Have you ever wondered whether your commercial landscaping is practical, and whether that even matters? Impractical landscaping can have unintended consequences and added costs. Here’s what you need to know about commercial landscaping for practical purposes in Glen Ellyn, IL.
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The Consequences of Impractical Landscaping
We’ve all seen it: a gorgeous grassy square, such as you would find on a college campus… with dirt tracks criss-crossing it and completely ruining the look. It’s not that people deliberately want to walk across the lawn… it’s that the design isn’t user-friendly! People want to take a direct route, and if given half a chance they will make their own path if one isn’t available. Aside from the aesthetic implications of impractical landscapes, you also need to consider the cost of additional maintenance and design issues. For example, if you don’t want people walking across your lawn (or worse, short-cutting through flower beds), then you must invest either in physical barriers like fences, or in more user-friendly landscape designs.
Design tip: people don’t walk in right angles. They walk in straight lines, and make curved or at most, 45 degree changes of direction if they’re in the middle of an open space. Designing a grassy area that’s deliberately criss-crossed with attractive paver walkways will immediately take away people’s natural inclination to short-cut since the X-shaped pathways are already oriented in the way that people actually move.
Another consequence of impractical landscaping is more subtle: an instinctive feeling that you don’t like your customers. If you make people walk in weird ways, or make it hard for them to get to the front door, they will think (consciously or unconsciously) that you’re trying to make life hard for them. So why should they do business with you?
Design tip: make it easy and attractive for people to reach your front door, and any public spaces within the landscape such as a seating area around a fountain.
Making a Landscape Inviting, Attractive, and Practical
Many landscaping solutions can serve double duty. For example, an attractive man-made creek can also serve to improve drainage and minimize standing water. A large permeable-paver plaza offers a gathering spot for employees or tenants, as well as managing runoff from snow or heavy rains; the same applies for permeable-paver parking areas, walkways, and driveways.
Another practical consideration is water use. A water-wise landscape will save you money. But this doesn’t mean paving it over, or planting nothing but cactus and succulents. You can achieve a water-wise landscape using native plants instead of thirsty exotics, and investing in a professional irrigation system that minimizes water waste and evaporation.
Proper lighting is one of the key aspects of a successful landscape design. All public spaces need to be well-lit for safety and security; but you can make your lighting scheme attractive, too, using the right types and placement of outdoor lighting fixtures.
What about the more beautiful aspects of a landscape, such as colorful flowers? These can be practical as well! Large containers filled with seasonal color help define spaces, guide traffic, and provide privacy where it’s needed.
On an emotional level, people will appreciate that you made the effort to create a space that’s beautiful, practical, and simply nice to be in. That will translate to a positive company image, and potentially more profits!
Related: HOW COMMERCIAL LANDSCAPING MAINTENANCE OPTIMIZES YOUR CORPORATE IMAGE IN ELMHURST, IL
