Whether you’ve tried to maintain a landscape on your own in the past or you’ve always handed those services over to a pro, you probably know that a beautiful and well-maintained property doesn’t just happen.
The best landscapes require a tremendous amount of care, attention to detail, and even expertise over time. After all, your landscape is a living and evolving part of your home, so landscape maintenance has to be an ongoing effort.
In order to do so, you must maintain a thorough landscape maintenance schedule. But what exactly should be included in this?
While we wish it were true that all landscape maintenance companies took this responsibility seriously and offered (and included) a range of important services, this simply isn’t the case. In fact, the general attitude toward landscape maintenance in Bozeman and Big Sky, MT has more to do with just “keeping plants alive” than it does truly paying attention to what the property needs to look and perform its best.
The difference between the two is basically what you might think of as just landscape upkeep versus true landscape management (or what we like to call “Garden Services.”)
To help you have a better sense of what types of services should be offered and available, we’ve rounded up a list. But keep in mind that every property is unique and should be treated as such. At the end of the day, you want to find a landscape management company that creates a customized plan for your property.
What to Include in a Landscape Maintenance Plan?
Here are some ideas of what you might want to include in a landscape maintenance plan, depending upon your property’s specific needs.
Thorough Plant Bed Care
Your plant beds are such a vital part of your overall landscape. For that reason, you want to ensure that your landscape maintenance plan includes services to keep your plant beds in the best possible shape.
Of course, how a landscape maintenance company interprets “plant bed care” is important. As we mentioned, a lot of companies just think of it as “keeping plants alive.” However, it’s so much more than that.
You don’t want to choose a company that is doing the bare minimum.
Plant bed care might mean moving plant material around as the landscape evolves and changes over time. But a lot of companies will fail to do that. They’ll keep everything in its place, even if it begins to look less appealing.
A big difference in how we approach this (versus other companies) is that we believe that plant bed care should be proactive rather than reactive. In fact, that’s the philosophy that we take for these services in general.
The idea is to sustain the landscape and that often means enhancing it along the way. It’s important to recognize that plant beds are going to evolve as plants grow and change. It’s also essential to recognize that your wants and needs may evolve. All of that should be taken into account.
Pruning and Other Plant Care Services
The plants in your beds and around your Bozeman and Big Sky, MT property need lots of upkeep and care. While tending to plants is sometimes downplayed as a simple job, in reality it’s a bit more complex than people tend to realize.
Even something like pruning means knowing when to prune, where to make cuts, and what tools to prune. Without this knowledge, you could make an error that actually ruins your plant.
In addition, plants’ health can occasionally struggle and it’s important to have a landscape management company that will be keeping a watchful eye on your plant material so that they can spot problems early. If they are closely tending to your plants’ care, they’ll notice if something isn’t right and they’ll be able to fix it quickly.
However, if they are just sending in anyone (with no regard to experience or skills), they might not even be looking out for problems. That’s a big missed benefit of hiring a professional to be overseeing your property.
Actually, this is exactly why Blanchford Landscape Group has a strong emphasis on horticultural skills. We see ourselves as “property managers,” keeping a close eye on your landscape. And we know a lot about plant material. That’s a huge benefit to homeowners as they can truly feel confident that their landscape is in capable hands and being overseen by a pro.
Seasonal Container Gardens
Seasonal container gardens can be a beautiful and easy way to add color and interest to outdoor living spaces. Not only do the selected plants serve as an aesthetic addition, but so does the container itself. Plus, they can be changed at different times of the year to highlight seasonal interest.
We believe that a landscape maintenance plan should include both the design and creation of season container gardens as well as their care. Caring for container gardens certainly isn’t rocket science, but we’ve still found that simple mistakes can be made. It really boils down to understanding what your containers need to thrive.
Oftentimes, these tasks are also a hassle for homeowners. They take time and energy. Plus, many Bozeman and Big Sky, MT homes are vacation homes for their owners. The last thing they feel like doing when visiting is working.
Many of these folks hand container graden maintenance over to us so that their only task will be enjoying the results.
Wildlife Control Solutions
Protecting plants from animal damage should definitely be part of landscape maintenance in Bozeman and Big Sky, MT, where wildlife is abundant and frequently coming into contact with residential landscapes. You’ve invested in having a beautiful landscape so the last thing you want is for it to be damaged or even destroyed by deer, elk, or even moose which find their way onto your property.
Generally, the biggest problem is wildlife consuming your plant material. This is particularly problematic in the winter when their food sources are limited. But it’s not just animals eating your plants that can be a problem. When animals rub their antlers on your trees, they can strip away the bark and cause severe (sometimes irreversible) damage.
This is why it’s so important to implement solutions.
Unfortunately, this is not something that every landscape maintenance company pays attention to, at least routinely. They might assist you with a problem after the damage is already done. But again, we feel that the most important aspect of landscape maintenance is that it takes a proactive approach and wildlife control solutions are part of that.
Seasonal Clean-Ups
A strong landscape maintenance plan should also include seasonal cleanups as different times of the year will yield different needs.
In the fall, you might need leaf removal and debris clean-up added to your landscape maintenance plan. But in the spring, you may need to help your landscape recover from winter snowfall.
This is why it’s important that your landscape maintenance plan can be adapted to your specific needs (as well as the season). By choosing to work with a company that can adapt and customize their plan, you can ensure that your property will continue to look its best no matter what the time of year.
Native Plant Care
A great landscape maintenance company will also be able to offer you landscape care that is specialized for the native plant varieties on your property.
At Blanchford Landscape Group, we specialize in the installation and maintenance of wildflowers as part of our Garden Services division. Once established, these natural meadows provide unique beauty with relatively ongoing maintenance. But in the early days of their establishment, they will require some knowledgeable upkeep in order to help establish the new habitat on your property.
We also have extensive knowledge about native plants including how to care for them.
We believe that your landscape maintenance company should be able to offer this type of expertise.
Your Wise Choice in a Landscape Management Company
If you were to sum up what you were looking for in a landscape maintenance company, our guess is that “peace of mind” is at the top of your list. You just want to know that your property is getting everything it needs in order to keep looking its best.
You’re busy and you certainly don’t have time to do everything that your property needs to keep performing optimally. That’s why you want to be able to rely on a landscape maintenance company that treats “Garden Services” like property management. You want to be able to feel confident that your investment in your landscape will be protected—that things won’t start to go wrong and hurt your property value or detract from its beauty.
That means hiring a company that will go far beyond the ordinary tasks of landscape upkeep. It also means finding a company that will create a site-specific, customized plan for YOUR PROPERTY. Your landscape maintenance plan isn’t gong to look like everyone else’s as it will include tasks that your home needs.
At Blanchford Landscape Group, this is our exact approach. We understand the importance of landscape maintenance services as well as the fact that each and every property is unique. This is why we have an entire garden services division that is dedicated solely to the very tasks that we have described in this article.
Don’t let your landscape fall short of what it could be because you didn’t choose a company that provided subpar services that fell short of your needs. When it comes to creating and maintaining your landscape, you deserve the peace of mind that it’s not only going to continue to look fantastic but it’s also going to improve over time because it’s been so expertly cared for over the years. That’s exactly how it ought to be.
Are you ready to learn more about garden services (landscape maintenance) at your Bozeman or Big Sky, MT home? Let’s connect and talk about your needs. Then we can meet and review a detailed plan of action. With everything being handled for you, you’ll be able to relax and enjoy your landscape.
