Category: Blog

The Relationship Between Effective Landscape Management and Your Brand

In the words of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, “Your brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room.”
Have you ever wondered what people are saying about your company when you aren’t around? Have you considered all possible avenues to make the best first impression possible? Chances are there is one thing you haven’t thought too deeply about when considering your brand: landscape management.

I’m sure you’re wondering what landscaping has to do with your brand, right? A brand is really nothing more than a combined set of individual perceptions or opinions – the big picture. There are many small components to building a brand, such as logo design, color schemes, a website, social media presence, and physical environment. When you combine multiple successful factors, in theory, you should achieve a successful brand.

Here’s the thing about effective landscaping: it can positively affect or enhance almost every single branding component. If you have quality landscaping at your company’s physical locations, you are already set up for success. Effective landscaping can be used to direct the eye to strategic signage or logo placements. Colorscaping can be utilized to maintain a sense of brand color consistency across a physical campus. Picturesque landscaping can be used in photographs as content for a website or social media pages.

Landscaping alone can be what sets your brand apart from the competition. Commercial retail sites, office buildings, and multi-family housing brands all have one goal in common: to lease available space. When a potential customer goes to visit various sites in search of a lease, a multitude of variables is at play.

Picture this: two properties are identical in square footage, regional location, lease term, and price. One of those properties is well-manicured with green turf, crisp edges, and pops of color. The other property doesn’t look bad, but it certainly doesn’t have the same visual appeal and attention to detail as the first. Considering all other aspects are identical, at which property would you choose to sign a lease?

A common pitfall is an assumption that a low price means the best deal. The problem with that assumption is this: price does not always equal value. Rather than asking yourself how much you’re paying for quality landscaping, ask yourself what you’re getting for what you’re paying.

When initially designing your visual branding, you probably weren’t searching for the cheapest graphic designer you could find. More likely, you spent time researching and choosing a qualified designer who could deliver an exceptional product. The same should apply to the visual appeal of your company’s landscaping.
When deciding on a landscape management provider, you want to ensure you’re hiring a qualified company that can assist you in achieving a professional appearance. Chapel Valley will provide you with a lively, unique landscaping experience.

For questions or more information about professional landscape management, please visit www.chapelvalley.com.

Joining the landscape industry has been a new learning experience and after 3 years I’m still learning. Coming from a corporate IT background I never knew what went into working for a landscaping company.

While all properties are different, they all are looking to accomplish the same goal. Each property’s requirements vary based on its region. Whether you are looking at a high-rise in DC with a green roof and planters on the ground level, a gated HOA in McLean, or a new developing apartment community in Richmond, they are all looking to accomplish the same goal, curb appeal! While working on apartment communities in DC you will see many greens. In Herndon, you don’t see that very often but you do see more outdoor spaces, for example, dog parks and trails. I have learned that we need to be able to hear all of our customer’s needs and take into consideration the location. 

Coming from a corporate background new to the landscape industry I have learned that It’s a team effort from beginning to end. When it comes to preparing a proposal for a customer many parts go into the planning that I was not aware of. Starting with the initial meeting with the customer to internally estimating the property, the team physically estimating the property to finally presenting to the customer. Everyone in the team plays a big role in presenting each proposal specifically designed for each of our customers.

In my first year, I didn’t understand why there was so much conversation around snow removal. Coming from a completely different industry I would have never imagined the role that snow plays in the landscape industry. After sitting in on an operations meeting I understand all the planning that goes into a snow event. Assigning crew members and vehicles to each customer’s specific snow requirements takes a lot of preparation. Also the continued treatment of the properties throughout and after a storm. Snow is a big part of the landscape industry in Northern Virginia during the winter months. 

These are only a few of the many things I have learned while working at Chapel Valley.

While we can see an increase of interesting trends for commercial properties, there are still many sites with overgrown evergreen vegetation and a few pockets with annual flowers. Landscape enhancements can improve the appearance of these properties, including more than just a flower rotation when adding color. With the right landscape design, commercial sites can transform into beautiful spaces with plants that thrive in each season. 

Currently, with COVID-19 shaping the way we live and work, we recognize the importance of spending time outside. This especially relates to a workplace, where employees can benefit from spending time and work outdoors. Working in a natural environment allows for a connection with nature, therefore it is important to provide the right plants that will continue giving attention throughout the whole year. The idea of all-season interest is to include the plants that provide ornamental attributes in one season and overlapping with another group that provides interest in the following season. Certainly, most plants display an interest in spring and summer, however, there are multiple plant options to make fall and winter attractive as well.  

Spring and summer interests are known for providing showy blooms and interesting textures. After the winter is over, people want to see colors, so the earliest blooms are found in spring bulbs. The swaths of early blooming Daffodils and later drifts of Tulips add a desired color to the landscape. We also like to use the spring-blooming ornamental trees, like Cherry and Magnolia to bring eye-catching flowers. Dogwoods and Redbuds are also popular spring-blooming native trees that we use in commercial landscapes. When it comes to shrubs, many commercial sites are still covered with the popular old-fashioned Forsythia, but we like to often replace it with native Fothergilla and Itea. These shrubs also offer a beautiful fall color.

By late spring, many trees and shrubs are leafed out, giving way to blooms. One of the popular shrubs in April and May is Encore Azaleas. There are multiple varieties of this relatively new species which provide a multi-season interest and require less maintenance than the traditional Azaleas. Besides blooming in spring, Encore Azaleas re-bloom in fall and stay evergreen through the winter. We have tried and can recommend other newly introduced plants are Dwarf Lilacs for late spring color and Little Lime Hydrangea for early summer stunning flowers. In addition to shrubs, we like using the long-blooming perennials, like Daylily, Russian Sage, Catmint, Coreopsis, and late summer blooms like Sedum, or Rudbeckia. 

In fall, a must-have color comes from Red Maples, but also shrubs like Nandina, Oakleaf Hydrangea, and Spirea can provide beautiful fall foliage. They provide an outstanding mix of contrasting colors and textures in combination with ornamental grasses and fall-blooming perennials. There also are a few plant options for winter interest. We often use a multi-season Red Twig Dogwood with attractive red stems, Winterberry, known for its bright red berries, and ornamental trees like Paperbark Maple, or River Birch with peeling bark. Ornamental grasses still look beautiful and soft in winter before being cut back in early spring.  

We all want to enjoy the outdoors and work in a pleasant environment.  By making a few changes to the property, it is possible to provide an attractive and thriving landscape with multiple interests throughout the whole year.