While the work of your New Jersey business likely takes place within the walls of the building, the exterior speaks volumes to current and potential customers. Keeping up appearances may have nothing to do with your actual product or service, but has a great deal of impact on employees and clients. How so? Proper maintenance on your building’s exterior indicates your:
— Attention to detail.
— Commitment to excellence.
— Aesthetic eye.
— Value of clients and employees.
Investing time and money into your NJ commercial landscaping pays off. However, too much focus on this area leaves the vital components of your actual business lacking in attention and management. How do you prepare your New Jersey commercial landscape for summer to raise its local impact but not its maintenance and cost? By using a premier landscape company like Chris James Landscaping. Do you have amazing commercial building landscaping ideas but lack the tools and skills to create them? Let our commercial landscaping contractors offer you a few tips!
1. Preparation
Harsh New Jersey winters reap damage on lawns and gardens. To prepare for the summer, focus on the areas of your commercial landscape that bear the brunt of snow loads. Landscaping services like removing salt and sand with a rake get the soil ready to properly grow summer vegetation. This is also a good time for tree care, like mulching and watering.
Healthy Start
Start the maintenance management of your grounds off with proper mixes. Use a mix of compost and loam to reseed any lawn areas showing damage from snow removal. Plus, adding a fertilizer boosts your grass’s ability to return to its lush, pre-winter state. Beginning these preparations early gets your beds and lawn off to a healthy start.
2. Plants
When choosing plants for your summer landscape, weather tolerance and season-long color prove two important factors. Native plants that thrive in the heat of a New Jersey summer ensure a beautiful landscape through to the fall. Plants also make great tree care units, as they can protect the soil near trees and shield new trees from harsher sunlight.
Weather Tolerant
The local warmer, dryer summer of New Jersey is ideal for vacationers and day-trippers headed to the Jersey shore. However, plantings outside your commercial building miss out on this reprieve given the likelihood that they are surrounded by asphalt or concrete. To increase the resilience of your landscaping and reduce management needs, choose drought-resistant plants for areas exposed to the sun and near hardscape areas such as parking lots. Marigolds, Salvia, lantanas, lavender, and zinnias offer a good planting start and are fairly light in maintenance needs. Tree care is typically easier for established trees, as they can handle dryer spells much better than plants.
Color Bursting
Considering the length and timing of when blooms burst with color keeps your commercial landscaping looking bright throughout the season. The flowers we suggested above offer color that lasts all season even in full sunlight, with reduced maintenance needs. In fact, some flowers (particularly lantanas) insist on the direct heat of the sun. These are great for companies to add to their exterior look while keeping management needs down.
3. Maintenance
Eye-catching landscapes lead to oohs and aahs. However, not maintaining flower beds and grounds through regular care produces sighs and groans. In fact, commercial properties may face neglect for the lack of management. That’s why professional routine landscaping services from commercial landscaping contractors are so important for your business.
Plant Choice
As mentioned, the choice of flowers and green shrubbery increases or decreases the need for ground maintenance. Flowers that do not require deadheading and less thirsty plant varieties keep watering and caretaking to a minimum. In addition to the species we already mentioned, consider:
— Grass-like Pennsylvania sedge.
— Clematis, trumpet creeper, or honeysuckle vines.
— Common ninebark or buddleia shrubs.
— Purple flowering spotted beebalm and Russian sage.
— Yucca and hens and chicks for evergreen foliage.
Irrigation
Another important aspect of successful summer landscaping is getting water to plants. While drought-resistant plantings help, the heat and dryness of summer still make ground watering a necessity. Yet, this sometimes-daily task robs you of time spent on the heart of your business. Installing an irrigation system takes the watering out of your hands and keeps your landscaping green, lush, and blooming throughout the hottest months of the year. Advances in technology provide options that sense rain (to avoid overwatering), adapt to the weather, and focus watering efforts where needed the most.
4. Extras
With a bit of creativity and extra thought, your commercial landscaping becomes not only beautiful to the eye but functional as well. Consider the addition of lighting and the creation of third spaces on your property to appeal to employees and clients.
Lighting
Highlighting your commercial ground’s property with customized LED lighting adds another element to your landscape. Safety and security, of course, come with lighting features on stairs, by entrances, and over parking lots. Spotlights, colored lighting, and other creative fixtures bring added value to your property and landscaping.
Third Spaces
In the ground’s building design, contemporary, informal gathering spaces are known as third spaces. Take this concept outside, and you may hear them called “placemaking environments.” With a focus on the relational side of life, these outdoor third spaces create a place for people to relax or gather.
Adding fountains, sculptures, seating, tables, playgrounds, and the like make the landscape more than just attractive to look at. Your property is also attractive to employees and clients to interact in. A proper landscape service can make all the difference to your business exterior. Functional and beautiful spaces make for a winning combination.
Commercial hardscape contractors can help create this beautiful place for people to enjoy. A landscape expert with experience in commercial services is a valuable resource for getting your property in summer shape (without the signs and groans). Whether you need native, drought-resistant planting advice, creative landscaping ideas, or help with installation, a great landscaping company has you covered.
Thank you for reading our blog! How can our professional commercial landscaping contractors help you? Contact us today.