8 Commercial Landscaping Ideas and Trends for Washington DC

How trendy are you?

Do you have a dog park, a fire pit, and permeable pavers? 

No? Let’s try again.

Do you have a mini golf course, a green roof, and robot lawn mowers?

No? Hmmm. Let’s get to work boosting your property’s commercial landscaping trends. 

Check out these popular landscaping ideas for commercial properties:

1. Bustling Community Hot Spots

Property managers at every place from shopping centers to mixed-use developments are encouraging people to gather around. 

These green and welcoming community gathering spots feature fresh sod lawns, stage areas, and planting beds packed with cheerful plants and flowers. At night, twinkling lights sparkle overhead.

What happens here? All kinds of stuff: Farmers markets. Family movie nights. Outdoor fitness classes. Lawn games. Live music and comedy. Wine tastings. Art classes. 

The goal: attract as many people as possible. The more people milling about having fun, the easier it is to attract tenants. It makes a property more desirable, to shoppers and tenants, making these lively spots popular for commercial landscaping in Washington DC. 

People will come for the events, then stay to shop, dine, and spend.

2. Fun and Games

Another landscaping trend, bring on the fun. You’ll see more fun spots where shoppers, residents, and tenants can take a break to play corn hole, bocce ball, or mini golf at shopping centers, high-end apartments, and mixed-use developments.

Grown-ups love to play, too, so bring on the putting green, a chance to set workday worries aside and have a little fun.

These game spots invite lingering and work up a thirst, which means more time spent at your coffee shops, restaurants, and bars.

3. Sustainability and Green Initiatives

Going green is here to stay. Sustainable features are huge in commercial landscaping in Washington DC, from permeable pavers that redirect stormwater to rain gardens that filter oil, grease, and other pollutants before slowly releasing the cleaner water into the water table. 

Green roofs provide a lush, relaxing space in the midst of urban bustle, but they also absorb rainwater, provide insulation, create a habitat for wildlife, and even help to lower urban air temperatures.

Green roofs are especially beneficial in cities like Washington DC, where so much area is taken up by rooftops.

4. Going to the Dogs 

Dog parks are a great commercial landscaping idea. Dog ownership has always been big, but during the pandemic even more homeowners brought home furry friends to love.

It means more places than ever are dog friendly, offering fun and convenience for pets and their owners.

Dog parks are popping up at mixed-use developments and HOAs, where furry friends find a welcoming open space to run, romp, and sniff the butts of new pals, as well as water stations and toys.

A couple nice additions: benches where dog owners can relax while their dogs play, and a high/low water fountain so both people and dogs can get a drink.

Many include jungle-gym type set-ups for the dogs to play on.

Installing waste stations is a nice touch, making it convenient to dispose of waste.

5. Planters That Pack a Punch

Planters are big. Literally.

Everybody wants bold, oversized pots packed with unique, intriguing blooms that are outside the norm. It’s among the top commercial landscaping trends in Washington DC. 

A mixed-use community can have as many as 200 or more big planters. 

Think tropical-themed planters featuring exotic palms, colorful coleus, bright begonias, striking blue ageratum, and new varieties of salvia in fuchsia and midnight blue. 
Instagram-worthy, they’re designed to wow.

6. Fire Features

More and more, property managers realize the fun doesn’t stop after dark. In fact, it gets better.

Fire pits are having a moment, showing up all over the place as among the hot landscaping ideas for commercial properties. 

People love celebrating the after-hours ambience with a flickering fire pit. Surround it with seating, add some festive string lights and watch people show up. 

Then, pile on events featuring toasty s’mores, simmering cocoa, seasonal cider or wine tastings. Add a big screen for fireside movies.

Instant hot spot.

7. Technology Tops Commercial Landscaping Trends

Technology is a hot topic when it comes to commercial landscaping trends in Washington DC, as innovations continue to streamline the landscaping industry. 

Robotic mowers bustle around the lawn completely on their own, running on a battery charge quietly, efficiently mowing the lawn. Their reduced noise and zero emissions are a big bonus for the environment and allow human crews to focus on details like pruning, trimming, and weeding. 

Smart moisture sensors tucked into your planter’s’ soil tell us instantly — from miles away — the moisture content of your plants’ soil. That allows us to see in real time what the moisture level is on all of our sites, so we’re not sending crews to places that don’t really need watering, but making sure they go to the sites that do.

8. Green Walls

Walls of greenery inside corporate campus buildings are an increasingly popular commercial landscaping idea. 

These impressive features go way beyond a few houseplants. You might see a striking bamboo garden, towering 30 feet tall. 

People remember that.

Need Innovative Commercial Landscaping Ideas? Trust Level Green

The first step to jumping on the latest commercial landscaping trends is finding the right landscaping company to hire.

At Level Green Landscaping, our mission is to help you create a beautiful, functional landscape perfectly suited to your property. 

Our experienced team can install multi-use entertainment areas, dog parks, rooftop gardens, green roofs, and more to enhance your property, incorporating the most innovative commercial landscaping trends in Washington DC. 

And once everything is finished, we can keep it looking fresh with regular commercial landscape maintenance services, from turf care to seasonal flower rotations to water-saving irrigation maintenance. 

If you’re not already a Level Green Landscaping client, we’d love to add you to our growing list of happy customers.

Our focus is on commercial properties like offices, mixed-use sites, HOAs, municipalities and institutions in Maryland, Washington DC and parts of Virginia.

Contact us at 202-544-0968.

You can also request a free consultation online to meet with us one-on-one.

We’d love to hear from you.