Executive-2019-summer

W ith the arrival of summer heat, businesses may be noticing that their landscaping is looking somewhat lacking. A good landscape draws the eye to signage, entrances and other important architectural features but doesn’t distract from the business itself, while an unkempt or plain landscape can negatively impact customers’ first impressions. A professional landscape crew can help businesses take their landscape from boring to beautiful. “Curb appeal is a first impression that can impact that value of a property by 15-20%,” said Teddy Russell, CEO of Russell Landscape Group, a commercial property landscape company headquartered in Sugar Hill. “Landscape is a living thing; it’s dynamic and always changing. If it’s not professionally maintained, it can get away from you.” Making significant improvements to your landscape can be an expensive endeavor, so Russell encourages his clients to start with what they have. “If you have a landscape that’s 20-25 years old, it might be as simple as bringing up the canopy of trees or lowering shrub height,” he said. “I like to call it bringing in open air. It’s much less expensive than a total renovation and it can make a big difference.” Russell Landscape Group serves the southeastern United States and has offered commercial landscape maintenance and design, hardscape construction, enhancements, seasonal color, turf maintenance, and irrigation as well as REIT/ rental maintenance and government landscape services for 32 years. If a customer is after a new look, Russell said, “We like to work with the environment, rather than against it. We work with a theme that works with the current landscape and create a three- to five-year plan so everything looks like it goes together as it grows in.” If a total landscape renovation isn’t in your budget, another less expensive improvement is using annual warm-weather plants to add color to commercial properties. “We’re adding more pops of seasonal plantings to our customers’ properties now, which is the easiest way to bring color in for the summer,” said Shawn Lesko, COO of 4 Seasons. For more than 15 years, 4 Seasons Landscape Group, headquartered in Norcross, has offered landscaping, maintenance, design and installation, hardscapes, irrigation, parking lot sweeping, day porter, pressure washing and tree services to the metro Atlanta area and specializes in working with homeowners’ associations (HOAs). “The specific type of flowers and plants for pops of color can change year-to-year based on market availability, but tend to be the most popular way to accent areas property owners want to highlight like neighborhood entrances and signs,” said Bruce Bryde, President and CEO of 4 Seasons. “We’ve also seen a lot more use of landscaping in tiers so it brings your eye upward, and use of natural structural materials like Mexican beach pebbles and large boulders. Anything that’s eye- catching when you’re driving by.” Unlike vibrantly colored plants LACKLUSTER LAWN? Local landscapers offer advice on curb appeal and summer care for commercial property Russell Landscape Group 8 the EXECUTIVE