We recently came across another interesting landscaping article on the web which we decided to share with our readers. This article is more geared toward commercial landcaping projects and provides several suggestions for lowering the cost and ensuring you have the most important aspects covered. We hope your find the information helpful to you.
“Best Commercial Landscapes: 11 tips on how to affordably design a gorgeous garden.
It’s so easy for commercial property owners to underestimate how valuable landscaping elements are for both their employees and their clients. The sometimes underappreciated advertising potential of an attractive design, and the impact on the client and employee experience, often are the first casualties of recession.
Yet it does not have to be an extraordinarily expensive proposition to provide your office building with the same curb appeal you want for your home. So IB contacted several commercial landscape experts to present 10 tips on how to design an attractive commercial landscape on a modest budget.
In so doing, we found that common sense is the order of the day, no matter how large your landscaping budget happens to be.
1. Set the plan
Even though extravagance is not the goal, it still helps to plan. And even if homeowners or businesses want to install the landscaping themselves, they can still pay for a plan. In fact, if you’re going to pay for anything, invest in a plan (including planting recommendations) because that will always give you a future direction if, and when, you choose to modify.
“Pay for a plan and just call around and ask for advice,” said Tim Eilbes, a registered landscape architect for Barnes, Inc. “Some in the industry, me included, think we know everything and we love talking to people about gardens and landscape spaces.”
2. Connect landscape and building architectures
To begin with, it’s essential to have some type of landscape theme that is connected to the architecture of the building. There is no better example of that than the State Capitol building and grounds. With its round cylinder in the middle and four wings coming off on each side, simple geometry provides landscaping clues. If planners tried to place a large prairie garden with larger areas of wildflowers and grass, it would not correspond to the architecture.
“When you try to mix in something different than what the architecture is telling you, it’s going to be confusing,” said Eilbes. “The landscape should enhance the architecture, the landscape should not dominate the architecture.”
3. Make the entrance obvious and welcoming
Making the building entrance obvious and welcoming is one of the primary objectives of any well-planned commercial landcape design.
Following architectural consistency, the most important step is to make the main entrance of the building as obvious and inviting as possible. This is accomplished by adding low, bright colors, “things like flowers, bright grasses, bulbs in the springtime – anything that is going to draw your eye,” Eilbes said.
“With any color or feature that is going to draw your eye toward the main entry, making it obvious where people need to go is going to be crucial in giving your customers a pleasant experience when visiting your business building.””