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Drought Tolerant Perennials | Chappaqua Real Estate

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In my neck of the woods precipitation comes one of two ways; either all at once or not at all. Spring sees ample showers, but as soon as the calendar turns to June the rain dries up. Unless there is an unusual weather pattern in play I can count on Arkansas’ summers to be hot and dry.

Rather than rely 100 percent on irrigation to carry the garden through, I choose drought tolerant plants that I know will survive extended periods without rain. By selecting the right plants for my dry climate I use less water and I don’t have to work as hard to keep the garden looking good during the dog days of summer.

To make things even easier I use a lot of drought tolerant perennials. Perennials will come back year after year without replanting and most are pretty low maintenance. Throw in drought tolerance and you’ve got something you can pretty much plant and forget.

Unlike annuals, many perennials bloom for a specific amount of time. Gardeners can create season-long interest by selecting spring, summer and fall flowering perennials and showy foliage plants.

Here’s a short list of drought tolerant perennials categorized by season.

Spring Flowering Drought Tolerant Perennials

Alyssum (Alyssum montanum)

Alyssum will form a dense mat of attractive foliage and spring blooms. Try River of Gold™ for its bright yellow flowers.

Zones 4 – 8; full sun; 6 to 8 inches tall with a 10-inch spread.

Proven Winners River of Gold Alyssum

Dead Nettle (Lamium maculatum)

Lamium is a low growing groundcover for either sun or shade. The variety Pink Chablis® has charming pale pink flower and frosty green and white variegated leaves.

 

Zones 4 – 8; full sun or shade; 8 – 12 inches tall with a 24-inch spread.

Proven Winners Pink Chablis Lamium

False Indigo (Baptisia hybrid)

Baptisia is a North American native plant that produces sweetpea-like blooms. Try one of the hybrids in theDecadence™ series for compact plant form and saturated color. Available cultivars include ‘Cherries Jubilee’ (maroon and yellow), ‘Blueberry Sundae’ (vibrant blue), ‘Dutch Chocolate’ (dark plum), and ‘Lemon Meringue’ (yellow).

Zones 4 – 9; full sun to partial shade; 30 – 26 inches tall.

Proven Winners Decadence Baptisia

Summer Flowering Drought Tolerant Perennials

Evening Primrose (Oenothera)

Oenothera has a loose, wildflower appearance that makes it right at home in cottage-style gardens. The cultivar Lemon Drop® produces fragrant, yellow blooms all summer. It is both drought tolerant and adaptable to poor soils. Because Lemon Drop® does not set seeds like some of its freewheeling cousins, it will stay put rather than pop up around the garden.

Zones 5 – 11, full sun; 8 – 12 inches tall.

Proven Winners Lemon Drop Oenothera

Perennial Sunflower (Heliopsis)

The bright yellow, daisy-like flowers of this North American native plant brighten the garden. The improved cultivar ‘Tuscan Sun’ boasts an extended blooming season and stays a manageable size.

Zones 3 – 9; full sun to partial shade; 12 – 20 inches tall.

Proven Winners Tuscan Sun Heliopsis

Butterfly Flower (Gaura lindheimeri)

This is one of my favorite “see through” plants. I like to position Gaura in the middle of a flower border so that the loose stems create a veil through which the background plants are seen. This creates a little mystery and added dimension. Stratosphere™ Pink Picotee and Stratosphere™ White will bloom May through September.

Zones 6 – 11; full sun; 12 – 24 inches tall.

Proven Winners Stratosphere Gaura

Fall Flowering Drought Tolerant Perennials

Sedum sp.

Sedums are a classic choice for low water gardens. There are both spreading and upright forms. The upright cultivar ‘Maestro’ puts on a spectacular autumn show with abundant bright purple bloom stalks and pink flowers.

Zones 3 – 9; full sun; 24 – 30 inches tall.

Proven Winners Maestro Sedum

Aster sp.

What would the fall garden be without asters? I’m particularly fond of the blue and purple varieties because the colors complement the red, orange and yellow of the season. ‘Sapphire Mist’ produces an abundance of large, lilac blooms on compact plants from late summer through fall.

Zones 4 – 8; full sun; 12 – 16 inches tall.

Proven Winners Sapphire Mist Aster

Bluebeard (Caryopteris sp.)

Caryopteris blooms are a splash of cool blue at the end of summer. Sunshine Blue® Caryopteris incana is one I grow. I love the color combination of the neon yellow foliage and periwinkle flowers.

Zones 5 – 11; full sun; 36 – 48 inches tall.

Proven Winners Sunshine Blue Caryopteris

Drought Tolerant Perennials Prized for their Foliage

Ornamental Grasses

Pair ornamental grasses with bold blooms or fleshy leaves to create an interesting texture combination. ‘Cheyenne Sky’ Red Switch Grass (Panicum) is part of my Proven Winners® Platinum Collection. It’s a chameleon that changes from blue-green to wine red over the course of the summer.

Zones 4 – 9; full sun; 30 – 36 inches tall.

Proven Winners Cheyenne Sky Switch Grass

Heuchera sp.

You’ll be amazed at the variety of color and pattern available with such an easy care plant. I’m a huge fan of the varieties in the Proven Winners® Dolce® Series, which range in color from chartreuse to almost black.

 

Zones 4 – 9; full sun to partial shade; 8 – 16 inches tall.

Proven Winners Dolce Heuchera

Wood Spurge (Euphorbia amygdaliodes)

This plant blooms in spring, but the foliage is its greatest asset. The cultivar ‘Helena’s Blush’ has variegated green and white leaves that develop bright pink highlights as the temperatures cool in autumn.

Zones 6 – 9; full sun; 16 – 20 inches tall and 20 inches wide.

Proven Winners Helena's Blush Euphorbia

Good to Know

Even drought tolerant plants need water just after planting, water your newly planted drought tolerant perennials weekly the first growing season.

 

 

http://www.pallensmith.com/articles

Home Prices Reach 2003 Levels; Every Case-Shiller Market Posts Yearly Gain | Chappaqua Real Estate

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Data through February 2013, released today by S&P Dow Jones Indices for its S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, the leading measure of U.S. home prices, showed average home prices increased 8.6 percent and 9.3 percent for the 10- and 20-City Composites in the 12 months ending in February 2013. The 10- and 20-City Composites rose 0.4 percent and 0.3 percent from January to February.

All 20 cities covered by the indices posted year-over-year increases for at least two consecutive months. In 16 of the 20 cities annual growth rates rose from the last month; Detroit, Miami, Minneapolis and Phoenix saw slight annual deceleration ranging from -0.1 to -0.4 percentage points. Phoenix continued to stand out with an impressive year-over-year return of +23.0% while Atlanta and Dallas had the highest annual growth rates in the history of these indices since 1992 and 2001, respectively.

In February 2013, the 10- and 20-City Composites posted annual increases of 8.6 percent and 9.3 percent, respectively.

“Home prices continue to show solid increases across all 20 cities,” says David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “The 10- and 20-City Composites recorded their highest annual growth rates since May 2006; seasonally adjusted monthly data show all 20 cities saw higher prices for two months in a row – the last time that happened was in early 2005.

“Phoenix, San Francisco, Las Vegas and Atlanta were the four cities with the highest year-over-year price increases. Atlanta recovered from a wave of foreclosures in 2012 while the other three were among the hardest hit in the housing collapse. At the other end of the rankings, three older cities – New York, Bostonand Chicago – saw the smallest year-over-year price improvements.

via realestateeconomywatch.com

Villa Sorriso: Robin Williams’ Napa Valley Estate for Sale | Chappaqua Homes

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Hollywood comedian Robin Williams is interested in selling his massive Napa Valley estate, Villa Sorriso. The villa is on 653 acres and includes a 20,000-square-foot main house; solar farm; and 18 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc grapes.

Villa Sorriso is built atop the Mayacama Mountains, which separate the Napa and Sonoma valleys. The five-bedroom, 12-bathroom Italian villa was designed by David Gast & Associates and is faced with Portuguese limestone. The interior features formal living and dining rooms, a gourmet eat-in kitchen, and numerous temperature-controlled vaults for both wine and art storage. The kitchen is understated yet elegant, with stainless steel appliances surrounded by marble and butcher block counters. The living room is simple yet elegant, including a terrace with views of the estate.

No actor’s house would be complete without a state-of-the-art movie theater. The house also features five luxurious bedroom suites, each ornately adorned with contemporary trappings. Each bedroom has its own en suite bathroom and jaw-dropping views from every window.

In addition to 20,000 feet of interior living space, the grounds are truly the spectacle of the property. Steps from the master suite is a 65-foot, infinity-edge swimming pool surrounded by antique stonework and a multitiered sculpture garden, perfect for entertaining. Tennis courts, hiking trails, and a private lake complete with rowboat highlight the variety of different outdoor activities on the estate.

via movies.yahoo.com

Homebuyers too fixated on simplified school rankings? | Chappaqua NY Real Estate

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Buyers may be reading too much into simplified school rankings offered on real estate sites, paying premiums of $200,000 or more for homes served by schools that score only slightly better than other schools in the same school district, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

School district officials in San Mateo County, Calif. say real estate professionals are part of the problem, because they rely on test scores and school ranking sites to help sell homes. They’re holding an event next month to give Realtors a better understanding of what qualities make for a good school.

The Chronicle described a “feeding frenzy” for homes in the city of San Carlos, where the school district’s four elementary schools all score “well above” the state average.

The lowest performing elementary school in the district, Brittan Acres, scored 880 on the state’s 1,000-point Academic Performance Index. While the state considers scores of 800 or above ideal, the other three elementary schools in the district all score above 900.

One buyer withdrew an offer on a home served by Brittan Acres and fired his Realtor when the agent — who serves on the board of a neighboring school district — insisted that the school was fine.

Educators say test scores can often reflect the makeup of a school’s population. Low-income students and those who speak English as a second language can dent overall scores, but high-scoring schools don’t always have the best teachers or programs.

via inman.com

COLUMBIA, SC: Home prices spike 7 percent in March in Columbia | Chappaqua NY Homes

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Long-suffering home sellers got a reprieve in March, when home prices jumped 7 percent in the Columbia area.

But real estate experts say sellers need to stay realistic as the Midlands real estate market emerges from a steep downturn.

While rising home prices are a healthy sign, said Andy Walker, partner in the Bollin Ligon Walker real estate firm in Columbia, price should not be an isolated factor.

“If you’re thinking about selling your house, I wouldn’t be out there thumping my chest saying, ‘Prices are up 7 percent, I’m going to start asking more,’ because I think that could be a huge mistake,” Walker said.

The median price – the point at which half the homes sold for more and half for less – for homes that sold in Midlands in March was $144,325, according to a report Monday from the S.C. Realtors trade group. That’s up from $135,000 in March a year ago.

It was the first increase in median price this year, according to S.C. Realtors’ monthly reports.

In South Carolina, the median price of homes sold statewide bumped up 5 percent in March to $151,600, with 11 out of 16 regions showing gains.

Homeowners anxious to sell have been under price pressure for four to five years now, as first the housing bust, then a busted economy, played out. It is still a buyer’s market, however, Walker said, and if sellers start optimistically pricing homes higher, the likely effect is homes will be on the market for longer periods of time, he said.

“The 7 percent (does not mean) the same house that sold last year is now selling for 7 percent more,” said Nick Kremydas, S.C. Realtors’ chief executive officer. “What it’s indicating in general is that the houses that are selling now, their prices are up by 7 percent, so it’s not apples to apples.”

Still, a rise in housing prices is a positive sign, indicating shrinking inventory and increased buyer demand, Kremydas said. “We started the year at a 50-year-low (of new housing construction starts),” Kremydas noted. “And foreclosures … have shrunk considerably.”

Even lending, while still difficult, has improved and consumer confidence also is up, Kremydas said.

Statewide, housing inventory levels are down 40 percent from two years ago, and there are reports across the state of multiple buyers bidding for one house – typical during the overheated housing market of 2005-2007 but unheard of in recent years – he said.

The Columbia area had about a 10-month supply of homes for sale in March – down from a more than 16-month peak less than two years ago. It continues to move toward balance. The $100,000-and-under category had about an eight-month supply of homes available. A normal market has about a six-month supply, experts say, and supply affects price.

“When a market favors buyers, prices are not going to go up very much, if at all,” Walker said. As supply reduces, prices will firm up more, he said.

The Columbia-area multiple listing service, on which the monthly real estate reports are based, includes a seven-county area: Richland, Lexington, Saluda, Fairfield, Kershaw, Calhoun and Newberry counties.

“What’s happening with mobile homes in Kershaw County or Lexington County, or anywhere, and what’s happening with properties on Lake Murray, versus what’s happening to properties in Spring Valley can be a wide variety of trends, in my opinion,” said Walker, president of SC Realtors in 2008 and Central Carolina Realtors Association president in 2002 and 2012.

“If you want to know what properties are doing in your neighborhood or in your part of town, you need to consult somebody,” Walker said.

via thestate.com

Drunk people: best focus group ever? | Chappaqua NY Real Estate

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If you’re an app developer, you may want to stop wasting your time with focus groups and get wasted in a bar instead. 

Dave Lieb, the founder of file-sharing app Bump, recently told Fast Company that one of the most effective testing methods the company used to hone its product was to introduce it to drunk people in bars. Lieb argues that in a society that breeds distraction and multitasking, there’s no better demographic to test a product on than those who are mentally impaired. 

“Drunk people are maybe a good approximation of distracted people,” Lieb told Fast Company.

By inviting revelers to use Bump, Lieb and his team gained valuable insights into how to make Bump, which enables users to transfer data by bumping their phones, more user-friendly and attractive. For example, Lieb realized that having the app require users to be on certain pages on their phones to transfer information made it too challenging to use for intoxicated people. As a result, the company made all pages “bumpable.” 

The company also learned that brand awareness doesn’t necessarily translate into usage when a bachelorette party cheered after learning that a Bump employee worked at Bump only to reveal that none of them actually had Bump. After that experience, Bump decided to expand its product to allow users to transfer all manner of data, not just phone contacts. 

via inman.com

Monday Morning Cup of Coffee: Rising home prices raise concerns | Chappaqua Real Estate

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HousingWire’s Monday Morning Cup of Coffee takes a look at news from the weekend, with more coverage on bigger issues.

With existing home prices up 10% in February from one year prior and inventories at a 20-year low, many homebuyers are facing a dilemma, according to an article in the Wall Street Journal: paying more for a home today, compared with a year ago, or paying even more tomorrow at a time when interest rates might also be higher.

For many buyers looking to get into their first home, high unemployment, low savings, high debt loads and tight credit standards are making homeownership nearly impossible.

Many experts are concerned that if prices keep rising at their current pace, an affordability problem may arise — especially once rates reach above 6%.

Budget cuts due to the federal sequester are already taking a toll on public housing, as the New Albany Housing Authority is adjusting to an 18% annual budget cut, News and Tribune reported.

According to the article, the reduction in the operating budget could lead to the merger of some NAHA offices and potentially even result in employee furloughs, reduction of services and possibly the loss of public housing units.

The NAHA Executive Director Bob Lane says this could force the housing authority to close 40 Section 8 housing units in the next few years if the federal matter isn’t resolved.

With inventories so small, homebuilders are desperate to find quality land to expand the housing inventory. However, in Dayton, Ohio, ready-to-build land is one of the biggest challenges faced by homebuilders, writes Dayton Daily News.

Homebuilding, which is expected to continue improving slowly throughout 2013, could face series issues by 2014 if this turns out to be a good year for local homebuilders.

“I think the problem will get progressively worse as we have chewed through the inventory of lots, and then it will take a little while to bring new lots online to hopefully fill a demand that should be there,” said Walt Hibner, executive director of Home Builders Association of Dayton.

According to the article, it takes time for a new development to get through the approval and financing process.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. closed its fifth institution in the nation this year. 

Gold Canyon Bank in Gold Canyon, Ariz., was closed by the Arizona Department of Financial Institution, which appointed the FDIC as the receiver. As a receiver for Gold Canyon Bank, the FDIC named First Scottsdale as the winning bidder to take over the failed bank’s assets.

The former Gold Canyon Bank has a single branch in Peoria. The bank’s offices will reopen under the First Scottsdale Bank name on April 8. 

As of Dec. 31, 2012, Gold Canyon Bank had approximately $45.2 million in total assets and $44.2 million in total deposits.

Read the full statement here.

via housingwire.com

Fear Motivates First-Time Homebuyers | Chappaqua NY Real Estate

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Worried about predictions of rising mortgage rates, additional increases in home prices and new costs for FHA borrowers, first-time homebuyers are kicking off the spring buying market in years, despite skimpy inventories and late winter weather across much of the nation.

According to the latest Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey, first-time buyers accounted for 34.5 percent of home purchase transactions in February based on a three-month moving average, the second monthly increase for first-time homebuyers.

First-time homebuyer traffic surged in February. The HousingPulse Homebuyer Traffic Diffusion Index for first-time homebuyers, an indicator of future home purchases, hit a four-year survey high of 66.4% in February. Any score above 50 percent with the index reflects an increase in home shopping traffic.

“First-time homebuyers are the wildcard in the upcoming spring-summer homebuying season,” said Thomas Popik, research director for Campbell Surveys. “We see strong first-time homebuyer traffic, but it’s still not clear that the traffic will translate into increased purchases, because first-time homebuyers are dependent on low-downpayment financing, such as FHA mortgages, and announced FHA program changes will take effect this spring.”

In the April to June timeframe, FHA will be increasing its Monthly Insurance Premium and require payment of the MIP for the full term of the loan.

While first-time homebuyers represented the fastest growing category of home purchasers between January and February, purchases by current homeowners saw the biggest drop fell from 44.3 percent to 42.5 percent. That was the lowest market share for current homeowners recorded by the HousingPulse survey since last June.

The Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance findings are similar to data released by Realtor.com last week that suggests buyers are getting an early start this year (See Early Bird Buyers Try to Beat Tight Inventories).

via realestateeconomywatch.com

Home Values Down 27 Percent from Peak | Chappaqua NY Homes

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Property values in January are 5.7 percent higher than they were a year ago, but they still have a long way to go to regain the equity that has been lost in the past six years.

Although home prices have improved significantly in the last 12 months, a six-year price comparison shows that current prices remain well below their near-peak levels. On average, today’s home prices are about 27.5% below January 2007. In hard-hit markets such as Las Vegas, Orlando, Miami, and Riverside, Calif., home prices are only half of what they were six years ago, according to the latest FNC Residential Price Index® (RPI)

Four markets that FNC tracks, Denver, San Antonio, Houston and Columbus, have regained all value lost in the past six years and now are registering gains higher than they did at the peak of the housing boom. However, values in Miami, Orlando, Riverside and Las Vegas are more than 50 percent below the levels of 2007.

FNC also reported that the recovery of underlying property values is driving sale prices closer to list prices, a sign that markets are transitioning from buyer’s to seller’s markets . The average list-to-sale price ratio increased to 93.5 in January, compared to 90.3 during the same period a year ago; in other words, the average asking price discount dropped to 6.5% from 9.7%. Foreclosures, as a percentage of total home sales, were 20.2% in January, down from 26.9% a year ago.

via realestateeconomywatch.com