The Level Green Landscaping Blog

Expert Industry Advice and Property Enhancement Suggestions.

Your lawn is working harder than you think it is. Are you giving it everything it needs? 

Hopefully, it’s out there impressing people, making your commercial property look appealing and well maintained. 

Your lawn is the first thing people see when they drive up to your property.

It’s no secret gas-powered leaf blowers make a lot of noise. 

“I think we’ve all had the experience of walking past somebody using a gas blower on full throttle,” says Dan Dyson, branch manager of the Burtonsville branch of Level Green Landscaping.  

“You can’t hear anything except the blower. Put a couple of them together and it’s deafening noise.”

But it doesn’t have to be that way. 

“Last week I was on a job where the edgers, the weed eaters and the blowers were all electric,” Dyson says. “You barely knew we were there. You could actually have a conversation.”

Expect more of that quiet in Montgomery County next summer when a ban on gas-powered leaf blowers goes into effect. 

Evergreens don’t get enough credit.

Sure, everybody loves them at Christmas, bringing them inside for a rare treat and decking the halls with boughs of holly, but all year round, evergreen trees and plants are out in the landscape working super hard. 

“You can use evergreens in so many ways,” says Richard Sweeney, landscape architect at Level Green Landscaping. He’s about to tell us how.

What are the best evergreen trees and plants for your commercial property?
 
Sweeney shares a few of his favorites. 
You might want them all.

There’s security in knowing you have a retention basin or stormwater pond on your property. 

The pools collect water from rain and runoff and release it slowly, at a nice, easy rate that prevents flooding or erosion.

But is yours really working? Not without regular retention basin maintenance. 

Cameron Cook, operations manager at Level Green Landscaping, walks us through the stormwater pond maintenance tasks Level Green crews do to keep these vital wet ponds working — and passing those inspections.

Have you thought much about your shrubs lately?

Probably not. They’re the quiet, hardworking plants in your commercial landscaping, never complaining or demanding much.

But if you ignore them, your landscaping will suffer. They need more attention than you might think. 

How long do shrubs live? How do you keep shrubs healthy?

There’s a lot to love about the changing seasons here in the Mid-Atlantic — plump porch pumpkins in fall, the first grilled burgers of summer, the thrill of remembering where you put your snow brush as the first flakes fly.

Your commercial property landscaping marks the changing seasons, too, from spring daffodils to falling leaves to smart dormant pruning in winter. 

Seasonal landscape maintenance is a crucial part of keeping your commercial property landscaping healthy, thriving, tidy and impressive.

Landscaping might not be the first thing customers think of when they head to a retail destination, but it’s the first thing they see.

Great retail landscaping sets the mood, makes a first impression, and, if you’re doing it right, makes customers stick around for a while — which means they’re shopping more and dining more. 

Vibrant, innovative landscape enhancements make your retail site more beautiful, welcoming and comfortable.

And more shoppable.

Is your commercial property landscaping fresh and modern, with innovative gathering spots and graceful ornamental grasses? 

Or is it still sporting sad over-pruned junipers way past their prime?

Maybe you haven’t really noticed. But your customers and tenants do. 

Good commercial landscape design doesn't stay the same — it changes, with trends, technology and evolving customer tastes.

Is your commercial property soggy? Damp? Mildewy?

None of this is good.

Drainage isn’t the most exciting aspect of your commercial property, but it should be high on your list of Important Stuff to Do.