plants to Add Instant Curb Appeal When Selling Your Home

Looking to sell your home soon? Good curb appeal creates a strong first impression for buyers, setting a promising tone for the rest of their home tour. Upgrading your landscaping with new plants for the front of the house and flowers is a cost-effective way to improve the looks of your property and can easily be done in a weekend. Read on for our favorite varieties and how to incorporate them into your landscaping or hardscaping.

Boxwoods

When you're ramping up your curb appeal, start with evergreens that give structure to your yard. Boxwoods make great foundation plants and come in many sizes, so you can also add them to beds and borders.

Mix in annuals and other plants with year-round interest, says Julie Arnold Camp, a realtor with Better Homes and Gardens Metro Brokers in Atlanta. "Annuals give color during the length of the listing. Using pots is also a good idea to add seasonal color, or to add color to an area that has no interesting character."

Tip: flats of annuals are usually cheaper than individual plants.

LEARN MORE: 26 Annual Flowers for Year-Round Color

Roses

Roses aren't attractive in the winter, and even when they're blooming, they often need pruning, fertilizing and spraying. But some roses, like the Knock Out family, are low-maintenance, which many homebuyers know and appreciate, and they produce spectacular flowers from spring until frost.

Tip: Smaller Drift roses, which mature around 18 inches tall, are also easy to grow and make a pretty groundcover for sunny spots.

LEARN MORE: Growing Double Knock Out Roses

Hydrangeas

Hydrangeas give you a lot of bang for your curb-appeal buck. They’re easy to grow, need little care and put on a spectacular show when they bloom. Most of these flowering shrubs prefer morning sun with afternoon shade and are hardy in Zones 4 or 5-9. 'Invincibelle Mini Mauvette,' shown here, is hardy in Zones 3-9 and takes full sun.

Tip: If you use lush, leafy hydrangeas to camouflage an unsightly foundation, leave a couple of feet between the plants and the house so they have room to spread.

LEARN MORE: How to Plant, Grow and Care for Hydrangeas

Front Door Urns

For fast curb appeal, post urns on each side of your front door, and plant them with feathery-textured Pinpoint Blue false cypress. These evergreen shrubs grow into tall, narrow columns, so they won't block your entrance. Here, they're underplanted with 'Spot On' lungwort (Pulmonaria); the pink buds will open into blue flowers. The urns also hold yellow pansies, creeping phlox, calibrachoas Superbells Honeyberry and Shadowland 'Autumn Frost' hostas.

Tip: Urns are also ideal for growing topiary plants.

FIND MORE IDEAS: 20 Ways to Use Large Garden Containers

Hostas

Bare spots under your trees don’t make a good impression when you want top dollar for your home. Tuck shade-loving hostas into those areas or use them around shrubs and in borders. Their flowers aren’t showy, but their leaves, which come in shades of green, gray, blue, cream, and yellow-gold, are standouts. Choose small, medium or large varieties; most are hardy in Zones 3-9.

Tip: Add containers of shade-loving begonias and impatiens for pops of color. Shown here: Shadowland 'Autumn Frost' and Shadowland 'Coast to Coast.'

LEARN MORE: Hostas: How to Plant, Grow and Care for Hostas

Annuals

Inexpensive annuals are easy to establish and they make good fillers when your bulbs, perennials or flowering shrubs stop blooming. For fast curb appeal, pop them into containers, hanging baskets or window boxes for splashes of color. Marigolds, petunias and geraniums are popular and easy to grow.

Tip: If you're selling in the cooler months, try flowers like pansies and mums or ornamental kales and cabbages. Supertunia 'Bordeaux,' pictured here, blooms profusely until frost.

LEARN MORE: 22 Easy-to-Grow Annual Flowers That Thrive in the Shade

Arborvitae

Fast-growing, evergreen arborvitaes are available in a range of sizes and are popular to use as hedges, privacy screens and borders. True to its name, Mr. Bowling Ball arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis 'Bobazam'), shown here, grows into a spherical shape. Since it tops out around 30 inches tall and wide, it doesn't need pruning. Dress up your foundation or let these compact shrubs edge a walkway or driveway. Hardy in Zones 3-8, Mr. Bowling Ball is also great for containers.

Tip: Some arborvitaes grow faster and some are more drought-tolerant than others. Read the plant's tag or label to be sure it will suit your needs.

Mailbox Plants

Don't forget to see your mailbox as a potential buyer will see it. If it's a plain Jane, dress it up with a mix of plants. Try evergreens like compact inkberry holly Gem Box, assorted perennials and colorful annuals like ColorBlaze Lime Time coleus or Luscious Berry Blend lantanas. Choose sun lovers for a spot that gets full sun.

Tip: Avoid plants that need frequent watering, unless you have a faucet nearby.

Azaleas

Catch a buyer’s eye with sweeps of azaleas planted in beds or around your mailbox or porch. Most are hardy in Zones 6-9 and need filtered sun or a spot that gets morning sun and afternoon shade. The shrubs come in a variety of colors and sizes.

Tip: If your budget is tight, put a few dwarf azaleas in containers near your entrance, or choose reblooming types that flower in spring and again in summer. Pictured here: Encore Azalea 'Autumn Carnation.'

SEE MORE PHOTOS: Stunning Biltmore Estate Azaleas

Portulacas

You don't have to spend a lot of time or money to amp up your home's curb appeal when you fill matching containers with heat and drought-tolerant plants. Yellow pots complement the Mojave series of portulacas in bold colors like fuchsia, pink, red, yellow and tangerine. Portulacas, also known as purslane, sun roses and moss roses, are nearly carefree annuals that bloom vigorously in sunny spots.

Tip: If your home doesn't sell right away, and the seasons change, just pop out the plants and replant with flowers or foliage in different colors.

LEARN MORE: Drought- and Heat-Tolerant Annuals

Daylilies

Sun-loving daylilies add cheerful color to your home when they're planted in masses. These tough perennials tolerate heat, drought and many pests and diseases. Grow early, mid- and late-season varieties, and you’ll have a flower show that lasts for weeks.

Tip: If your home doesn't sell, divide the clumps after the flowers fade and you'll have extra daylilies to plant. This variety is Rainbow Rhythm 'Going Bananas.'

LEARN MORE: How to Grow Daylilies

Porch Planters

You'll probably stage your home to help buyers imagine living in it. Why not stage your porch, too? Fill big planters with fabulous flowers like SunBelievable Brown Eyed Girl Helianthus and add a comfortable lawn chair. These award-winning sunflowers bloom on compact, multi-branched plants from spring to frost.

Tip: Cut the blooms for indoor bouquets, too; the plants can produce up to 1,000 flowers in just one season.

LEARN MORE: 15 Home-Staging Essentials

Loropetalums

'Crimson Fire' fringe flower is a compact shrub (Loropetalum) that holds its ruby-red foliage throughout the year. It forms neat, small mounds, so it's ideal for growing around your foundation or in small beds. Bright pink flowers open in the spring; the plants are hardy to Zones 7-9. Give ‘Crimson Fire’ full sun to part shade and grow it in containers or the landscape. It's combined here with evergreen shrubs for a striking, easy-care combination.

Tip: Remind prospective buyers that beds planted with shrubs like these will cut down on how much grass they have to mow.

Nandinas

Nandina, or heavenly bamboo, provides four-season curb appeal in some regions (the plants are evergreen in USDA Gardening Zones 8-10 and semi-evergreen or deciduous in Zones 6-8). These practically care-free shrubs have airy-looking foliage and white flowers in the spring. In fall, red berries appear and the foliage turns vibrant shades of red, bronze and purple.

Tip: 'Firepower,' shown here, is a dwarf variety that develops its richest colors in full sun. Look for it at home and garden stores like Home Depot or on Amazon and other websites.

Distyliums

Introduced in 2015, Distyliums are shrubs with a spreading habit and they're still a relatively new look for homes on the market. They adapt to heat, drought or wet soils and bear small, maroon flowers in the winter. These tough evergreens also resist pests and diseases and need little pruning, so they're great for dressing up walkways and foundation plantings. Small cultivars like 'Vintage Jade', shown here, stay low enough to use as ground covers.

Tip: Hardy in Zones 7-9, these plants are a good alternative to overused hollies, junipers or boxwoods.

Peonies

Spectacular peonies, with their brilliant colors and huge flowers, bloom from spring into early summer. They're old-fashioned curb appeal favorites that can grow in large containers with good drainage, raised beds or the landscape. These very long-lived plants don't need much care and love full sun. To keep the flower show going, choose early, mid-season and late-blooming varieties. Courtesy of the National Association of Landscape Professionals and LoveYourLandscape.org. Peonies are sold at Lowe's and many other online or brick-and-mortar garden centers and nurseries.

Tip: In the winter, gardeners in Zones 3-8 should move potted peonies into a spot that stays above freezing.

LEARN MORE: Peonies 101: How to Transplant, Grow and Divide Peonies

Ornamental Grasses

Easy-to-grow ornamental grasses boost your home’s curb appeal with interesting textures and add movement to the landscape as they sway in the breeze. Use them for a contemporary look in beds or large containers or let them soften a rock garden or bed mulched with coarse bark, stone or gravel. Graceful Grasses 'Sky Rocket' combines here with Supertunia Mini Vista petunias in indigo, violet and white.

Tip: 'Sky Rocket' turns brown in the fall, but you can find winter-hardy, ornamental grasses that stay attractive year-round.

LEARN MORE: The Prettiest Ornamental Grasses for Sun and Shade

Mixed Pots

Stately urns or traditional stone and resin pots of flowers and foliage will catch a buyer's eye, but they don't suit every home style. Galvanized tubs, half barrels and other informal containers add charm to cottages, ranch houses, mountain retreats, log cabins, farmhouses and more. This blue-purple butterfly bush, Lo & Behold 'Lilac Chip' Buddleia, grows 18 to 30 inches tall and plays nicely with red Superbena Scarlet Star verbena and Superbells White calibrachoas. The butterfly bush is hardy in Zones 5-9, while the other plants are annuals in cold winter areas.

Tip: When combining plants, be sure they have the same basic needs for water and light.

Caladiums

Draw a buyer's attention with caladiums that grow in shade or filtered sun; some varieties can take full sun. In Zones 9-11, they behave as perennials but they grow as annuals elsewhere. Plant them in masses for eye-catching color in your front yard or containers, and they’ll spread up to 10 inches. Look for them in cherry red, chartreuse, raspberry, violet-pink, cream and other shades. Shown here: Heart to Heart caladiums 'Scarlet Flame' and 'White Wonder.'

Tip: Caladiums need little care, but northern gardeners shouldn’t plant these tropicals until the temperatures are above 50 degrees.

Ornamental Trees

Ornamental trees like this Snowdance Japanese tree lilac are traffic-stoppers, but plant a fast-growing tree if you plan to sell soon. This species grows about 12 to 18 inches a year and opens a cloud of fragrant, creamy-white flowers in the summer. Even if you don’t plant a flowering tree, many others offer attractive fall color, shade or other desirable features. Fast-growing trees for curb appeal include crape myrtle, quaking aspens, river birches and red maples.

Tip: Snowdance Japanese tree lilacs tend to bloom biennially, but others, such as dogwoods and flowering cherries, flower annually.

LEARN MORE: The Best Ornamental Trees

Window Boxes

Lushly planted window boxes that match the flowers and foliage in your beds and borders really kick up your home’s curb appeal. The key to success is using complementary color combinations. These borders, with their graceful curves, lead the eye across the grassy lawn and echo the plants in the window boxes. The flowers in this front yard include Amazing Daises Daisy May Shasta Daises, 'Tuscan Sun' perennial sunflowers and Rainbow Rhythm 'Primal Scream' daylilies.

Tip: Don't use too many different colors and kinds of plants or your landscape will feel "busy."

LEARN MORE: Easy Tips for Adding Beautiful Window Boxes