What to Look for in Landscaping Maintenance Services
In general, the importance of a home’s landscape is easily understood. It supports and enhances the architecture of the home. For the regular or casual visitor, it creates an experience, evoking emotions as one approaches the house. It addresses how to get in and out of the space—through doorways, gates, driveways, walkways—so it directs the eye and movement of people. Finally, it addresses the need of the homeowners by making a public statement about who they are.
Because these garden landscapes are living entities, they require regular landscaping maintenance services. From mowing to watering to trimming, ongoing landscape services protect your investment, preserve the quality of the space and enhance your enjoyment of a lush, healthy landscape.
Basic Landscaping Maintenance Services
Services will vary from provider to provider, but most contracts will include:
- Regular lawn mowing and trimming. In Houston, lawn service is usually indicated 52 or 42 times a year.
- Shrub, groundcover and small tree pruning
- Fertilization and management of pests and diseases.
- Aeration of the lawn to help prevent compaction of the soil.
- Garden bed mulching with consistent turning of mulch to maximize benefit.
- Seasonal color.
Other aspects of landscaping maintenance services may involve maintenance of the irrigation systems, drainage systems, and landscape lighting. Maintenance may also include the care for garden structures, such as outdoor gazebos or garden arches, and other items like gates, retaining walls, pathways and luxury swimming pools.
In the Beginning
Working with a landscape designer or landscape architect who can develop an encompassing plan that works with the natural features of your property such as drainage, soil composition, and sun positioning is often a good investment. They can accentuate your viewpoint, or, if you don’t have one, they can help you articulate one with your choice of softscapes and hardscapes.
In short, with luxurious and highly personalized signature designs, these professionals help you maximize your enjoyment of the landscape, while avoiding long-term problems and minimizing any naturally-occurring disadvantages. The very best will listen closely to you so you end up with a landscape that captures your singular language—whether it be an emotional eye-catcher or something subtle but sophisticated.
Many landscape contractors can be hired to handle the ongoing landscape maintenance of the projects they install. This long-term partnership benefits the homeowners because it ensures that the long-term integrity of the overall design will be maintained, something especially important when a particular style of garden has been chosen: a formal landscape design with its meticulous attention to line and form or a Mediterranean garden design that gets much of its style from plant choices.
The Right Stuff
Because you want neither sacrifice of style nor convenience, working with the right firm and the right people is everything. Look for a commitment to the customer and to excellence. Also,
- Ask for references.
- Ask to see a portfolio of completed projects. It might even be informative to visit a project that’s in the works, something that will give you a good idea of what the crews and their work habits look like.
