Commercial landscaping can make a huge impact on your curb appeal, your employee morale, your property value, and even your crime reduction. Studies have shown that well-lit and well-maintained areas have less instances of crime when compared to darker or lesser maintained buildings, and your lighting is part of your whole landscaping vision. Great landscaping draws the eye to your business naturally, and builds organic interest with potential employees or businesses looking to lease with you, or customers who may then decide to walk over and see what you have to offer. Before your commercial landscaping installation, however, you’ll need a vision, and what better way to build a vision than to look at some of today’s top commercial landscaping trends?
Commercial Landscaping Trends For 2017
As far as a general trend or theme goes, the year 2017 is all about going natural. Native species of plants to the South Carolina area, wildflowers, ground cover, and ornamental grasses are taking the place of tidy plants brought in from elsewhere to grow and thrive in the South Carolina environment. Additionally, allowing your commercial landscaping to take on a bit of a wild look instead of always well-manicured, in order to take on that earthy ethereal feel, is being preferred over the classic approach. Now, this doesn’t mean going completely wild and unkempt, but just letting your commercial landscape relax a little bit.
Not only are things looking more eco-friendly, they’re also walking the walk, and eco-friendly irrigation, planting, lighting, and water fixtures are being prioritized over less environmentally sustainable options.
5 Specific Commercial Landscaping Design Inspirations
While the general design trend for 2017 is all about going back to nature, having a few distinct design inspiration trends is a great way to build your commercial landscaping vision. 5 specific commercial landscaping design inspirations you can use to build your vision are:
- Keep it distinct – Your distinct landscaping pieces should focus on bright bold colors and simple shapes, rather than the classic and manicured look. What this does for your commercial landscaping is bring you a piece that draws the eye, but doesn’t create an intimidating “corporate” sort of look right off the bat. The look is bold, friendly, and welcoming when accented with the natural overall trend.
- Edible gardens – Including edible plants and trees, like raspberry bushes or cherry trees, into your commercial landscaping is a really fun way to provide a little something extra to the area. These fruiting plants not only bring a touch of beauty to the landscape, but a great morale boost for employees or an attraction for customers. If you’re opting for a natural sort of vision, the wild look of raspberry bushes really fits in with ornamental grasses and natural groundcover to create a beautiful aesthetic.
- Include a water feature – A water feature like a pond, stream, or small waterfall brings the distinct tranquil feel that only water can provide, as well as a perfect addition to a natural garden feel. Taking an eco-friendly approach to water features ensures environmental sustainability to encourage a healthy natural landscape.
- Plenty of light – While your daytime commercial landscaping is all natural, nighttime is all about light. Installing solar lighting systems around walkways and doorways not only helps to make your commercial landscaping visible when the sun goes down, but it helps to keep your commercial area safe as workers come and go, and throughout the night. While lighting doesn’t need to be solar, it does help to ensure the landscape keeps the natural eco-friendly trend feel.
- Naturescaping – When choosing ground cover, shrubs, trees, and flowers, choosing native species to the South Carolina area is part of the trend of “naturescaping”. Naturescaping is using natural native plant species to create a commercial landscaping vision, which works on the eco-friendly front better than choosing any other type of plant. Naturescaping means pesticides won’t be needed, the plants are already accustomed to the natural environment, and nothing needs to change drastically to suit them and allow them to thrive. Natural South Carolina plants come in bright bold colors, natural hues, and all shapes and sizes for you to work with.
In terms of 2017, building your vision to go along with the commercial landscaping trend for this year is all about thinking natural. Taking the beauty of what the South Carolina landscape has to offer, and putting it into your landscape in a way that grabs the eye, invites, and enhances the value of your commercial property really embraces the natural aesthetic of the area while limiting your own carbon footprint. Whether you choose to go on-trend for 2017, or build your commercial landscape using your own unique vision, a professional landscaping company can help you to turn any vision you may have into your own commercial landscaping reality.
