DO NOT JUDGE A GARDEN LANDSCAPE DESIGN COMPANY BY WHAT YOU SEE IN A NEWLY PLANTED, NEWLY INSTALLED PROPERTY.
I just viewed an advertisement in a local marketing paper for a landscape and Masonry company. I went to their website and was embarrassed to view the pictures they chose to put on their website to represent the work they do. I am glad that they are so narrow-minded and they think that this is what will help them sell their services (I am strictly referring to their landscaping pictures). I am not afraid to put their companies name into my article as an example of what not to consider when qualifying a Garden and Landscape company (company name Longo’s Landscaping & Masonry). I am hoping homeowners are more intelligent then what some of these companies are expecting. The following is a picture from their site and I can promise you it will most likely overgrow and be out of control within 10 years (explanations of this can be found in the classes I am offering).
I can’t begin to stress how important it is to see a companies work 3 years, 5 years and 10 plus years down the road. Has the company that installed your neighbors property returned every year to inspect and help that homeowner maintain the value of the design and installation. This is what you need to be looking for. No great design will live on it’s own without proper care. If you choose to hire someone to help you create your own personal paradise make sure they are committed to you, not just for the time it takes to sell you, install your approved plan and collect their final balance. If this is what you hire expect that you will be working for many years to manage the development and disasters that come with incomplete garden and landscape designs. A true landscape design is accompanied by a landscape management program that sets expectations of how things are to grow. How to prune, fertilize and water. The greatest question someone could ask a design company is, What am I to expected to pay every year to help my new landscape develop and reach it’s mature state. How long before it reaches that goal and what do I do to maintain the gardens and trees once they grow to their desired sizes?
A landscape company needs to demonstrate through time what their work becomes and how it is to be managed to get to that mature point (without things growing out of control). As you read from article to article through my website you will see example after example of developing plants, gardens and landscapes and how they are to be managed to get them to their optimum health and maintained size.
Whatever you choose, please remember we pay for the level of service we get. If things are inexpensive, most times there is a reason. It usually isn’t a new company trying to develop relationships. You get what you pay for. Good luck with whatever direction you go in. Hopefully this has clarified some of what is out there and what you as the consumer can demand.
My ranting and raving is done for now and I will go back to creating estimates for my existing clients. Good evening to all.
I couldn’t leave you like that. The following pictures are of landscapes designed and installed by Plant With Me, Inc. I also perform all the developing maintenance on all my design and installations.