The Best Advice for Installing & Enhancing Landscape

So, you want to know how to get a beautiful, amazing, and eye-catching landscape?

The glossy pages of your favorite landscaping magazine have probably given you an idea of how you want your landscape to look, but you may need some in-depth advice to get started. You’ve come to the right place! The Grounds Guys of Gettysburg has five pieces of advice to jumpstart landscape installation, enhancement, and design today!

Why Do I Need Landscape Enhancements?

If we’ve learned anything over the years, it’s that there’s nothing wrong with enhancing your landscape to suit your ever-changing style. If no one ever switched things up, the world would be a pretty boring place (and so would your landscape).

You should consider landscape enhancements if you:

• Are planning to sell your home and want to potentially increase property value
• Have a yard that is no longer functional or aesthetically pleasing to you

• Lack time to perform upkeep for specific plant life or want to conserve water
• Are underutilizing the space you currently have
• Want to increase shade or privacy around your property

Should I Install New Landscape or Update Existing Landscape?

Personal preference and plant health are just a couple of reasons you might choose installing new landscape over updating your existing landscape. The first step is to decide whether your outdoor space needs updating or enhancements (see some things to consider above).

Let’s say you want to start over and add some new plant life and overhaul your landscape design or incorporate one. This could involve relocating elements better suited in other places or making room for hardscape features like a fire pit or outdoor kitchen. To completely overhaul your landscaping, you could be looking at pricing between $50 and $10,000+.

Now, if you want to simply update your landscaping, you may be able to salvage some of your existing plants and flowers. The good news is you’ll save time and money on an entire redesign and labor. We recommend hiring a professional lawn care and landscape professional to handle all the heavy lifting for you, so the process is less overwhelming.

What Is Landscape Layering?

Enhancing your landscape is a combination of creativity and strategic planning. One of the processes you can utilize in landscape enhancement is landscape layering, which involves staggering mixed plants and trees in the foreground, middle-ground, and background to create a full and unique look.

Some of the important design principles to remember when landscape layering are:

• Scale – When we talk about scale in landscaping, we’re referring to the size of the greenery in relation to the surroundings.
• Depth – Depth involves the positioning of your landscape elements. Traditionally, you’ll want to install larger plants and trees in the background and smaller elements in the foreground to create depth.
• Flow – Unity is a significant part of the flow of your landscape and can make your entire design feel disconnected when it’s lacking.
• Repetition – Repeating specific plant species isn’t a bad thing. In fact, it can create the flow and cohesion your design may be missing.

5 Pieces of Advice for Designing the Perfect Landscape

Advice 1: Account for Extra Maintenance

Consider how much maintenance is involved with the specific genus you choose before you go crazy transplanting all the shrubs, trees, bushes, and seasonal color you can get your hands on.

One of the mistakes you might make during landscape enhancement and sod installation is selecting components that require a lot of upkeep (when you lack the proper equipment and time to perform regular maintenance). This is a sure-fire way to end up redesigning your yard in the next few months to function better for your lifestyle.

We recommend drought-resistant plants if your schedule doesn’t allow for much gardening time to conserve water and avoid spending the better part of your day on landscape maintenance.

Advice 2: Plan Your Landscape Design Early

How often has an unplanned event or last-minute trip lived up to your highest expectations? Things may have gone off without a hitch, but you could have been considerably less stressed and overwhelmed if you had planned ahead.

We can’t stress enough the importance of planning landscape installation early. We don’t expect you to have a final plan before hiring our Gettysburg landscapers to help, but it’s always good to have an initial vision. A professional landscape designer considers topography, recommends landscaping elements, sketches the specifics, and performs preliminary evaluations before submitting the final plans to the property owner for approval.

Advice 3: Think About What Adds Value to Your Home

Well-designed landscaping can potentially add value to your home and give you a significant ROI (return on investment) at resale. In fact, a 2018 Remodeling Impact Report conducted by the National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP) found that landscape maintenance (100% ROI) and overall landscape upgrades (83% ROI) likely added property value. 55% of realtors have suggested performing lawn care services to sellers for a 237% ROI. Crazy, right? Don’t underestimate the value of exceptional landscaping and enhancements and what they can do for you financially.

Advice 4: Invest in Lawn Edging Services

Lawn edging creates more than visual interest for a yard. It also reduces erosion, provides a level of weed control, and creates a root barrier to keep grass from growing in unwanted areas. Achieving crisp edging requires manual and motorized equipment to help define tree and flower bed borders. Once you have the desired definition, you can incorporate rocks, stones, bricks, and other edging products for added curb appeal and protection.

Advice 5: Landscape Lighting Can Make a Huge Difference

Does your landscape completely disappear once the sun sets? The time and energy spent installing sod and designing a beautiful landscape are all for naught if you can’t see your vision come to life both day and night. Outdoor landscape lighting and garden lights can elevate your landscape’s appearance, illuminate walkways to void tripping hazards and accidents, and deter potential criminal activity.

The Best Advice from the Best Team of Landscapers in Gettysburg

Remember, The Grounds Guys of Gettysburg is always here to help when you need landscape recommendations and assistance with sod installation or landscape enhancements that add the missing pieces to your outdoor design. We’re proud to serve our community with reliable and competitively priced lawn care and landscape services.

Just call to get started and request a free estimate today.