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GIVE YOUR LANDSCAPE A FACELIFT- A relandscaping plan that will enhance the attractiveness of your outdoor living space.
By Mike Regan
Your landscape maintenance company is consistently providing quality work for your homeowner association. The property always looks nice, the edges of the lawn are neatly trimmed, and proper mowing has kept the turf fresh, lush and green. However, with all of the maintained landscape areas in check, you still just don’t seem to think the property looks as good as it could. If you have ever considered this about your property, you are among many who feel the same way. In fact, from a landscape maintenance professional’s experience, this type of situation is usually seen on homeowner association projects daily. It is often the result of an outdated landscape; a landscape which has now become older than its age reveals, surviving to its best without a proper plan. In this situation, the solution calls for a relandscaping plan; a plan that will enhance the unique attractiveness that your outdoor living space is capable of unfurling while often times not requiring a hefty price tag with the service.
Age of Property
Far too often it’s a fairly youthful property, a property often falling between the range of ten to forty years old, in which the landscaping has created an aged look long before it’s time. If you are concerned that your association is a product of this, it’s helpful to compare your property with the newer developments throughout San Diego. Refreshing landscapes can often be found on both the newly built homeowners associations as well as many condo conversion projects in development. It is apparent in such projects that the end effect look is considerably different, and more eye catching, that that of the “older” projects.
Big Picture Landscaping
When landscape updates are in need, the question often asked by the homeowner association board to their landscape maintenance provider is, how can the landscape become updated without spending a huge amount of money? Although there are many ways to address this, the best recommendation would be to complete the updates through a phased program. To do so, a plan is needed to determine the desires of how the landscape will change. Additional considerations within the plan should involve the type of look the landscape will portray that will sufficiently revitalize the property. It is essential that the homeowners association determine an appropriate theme for their project, for instance, a tropical theme, or even a drought tolerant theme. The theme can be practical just as it can be creative, and your landscape maintenance contractor can provide you with recommendations for your perfect theme.
Constructing a Plan
Once you have established the type of theme you are looking for, it is time to design a plan. The word “plan” often conjures up images of landscape architects, landscape designers and the possible costs associated with such services. While hiring contractors to create a plan may be necessary and appropriate in many cases, it may not be necessary for other situations. Creating a plan can be as easy as consulting with your landscape maintenance professional who may be able to create a similar plan, not necessarily drafted as would be by an expensive landscape architect, but rather outlined and presented in a letter form. Such a format can also bring your theme to life and create a structured agenda to tackle the re-landscaping project at a minimal cost, if any, to your association.
Adhering to the Plan
Subsequent to the creation of a plan, there must be an agreement among the homeowner association board. It is imperative that the board votes on the plan and that the accepted plan is used as a guideline for re-landscaping the project. This plan must be followed closely throughout the possible course of change which often happens within associations. Often this is the case of Board Members leaving, or perhaps entirely new Board of directors coming into office, leaving the design idea once agreed on by the previous members open to change or becoming completely disregarded. The end result is a property with many different themes throughout the landscape. All board members should be in unison for the plan and kept completely abreast as changes occur.
Getting to Work
After the plan is agreed upon and adopted, the next step is to get to work. If the association is a small project, the plan may be as simple as getting a bid from the maintenance contractor and having the upgrades completed promptly. If the project is large, the plan will need to be phased in over a longer period of time. Depending on the size and budget, re-landscaping a larger property may take months or sometimes years in certain cases.
Outside the Box Landscape Thought
It may also be discovered that in the process of re-landscaping, removing all plant material on site and replacing the barren areas with new plant material is not always necessary. Instead of spending money on all new plant installations, simply making certain removals throughout the project and implementing new materials in certain specified areas, may be enough to create an invigorating new landscape.
Easy Solutions, Dramatic Appeal
Often it’s the simple solutions which go a long way, like an application of wood mulch. This is popular and beautiful addition to refresh outdated landscapes. Adding a layer of the mulch to all of the bare planter beds throughout the project will create a vibrant, fresh and clean look to the property instantly. Wood mulch is used in almost all design work that is done today, but was not used that frequently in the Southern California area during the 70’s and 80’s era. The application process is simple and needs to be replenished only once per year.
Changes in Maintenance
Sometimes a change in the landscape maintenance program may result from a redesign project. By performing certain techniques different styles can assist in transforming the landscape, which is a great way of working with what you have and saving money. For example, in the 1970’s and 1980’s the common hedging styles were boxed and balled. It is a rarity to see these types of hedges in current days. If a landscape update were to be done to a property with this type of hedging practiced, depending on the type of plant materials, it may be possible to take the existing boxed or balled shaped plant and apply a procedure called stool cutting. By stool cutting a severely hedged plant, the plant would be cut down to about a foot from the ground, which would allow the plant to grow back more natural and not so damaged. By doing this, along with adding additional plant materials to some locations, the look of the project will change dramatically.
Choosing to Upgrade
There are many options to choose from when the time is right to update the landscape and can be as easy as communicating with the board of directors for the homeowner association and contacting your landscape maintenance contractor. Landscape upgrading is a great solution which should be seriously considered for homeowner associations in need of a change for the better. Feeling connected, relaxed and content with your outdoor living surroundings is equally important to feeling at home with your indoor living environment. Why not make it great if that’s the case and turn your shared outdoor community into an enjoyable space all residents can be happy to call their own.
Michael Regan is the President and Principle of Pacific Green Landscape, Incorporated, a landscape maintenance company serving the San Diego County area.
Editor: Krista Monighetti
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