Our yard is gross!

[dzrose93]

Last year, the girls I helped out with Rush had a problem with the grass in their front yard. I don't know what had happened - I think they had a problem with their landscaping service. But there was very little they could do about it.

To detract from the grass problem, they put potted flowers on the sides of the steps leading up to the house and made sure that the porch was neat and attractive. I thought it looked very nice. At any rate, if a rushee decided not to join the chapter because of the way their grass looked, then I would have to say that the chapter probably didn't need that girl anyway.

[PenguinTrax]

You are right...first impressions are important.

My suggestion to you would be to contact your alumnae and ask if any of them (or their husbands) can donate landscaping materials and/or labor to help spruce up the house.

Clean off the porch, buy some inexpensive (but nice-looking!) large pots and plant them with simple but showy flowers - I like geraniums with spikes and asparagus fern. Or get Impatiens (if shady) or Vinca (if sunny). Marigolds are also nice and heat tolerant and very showy. Set the pots on the porch - you can buy window boxes and line the porch with them or use smaller pots spaced more infrequently.

Make sure the door (and the porch) gets a fresh coat of paint (your boyfriends should be able to handle that - buy them a pizza and supply the paint) and polish the brass on the door.

A $10 gallon of paint can be used to paint the cement walkway up to your house. Your creative sisters can stencil a border along the walkway - cheaper than buying flowers.

Next year, vote on a small dues increase to cover the cost of hiring a lawncare service.

[Emilitab]

You can only do the best you can. Like the others said, planting flowers around your walkway or even planting some wild grass seeds on the lawn will help. More importantly, make sure that everything on the porch and walkway are tidy. One of my sister's brother has helped get our lawn to look a little better. See if any of your sisters are willing to chip in and fix anything that you can possibly fix with a small budget.

[CutiePie2000]

Oprah did a show on "Back Yard Makeovers"...
http://oprah.oxygen.com/tows/pastsho..._20010601.html

She has some ideas on there...
also, see if there are any colleges nearby who have a program in "Landscape Architecture" or something..maybe you can get some students to fix up your yard for cheaper than full price.

[Thrillhouse]

I agree with penguintrax. A few hours cleaning up, will help out immensly. Putting up some inexpensive flower pots or plants will spruce it up a bit.

[Anchor88]

I am worried about the first impression that the rushees will get of our house! We don't have money to redo our landscaping and to put it bluntly, it looks awful. We have this fake green grass stuff on our porch- oh, it's a disaster. What could I help the rush chair pull together to distract from the ugly shrubs and the nasty porch? Any ideas would be so great!

I know that image and presentation shouldn't be the reasons for joining a specific group, but first impressions are very important.

[This message has been edited by PnguinTrax (edited July 18, 2001).]

[shadokat]

The flowers in little pots always is a great idea, especially if it can be your own flower. But pansies are always pretty, maybe you can get them in your own colors. As for the grass, well, maybe you could get some alums to donate a couple bucks to get it taken care of.

[erniegurl00]

I definitely suggest painting your walkway. A sorority on my campus did that, and it looked really impressive! Each block of the walkway was painted something different, like one was about the philanthropy, etc. Also, why is there fake grass on your porch? Would it be possible to take it off and put something else on the porch like a mat or rug? When do you go back to school? If you have time in the summer (or before rush even!) gather a few friends/sisters and take a few hours decorating the outside back up! Good luck!

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"We're not good because we're old. We're old because we're good!"

[Anchor88]

Thank you so much for the great ideas. I really appreciate it. Hopefully we can put some of them to use in these next couple months.