Just when your commercial landscaping is winding down after the busy growing season, there’s good news: a few fall landscaping tasks can actually save you money.
What commercial property fall landscaping ideas are great for your budget? Dividing and transplanting perennials. Rejuvenation pruning. Planting pansies and violas. Properly winterizing your irrigation system.
Keep reading to learn more about budget-friendly landscaping ideas you can tend to now, including:
Transplanting some of your existing perennials is a win-win — it keeps your plants happy and healthy and creates new plants for your property for little expense.
The great thing about perennial plants like hosta, black-eyed Susan, daylily, and purple coneflower is they keep coming back, year after year, and they actually get bigger and more plentiful.
But after a few years, perennials need dividing and transplanting in order to keep thriving.
That means more plants to spread around your commercial property. These extra plants are free! The only expense is the time landscaping crews need to properly transplant them, making this among the smartest budget-friendly landscaping ideas.
And fall is the perfect time to transplant perennials here in Maryland, Washington D.C. and Virginia.
Why add this to your commercial property fall landscaping list?
Bonus: dividing perennials in the fall saves you money on irrigation costs. There’s more rainfall, so you get free watering from nature. And there’s plenty of time for plant roots to get established before the hot, dry summer. When you plant in the spring there’s less time for plants to settle in before the hot weather, so you’ll need to water those new plants more.
Rejuvenation pruning is a great addition to your commercial property fall landscaping, saving you money by giving struggling shrubs an energizing boost.
Rejuvenation pruning is the removal of old, overgrown limbs so that your shrubs can grow new, vigorous branches in their place.
Instead of light trimming, crews remove about one third of the shrub.
It sounds extreme, but it’s actually good for the shrub. This allows it to grow back thicker and healthier and it will look better, too, especially if you have shrubs with thinning areas or dead spots.
How does this save money? You can keep the shrubs you have instead of replacing them.
Also, shrubs often need replacing because they grow too big for their spot, obstructing views or growing over walkways or windows.
Rejuvenation pruning helps control their size so they can continue to thrive and you won’t have to replace them. It’s a great addition to your seasonal commercial property landscaping plan. Timing is important here. This type of pruning happens in late fall, so Level Green crews tackle the task in November and December.
Your commercial property’s irrigation system needs crucial attention before the winter chill moves in, or you’ll be facing expensive repairs in the spring.
Winterizing irrigation is critical here in the Mid-Atlantic, where freezing temperatures can quickly destroy an irrigation system that wasn’t properly winterized. It’s a must-do task as part of your
commercial property fall landscaping.
It’s crucial to remove all the water out of your system’s pipes, valves and sprinkler heads. If water accumulates, freezes and expands, your pipes break.
Even if you’ve drained the water out of your irrigation system, some water remains and can freeze, expand, and crack the pipes.
Irrigation pros have the right equipment to ensure every last bit of water is blown out of your system.
Actually, lots of things can go wrong with your irrigation system if you don’t have it winterized, from cracked valves to a broken manifold to a ruined backflow device.
When to do this important task? It's a tricky balance. We want to make sure plants and fall flowers are getting the water they need, but if we wait until December we can put the irrigation system at risk.
Here at Level Green we generally start winterizations in late October and plan to finish them by November just in case we get an early freeze.
A pro should also inspect your irrigation system one last time before winter. If it needs minor repairs, they can tackle the job now, so your irrigation system is ready once spring arrives.
And if there are any major repairs needed, it’s best to find out now, so you can include it in your next budget.
Pansies, violas, and panolas (a cross between the two) are fall favorite flowers available in a rainbow of colors. They’re also high on the list of budget-friendly landscaping ideas.
How do they save you money?
Plant these pretty flowers in the fall and they brighten your commercial property right up through frost. Then, when spring arrives, they bounce back, continuing to add color and cheer until your summer flowers are installed.
Pay for them once, and enjoy them for two seasons, for smart and affordable fall commercial landscaping.
Yes, fall signals the end of the most active growing season, but it’s a great time for a few smart strategies to help your landscaping budget.
Act now, save later. We’d love to help.
At Level Green Landscaping we provide commercial landscape maintenance services in Washington D.C., Maryland and Virginia. Our clients include commercial, office, mixed-use, retail, HOA, condominium, municipality and institution properties.
We’d love to hear from you. Call us at 202-544-0968, or request a free consultation online to keep your commercial property looking great.