Now that we have a winner of the 16 Curb Appeal contest, we need a plan.

That's easy -- Mark Linton from Linton's Enchanted Gardens is ready to transform a dried up, rather boring front yard into a landscapers dream.

Melissa and Brad Taube can’t wait to get some professional landscaping help in the front yard of their Niles home. “It's hard to know what's going to look good. Somewhere in your yard, I mean placement can make or break a landscape job. With someone with such professional knowledge coming in and being able to do that for us, it takes a lot of my shoulders,” says Melissa.

Mark got a first hand look at the challenges before him and he's got some ideas ready to go. “They need help, we're here to rescue them!”

The biggest eyesore out front is the crumbling porch that leads to a rarely used entrance. “There’s a little bit of confusion here for first time visitors because we've got two entrances. We’ve got this entrance here which is closest to the driveway, then we've got another entrance here. So we're going to address that situation,” says Mark.

“We'd like to remove the front porch there which is deteriorating, bring in some heavy equipment to remove that, and haul away that debris. This becomes a whole opportunity for landscape area.”

When people get started with landscaping, one of the most common mistakes is putting things right up next to the house. Mark says that’s why it’s important to know the full growth size of the trees or shrubs you are planting so there is a lot room for growth and you have an idea of how it will eventually look.

The Taube’s will get all of their overgrown shrubs ripped out.

As for the yard, Mark has some ideas brewing. “We can attack the mole situation and get that under control. And then work on renovating the lawn. If we don't address this situation, we've got an ongoing problem here. It’s not a lost cause though, absolutely not!”

And Brad is looking forward to picking up some of these new ideas. “I’m willing to learn if he's willing to teach.”

Now, after the first meeting, Mark is hard at work drawing up the plans.

Underground utility lines will have to be marked before any digging can begin. And soon, Melissa and Brad will get to pick out some plants at Linton’s in Elkhart.