Keeping Your Landscape Looking Fresh
Landscape can be a challenging and emotional topic. Yet with the right strategy, a landscape can become your community’s greatest asset. With careful planning and the right partner, the landscape can enhance curb appeal and property value, mitigate risk, create spaces that unite residents, and result in higher occupancy rates. Here are four key areas to help keep your landscape looking fresh and maximize the value.
Right Plant, Right Place
The landscape can say a lot about a community. Strategic placement of the right plants in the right place can help your property shine!
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Pay attention to overly crowded beds and overly shaded areas. If a plant is too big for the area it should be replaced or removed. Give plants enough space to grow properly, keeping growth away from the building will prevent damage to buildings or invasions of termites and other unwelcome visitors.
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Plants have a lifespan that can be accelerated by tough environmental conditions and plants can go downhill – budget for replacements. Whether it's past its prime or has become damaged, you’ll want to replace it to keep your community looking its best.
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Proper and proactive care is crucial for your tree's long-term health and beauty. Trees need yearly pruning to maintain optimal health. Improper pruning can permanently disfigure your trees, or even kill them. Proper pruning techniques for trees and shrubs will maximize the plant's lifespan.
Vibrant Colors
Not only does your landscape look great, but it's also a sign of a healthy landscape. Keep your landscape vibrant by:
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Adding fresh mulch retains moisture, protects & insulates plants, controls weeds, maintains soil nutrients, AND provides a rich backdrop to give your plants that extra pop of color!
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Different textures and colors, even if all in the green family, will add some extra character to your landscape.
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Incorporating green plants and grass can create a unique, beautiful, and luxurious landscape.
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A good rule of thumb is either thriving color or no color – annual color should be thriving – or not used at all.
Cleanliness 
Tend to the details. First impressions are everything - unsightly landscape and grounds can ruin your opportunity to make a great first impression.
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Hardscapes and planter beds should be weed-free. Weeds grow and germinate all year, compaction, low fertility all impact weed generation. Having a weed abatement program that considers the full year of weed growth.
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Don’t skimp on routine landscape maintenance. Weeds and unkempt lawns and beds send the wrong message to potential buyers. Also, be sure to swiftly replace trees or shrubs that have succumbed to disease, been irreparably damaged by severe weather, or didn’t survive the winter.
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Plan for trash cleanup and pet waste to keep your community looking and smelling its best! Third-party services are a great option to help with cleanup. Keep in mind that irrigation is necessary to help minimize the smell.
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Power Washing removes moss and algae, extends the life of concrete and pavers, brightens the exterior.
Irrigation and Water Management 
Water is a necessary resource to ensure the lifespan of your landscape. Pay close attention to the following:
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Tree Preservation - Trees are your most valuable landscape asset and municipalities are most interested in them. Costs for mismanagement begin in the thousands of dollars range and safety risk is high for a poorly maintained tree. Trees need supplemental water during July and August to survive in our climate.
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Mulch Preservation – Watering after mulching will help the mulch set into place, hydrate it so it can start to break down, and release nutrients into the soil. The right irrigation will keep mulch fresh longer.
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Avoid having visible heads & lines. Not only will this impact the overall aesthetic of the landscape, but it also poses a safety risk for slips, trips, and falls. Exposed lines are at more risk of damage that could result in flooding and costly repairs.
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Drainage Issues are unsightly and can cause damage to your landscape, lead to structural foundation damage, and attract pests.
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Environmental Responsibility – As both environmental stewards and budget managers, we all have a responsibility to make sure irrigation systems are operating in the most efficient and cost-effective manner possible.
John Ellis is a Senior Business Development Manager at BrightView Landscapes.