U.S. Lawns has always recognized there are so many ways we can help our commercial real estate managers and owners use their landscapes to meet their goals. Especially when the hardscape and softscape are working in perfect harmony.
Hardscape
COMMERCIAL HARDSCAPE INSTALLATION & MAINTENANCE
The Best Landscapes Are a Balanced Fusion of Hardscapes and Softscapes
To give you a better idea of where we’re going with this, it’s important to distinguish the difference between your hardscape and your softscape. Trees, plants, grass, bushes, shrubs, as well as everything else green and growing including the soil, is a part of the softscape.
The hardscape is any feature of the landscape that is built out of a hard material like stone, concrete, or wood. U.S. Lawns considers it best practice to include the hardscape aspects you’re going to want as a permanent part of your landscape in your initial construction plan. This way you’ll know how to best incorporate your softscape, eliminating the future need to move, or remove and replace interfering trees or bushes, which can be quite costly.
However, we also realize new construction budgets don’t always make this possible. We want you to know that when it comes to your landscape, we can always help you find a solution. Contact us now to learn more about our hardscape services.
Hardscapes Are Not Just for Residential Landscapes
People frequently tend to associate hardscapes with the residential landscape market. After all, who wouldn’t love to have a relatively low-maintenance natural oasis in their backyard where they can unwind after a long day or entertain friends on the weekend? Just imagine having an outdoor kitchen with stone or granite countertops on a flagstone patio with a rock fire pit. Perhaps even a nice soothing waterfall to add to the ambiance–all of which happen to be solid examples of a hardscape.
Hardscaping plays a valuable role on commercial landscapes too, whether it be a corporate office park, trying to provide a safe, comfortable environment for tenants to enjoy a quiet lunch, or take a brisk walk outdoors on a pleasant day; a retail shopping center trying to maintain safe parking lots and pedestrian walkways while evoking the mood to buy; an industrial complex where a clean, safe, professional landscape is top priority for delivery trucks and pedestrians alike; a hotel, with the primary focus of being visually pleasing and inviting enough to the capture attention of lodgers, drawing them away from the competition across the street; or multi-family apartments, which need to have that eye-pleasing curb appeal while offering a welcoming space for both current and prospective residents.
U.S. Lawns has the knowledge, experience, skills, and tools to help you build a strategy for managing your commercial landscape that can really contribute to helping you achieve your company’s goals. We know about softscapes as well as hardscapes, also how to create and maintain a landscape where everything is working together for the best interest of your company and your community. Contact us now if you’re ready to add new hardscape elements to your commercial property.
Hardscapes Can Be Great for the Environment
Beyond beautifying the lawn and providing good outdoor gathering places, hardscapes can also add to the landscape in other practical ways.
For instance, many companies are incorporating permeable pavement systems into their landscape. Permeable pavers are interlocking concrete hardscape materials that can be used to construct sidewalks, courtyards, parking lots, driveways, and even streets. Permeable pavers are a cost-effective solution for commercial properties, and they’re a “green” product that can actually help your landscape renew the environment.
Permeable pavement helps with drainage, because the runoff from a rainstorm absorbs into the pavers as opposed to pouring across them. Then, the aggregate substructure beneath the pavers holds the storm water and distributes it slowly back into the ground through a discharge structure, or into a storage tank to be used for irrigation. This system also helps to safely and naturally replenish the groundwater, which contributes to conservation.
Pavers can be made with solar reflective index (SRI) materials, which helps reduce thermal pollution; they are made of concrete and recycled materials that can take a lot of pressure and resist the harsh elements, including deterioration caused by freeze-thaw cycles; and they even assist with illumination so parking lots require less lighting after dark, which means less demand for electricity as well as big savings in energy and money.
Yet, there’s no need to sacrifice aesthetics for the sake of being environmentally friendly and efficient, because pavers are available in a variety of color options, textures, and finishes.
There Are Many Practical Hardscape Elements
Functional hardscape elements you may want to add to your commercial landscape include:
- Retaining walls made of brick, stacked stone, or other masonry to act as a decorative border, provide a natural seating area, and/or retain soil and prevent erosion
- Natural stone, brick, flagstone cement, or interlocking paver patios, sidewalks, and foot paths
- Edging to create distinct borders around plant and flower beds, trees, and hedges
- Arbors, pergolas, or trellises for flowering vines like Clematis, Bougainvillea, Wisteria, Morning Glories, and climbing roses
- Gazebos or decks to provide a good outdoor meeting or gathering space
- Outdoor fireplaces so people can still enjoy the landscape in the brisk weather
- Water features such as fountains or natural stone waterfalls to beautify the landscape and support the surrounding ecosystem
Use Hardscapes to Give New Life to Your Commercial Landscape
U.S. Lawns will look at your landscape from your eyes, so we can define what goals you need to achieve and determine the ways your landscape can help you get there. Once we understand your true vision, we’ll create a design that brings together all the softscape elements and hardscape features necessary to give life to that vision. Then we’ll form a strategic plan that works with your budget to make it happen.
Our trained hardscape professionals will be working diligently and responsively throughout the entire construction process. We’ll make sure you receive constant progress updates and will be available to answer your questions and concerns.
Our goal is 100% client retention, so we’re committed to seeing your hardscape construction through to completion and beyond. Contact us today and partner with the nation’s top landscape management experts in building and maintaining your hardscape.