Managing and maintaining the commercial grounds on any type of Northeast Ohio site – educational facility, office park, hospital, or retail center – can be a daunting experience for any facility manager. 

You have to keep the indoor areas intact amidst the constant comings and goings of vehicle and foot traffic. You also have to ensure your property looks attractive and professional to maintain your business image and reputation in the local community. 

But when it comes to your landscaping and lawn care, knowing exactly what to do to improve your property appearance and keep plants and trees healthy so they continue working positively for your property can be challenging. How can you add the right plants that work for your site’s specific conditions? What features will your tenants and visitors appreciate and use most? What will attract people to your site versus deter them? On top of that, you have to keep liability concerns to a minimum, which means keeping walkways maintained, snow and ice cleared, and dead or weak tree branches trimmed to avoid trips, falls, or accidents. 

After all, an exterior that is not cared for or a property that lacks any real landscape design can send warning messages to tenants and visitors that say, “Stay away.” And that’s not the image you want to project. Overgrown plants, a lawn full of weeds, no color, and a general lack of consideration for the outdoor appearance can make anyone passing by wonder how bad the inside looks. 

In fact, a University of Washington report said commercial properties that maintained landscaping can bring in 7% more in rental revenue. Shoppers desire to spend up to 12% more in retail facilities with professional landscaping, as well. And the resale value of your commercial site increases by 14% with well-designed and well-maintained landscaping, according to the Florida Nursery Growers and Landscape Association. 

In this guide, we’ll review some common landscaping and lawn care strategies for Northeast Ohio properties that take them to the next level and ensure a professional, positive, aesthetically pleasing image, as well as a safe and secure site that draws people in and encourages them to stay awhile.

Choose & Install the Right Trees, Shrubs & Plants

Planting annuals, perennials, trees, and shrubs on your commercial property in Northeast Ohio can bring your site instant curb appeal, welcome employees and guests, improve its overall appearance, and enhance safety by deterring criminals. 

But you can’t just pick any plants and place them anywhere you want. You have to choose the right plants for the specific conditions in various areas of your property, and you must pair the plants together for a cohesive and consistent look. If you avoid this step, you could end up with plants that don’t perform well and end up costing you more money down the road in excess care and replacement costs. 

You also want to consider plants’ future growth when installing them in your commercial landscape. This way, you plant them with room to grow so they don’t outgrow their space. 

You also want to think about safety on your commercial site when planting. You never want to block vehicle sight lines at entrances or exits, interfere with pedestrian traffic, block security cameras or safety lights, impede overhead wires or add convenient hiding spots for intruders near entryways. 

Finally, always consider boosting curb appeal when you install plant material on your commercial site. Do this by partnering plants that bloom during different seasons, accenting certain high-traffic areas, and mixing plants in various colors, sizes, and textures that work together for show-stopping, multi-seasonal interest.

Now that you know where to place your plants, you want to choose the right ones for the job. 

How to Pick the Right Plants

Choosing the right perennials, trees, and shrubs can mean all the difference in a great-looking commercial property. 

There are quite a few things to consider when choosing plants. Among them are sun and shade exposure, soil conditions, maintenance preferences, traffic patterns, drainage and irrigation availability, plant growth habits, fruit or flowering characteristics, your facility’s goals, and color needs. 

These are some of the top-performing trees, shrubs, and perennials in Northeast Ohio commercial landscapes, some of which are native species and adaptable to Ohio weather conditions. 

Best Trees for Northeast Ohio Commercial Landscapes

Turfscape recommends these 5 trees to bring great visual appeal, and low-maintenance variety to your Northeast Ohio commercial facility.  

1. American Hornbeam – This low-maintenance addition to your commercial landscape brings golden yellow blossoms in early July on a frame that can reach 20 to 40 feet tall with a 20- to 30-foot spread. After blooming, large, attractive seed pods go from pale green to brown and hang on the tree through winter. This low-canopy tree likes full sun and adapts readily to poor soils or dry areas. With a gray-brown bark and brilliant orange-yellow autumn color, this is a multipurpose tree that delivers something unique during every season. 
2. ‘Autumn Blaze’ Maple – The ‘Autumn Blaze’ maple tree, which is technically a hybrid between silver and red maple, is well-known for its vibrant, long-lasting, scarlet autumn color. This tree gets its fall color and strength from the red maple and its fast-growing tendencies from the silver maple. Plant as a shade or accent tree in full sun for the best color. In winter, ‘Autumn Blaze’ brings some interest with its attractive, upright, oval shape.
3. Thornless Hawthorn – This specimen tree offers dense foliage, so it can be used as a screen in an outdoor seating area, and you don’t have to worry about thorns being a safety hazard. In spring, this tree is covered in white flowers, and in fall showy red fruit and bright orange autumn foliage steal the show. Give this 30-foot-by-30-foot tree full sunlight and it will adapt well on your commercial site.
4. Littleleaf Linden -- The littleleaf linden forms a tight pyramid with fragrant yellow flowers in early summer when few other trees bloom. Its heart-shaped leaves are dark green during the growing season and turn a gorgeous yellow in autumn. It can reach 50 feet tall with a 30-foot spread. This tree enjoys full sun and will tolerate city pollution and drought.
5. Thornless Honeylocust -- This popular shade tree is highly valued for its fern-like leaf, which casts a delicate dappled shade on the ground beneath it. Offering green foliage throughout the growing season, then a golden yellow in autumn, this tree offers an upright spreading growth habit. It’s also deer-resistant and grows to 50 feet tall with a 50-foot spread. For the best appearance, plant in full sun.

Best Shrubs for Northeast Ohio Commercial Landscapes

Turfscape recommends these 5 shrubs to add texture and interest to your Northeast Ohio commercial facility.  

1. Boxwood – This shrub is attractive, dense, and easy to trim. Small, round leaves remain green throughout the year. This low-maintenance shrub has a fine texture and rounded form. In full sun or partial shade, boxwood grows to 15 feet tall and wide. Also, deer tend to avoid it in favor of other tastier options.
2. Burning Bush – This popular landscape shrub stays nicely shaped and attractive all year, but then comes to life in the fall with vibrant red foliage. This shrub can reach 4 to 8 feet tall and wide, making it a perfect focal point or hedge when used in larger numbers.
3. Yew – This easy-to-grow evergreen shrub has attractive, dark, glossy green foliage and a dense, busy growth habit all year long. Disease-resistant and tolerant of trimming, these shrubs can grow 3 to 12 feet high and 3 to 6 feet wide. They can make great hedges, foundations or border plantings, or even screens.
4. Red Twig Dogwood – Rich variegated leaves and white flower clusters on a 6- to 12-foot high and wide base twinkle in the summer sun and then turn maroon in fall on this Ohio native plant. In the snowy Northeast Ohio winter, its red branches are attractive against the white backdrop. Pea-sized white berries are great food for birds, and this shrub is deer resistant. 
5. Virginia Sweetspire – This 3-foot by 5-foot shrub features long narrow sweeps of white flowers in early summer and reddish-purple fall color. This dense shrub is fragrant and performs well in full sun and full shade. Virginia sweetspire can even tolerate dry conditions and is deer resistant, as well as being tolerant of different soil types and urban pollution. 

Best Perennials for Northeast Ohio Commercial Landscapes

Turfscape recommends these 3 perennials to add some color and appeal to your Northeast Ohio commercial site.  

1. Coral Bells – There are so many varieties of deer-resistant foliage colors available with coral bells, ranging from peachy-gold to reddish-magenta to deep plum. These plants boast dainty spikes of cream-colored bells that rise up from compact mounds in summer. Keep the soil evenly moist in summer for healthy plants.
2. Coneflower – These mid-to-late-summer blooming flowers pack a colorful punch, while also attracting butterflies and deterring deer. They love full sun and are relatively easy to grow, ranging in color from pink to purple.
3. Phlox – Creeping phlox can give your commercial property a colorful spring display with soft pastel hues of pink, white, blue, and purple. Growing phlox in a rocky area or in tough soil conditions provides your commercial property with a carefree ground cover. The fragrant, five-petal flowers attract butterflies and other pollinators. 

Best Ornamental Grasses for Northeast Ohio Commercial Landscapes

Turfscape suggests these 3 perennials to add some color and appeal to your Northeast Ohio commercial site.  

1. Little Bluestem – This clump-forming, ornamental grass is prized for its blue-green leaf color and upright form. Providing excellent color all season long, it creates the perfect backdrop for flowers and excels in dry soils. Little bluestem can grow to a height of 3 feet by autumn when it turns a striking reddish-bronze with tufted seed heads.
2. Karl Foerster Reed Grass – This grass boasts tan seed heads that wave in the breeze atop bright green plumes. It loves sun and shade and is tolerant of high-traffic areas and urban locations. Growing to 5 feet with a spread of 32 inches, dramatic reddish-copper plumes can be eye-catching in summer.
3. Maiden Grass – Maiden grass can be used in a hedge or mass planting. It has silverish seed heads that appear at grass tops beginning in early autumn and lasting to winter. Foliage goes from green to striped with white to yellow-striped, while stems turn bright red in fall.

 

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Embrace Seasonal Color

Once you have your perennials, shrubs, grasses, and trees in place, you have to think about high-impact colors. 

Bright, bold annual plant displays on Northeast Ohio commercial properties can give a facility new interest as each season arrives. They surprise visitors with bright blooms, keeping your property's aesthetics fresh. 

Try these tips for seasonal color success. 

1. Adopt a proactive planting approach to refresh color seasonally. In Northeast Ohio, this means installing spring annual displays in March or April, summer annual displays in May or June, and fall annual displays in September and October. 
2. Conduct proper seasonal color care by adding a thin layer of mulch to retain soil moisture, maintain soil temperatures, and keep weeds at bay. Water new flowers thoroughly and make sure they receive supplemental irrigation through the season, particularly if rainfall is limited.
3. Take advantage of early spring in Northeast Ohio by planting bulbs along with spring annuals to be one of the first commercial properties in the area to bring color back after a long Northeast Ohio winter. Try tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, pansies, and violas. 
4. Don’t forget autumn – another great time for unique, rich colors. Embrace warm shades from mums, ornamental kale, ornamental peppers, flowering kale, pansies, purple fountain grass, and sweet potato vines. 
5. Locate seasonal colors where you want to draw eyeballs and invite people in, such as around signage, near focal points, at entrances, and in gathering or common areas. 
6. Include seasonal color during events to add extra color, visual interest, and polish when you have numerous eyeballs at your site. 

 

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Use Mulch to Improve Your Commercial Property Appearance 

Nothing polishes up your perennials, ornamental grasses, shrubs, and trees like a fresh layer of mulch. 

Mulch dresses up the area by giving it a neat and tidy appearance, but it also does a bit more than that. Mulch helps your soil retain moisture, suppresses weed growth in your landscape beds, acts as a great insulator to keep temperatures consistent, and even improves your soil by adding nutrients as it breaks down. 

Here are tips for perfecting mulch installation on your Northeast Ohio commercial property and avoiding common mulching mistakes. 

1. Replenish mulch annually to ensure it continues offering your commercial property its many benefits and looks fresh. 
2. Prep the landscape beds prior to mulching on your commercial property. First, mix up the old mulch before adding fresh mulch. Next, pull weeds before mulching to remove them from your landscape beds.
3. Opt for double-shredded hardwood mulch because it’s the best for improving the soil. It comes in brown, which is the most popular color, as well as black.
4. Apply mulch at a depth of 2 to 4 inches annually. More is not better in this case. Never over-mulch around tree trunks or you could promote decay. 

 

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Consider Dormant Pruning

Caring for your trees is important since you can’t ignore their health or they won’t continue to provide you with all the benefits of great aesthetics, fresh air, soil stabilization, and carbon sequestration. 

Part of proper tree care is regular pruning, which eliminates dead, dying, weak, or broken branches. But dormant pruning is another level of pruning that can help your plants and trees thrive.

In Northeast Ohio, dormant pruning trims your deciduous plants during dormancy. This means timing trimming after summer growth is over, autumn leaves have dropped, and multiple days of cold temperatures have passed. This also means conducting pruning before any new growth emerges from trees in early spring. 

Why is dormant pruning so beneficial for your commercial property? It does a number of things for you.

1. Dormant Pruning Makes Trimming Trees Easier. When all of the leaves have fallen off your deciduous trees, it’s easier to see what you’re doing. This makes broken, dead, and dying branches easier to see. It also highlights crossing branch structures and any other issues so you can prune them appropriately. 
2. Dormant Pruning Improves Tree Health. Dormant pruning in Ohio causes less stress on the plant and allows for robust new growth the following spring.
3. Dormant Pruning Improves the Curb Appeal of Your Commercial Landscape. By doing a thorough pruning during winter, you instantly improve the overall look of your commercial landscape. 
4. Dormant Pruning Reduces Pest and Disease Infestations. Pruning creates small wounds in your trees that need time to heal. When you dormant prune in winter, insects and diseases don’t have a chance to take advantage of those open wounds. 
5. Dormant Pruning Improves Safety on Your Site. Northeast Ohio winters can be tough. When winds are high or heavy snowfalls, weak or dying branches are more likely to fall. Dormant pruning removes these risks, amplifying safety on your property. 

 

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Don’t Neglect Lawn Care

Whether your lawn makes up a considerable amount of your commercial property or a minor one, you don’t want to ignore its care. 

In addition to proper mowing and fertilization, annual aeration and overseeding is a key parts of reducing soil compaction and keeping your grass thick and healthy. 

Aeration and overseeding do more for your commercial site than you think. Consider these major benefits.

1. Aeration takes care of soil compaction, reducing it in your lawn. This enables your lawn’s roots to take up more water, oxygen, and nutrients to ensure healthy growth and a better appearance. 
2. Aeration cuts down on thatch, which is the accumulation of grass stems and roots. Excessive thatch creates a grass environment that is favorable to pests and disease.
3. Aeration boosts seed germination. When you overseed after aeration, the turf seeds germinate more easily in aerator holes, giving them a better chance of taking root. 
4. Overseeding is the process of adding new grass seed to fill in bare or thin areas and thicken existing turf. 
5. Aeration and overseeding can aid in reducing weeds. Opportunistic weeds germinate in areas where they can be successful, such as bare or open areas. The best defense against weeds is a thick lawn.
6. Aeration and overseeding immediately improve your lawn’s current appearance. Seed germination occurs in approximately 7 to 10 days.

 

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Consider Spring & Fall Cleanups 

Spring and fall cleanups are ways to help your Northeast Ohio commercial property transition through seasons, preparing it for the extremes of summer’s heat and winter’s cold. 

When you have an agreement with a commercial landscape maintenance service provider, these services come standard. 

Each cleanup comes with some important tasks.

1. Leaf Removal. Whether it’s early spring or fall, leaves can be a problem. They blow around, drop from trees, and can be a challenge to keep up with. Raking them up or blowing them off the lawn can keep the property looking tidy. This is especially true in early spring when leaves left lying on your lawn care cause snow mold and bare spots in your grass that can become unsightly. 
2. Debris Pickup. In addition to leaves, your commercial property can collect trash, sticks, and twigs. Trash patrol is an important service to keep lawn areas, landscape beds, and hardscape surfaces clean
3. Lawn Check and Repair. Each cleanup also means looking at the overall appearance of your lawn. Check for unsightly spots, salt damage, drought impacts, and areas that need renovation. Also conduct proper spring and fall fertilization, as well as aeration and overseeding services in autumn. 
4. Bed Cleanup. Weed management in landscape beds is another key cleanup task. In spring, this means applying a bed pre-emergent herbicide to prevent weed germination of those early spring weeds. Cutting back ornamental grasses, bed edging, and debris management are also parts of tidying beds. 

 

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Secure Snow & Ice Removal Services

Securing commercial property snow and ice removal services before the season starts is important so your site is ready for whatever weather Old Man Winter delivers. Since in Northeast Ohio, we never know what kind of winter we’re going to get, planning ahead is crucial. 

When seeking a snow and ice clearance services provider, remember to ask a lot of questions to get a sense of their service offerings, contract options, pricing, and communication style. Having options is essential for a Northeast Ohio winter. Because winters change so much here, you need a partner that stays ahead of weather patterns and communicates with you to keep you abreast of what’s going on at your property. 

Use these tips to maximize your snow and ice management service relationship and keep your property safe during the coldest months. 

Understand Your Snow Removal Service Choices

Many of the commercial snow removal companies in Northeast Ohio offer two options for snow and ice management services: seasonal and per occurrence. 

A seasonal service, which is sometimes called all-inclusive, is one where you pay a fixed, monthly rate for four months. And no matter how many snow and ice events occur, your property is covered by your commercial snow removal services provider.

A per-occurrence service means that you pay each time your professional commercial snow and ice management company plows or salts your property. You can specify how deep the snow should get before the company plows – usually, this is 2 inches of accumulation, but a 1-inch snow depth is also possible, especially if your commercial property has high traffic and must eliminate safety hazards at all times. 

If you’re looking for another option, some companies like Turfscape offer a combination of the two service types to fit your specific needs and budget. For example, maybe you need an all-inclusive contract for snow removal but would like to limit salting to just those occurrences versus in-between plowing. Then a combination option would be best for you. 

Build a Solid Relationship With Your Snow Removal Company

Start by being open with your commercial snow and ice service provider about the requirements of your property and your service expectations. 

The relationship is a two-way street, so your service provider should be asking you questions to understand your property’s traffic flow patterns, as well as gain an understanding of your busy areas and hectic times of the day. This can help determine the snow and ice management service package that would best suit you. 

You want to know in the middle of the night when a snowstorm hits that your property will be taken care of. You don’t want to have to spend hours awake trying to reach your snow care professional when Mother Nature predicts the worst. You need to work with someone who removes these headaches for you. 

Consider Unique Options For Your Site

Snow and ice are known to be heavy as it accumulates. It requires the right equipment for removal. 

If you have a large commercial site, for instance, you may want to negotiate the storage of large equipment on your property to save time from transporting the equipment and make snow removal easier. 

You can also have a large bin or loader full of salt kept on your site for melting ice. 

You might also require some services during winter. Say, for instance, the snow piles get extremely high during a particularly nasty winter. This might require a dump truck and loader to remove it. Or maybe ice gets so thick, it won’t melt quickly. Hand-chipping may be necessary. 

Ask your service provider for the costs for these extra services in case you think you might need them on your property. 

Think About Signing a Multi-Year Contract

Like anything else, commercial snow and ice management pricing can vary from year to year. 

Signing a multi-year contract with a service provider you trust can help control your costs by limiting year-to-year increases. 

 

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Place a High Priority on Safety

While you may have an attractive Northeast Ohio commercial property, you must also have a safe and secure site to ensure everyone who enters it feels comfortable. 

Try these ways to make your property feel safer.

1. Tree & Shrub Care. Trees and shrubs add height, texture, greenery, and seasonal interest to your commercial property. But just like other plants, they require maintenance. Overgrown shrubs and drooping branches can become hazards, falling and causing property damage. Regular pruning can make your facility more secure. 
2. Water Management. Drainage on your site can become a problem when it’s not working properly. Water can damage buildings on your property and turn to ice on your walkways, causing flooding, slippery surfaces, mold, or pests. Solutions like retention or detention ponds, bioswales, and proper grading can help. In the same way, managing your irrigation system is important to ensure it’s targeting plant roots and not leaking or causing water issues. 
3. Snow & Ice Management. Keeping your parking lots, sidewalks, walkways, entryways, and steps free of ice and snow helps ensure slip-free surfaces. 
4. Entryway and Signage Maintenance. People can’t get to your site if they can’t find their way. Trim trees and shrubs to keep signage clear, add colorful blooms to draw positive attention, and maintain your landscape beds and containers to ensure attractive and safe entryways. Also, enhance signage landscaping to boost visibility and impact, as well as make it clear and easy to read. 

 

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Hire an Experienced Commercial Landscaping Company

You may find yourself looking at quite a few bids, detailing landscape maintenance plans for your commercial property.

You’ll notice no two contracts are worded the same, making this process challenging.

At the end of the day, you just want to hire a company that has the same high standards for quality work that you do. After all, the landscape firm you hire will be a partner -- an extension of your facility management team.

Here are some key things you should look for when choosing your commercial landscape service provider. 

1. Details Are Important. Commercial maintenance programs can vary greatly based on the size of your space, as well as the level of complexity involved. All of this can influence your costs.

When a landscape company estimates your project, multiple staff members should be spending between 100 to 500 hours on your property doing the preliminary work necessary to give you the best plan and price possible. 

Make sure potential landscape professionals know what’s most important to you and your commercial facility during this exploration process.

2. Your Commercial Landscape Pro is an Extension of Your Team. Whether your commercial facility is large enough to require a dedicated crew each day or the weekly presence of a landscape crew, your landscape team becomes an extension of your staff.

Your commercial facility has constant movement from vehicles and pedestrians throughout the day. Part of your landscaping service includes having a crew that is sensitive to things happening on your property. This includes turning off equipment when groups of people are passing by and cleaning off mowed areas to ensure the site remains tidy and reflects a positive presence.

3. Communication is Vital. The commercial landscape crew members who perform work on your facility are the most essential parts of keeping your site looking good and boosting your image.

By keeping in touch with you, you’re never left wondering what’s been done or not done. For example, Turfscape’s field managers attend weekly facility meetings to ensure they don’t miss anything important to commercial properties. The account manager also visits commercial sites weekly for quality control, while a supervisor or executive will visit quarterly to ensure things are running smoothly.

Secure the Right Partner 

As you compare the top commercial landscaping companies in Northeast Ohio, we hope you’ll consider Turfscape in your search. We started our business in 1988 with the goal of providing responsive commercial landscape services to the Northeast Ohio community. Our focus has always been and will always be on commercial landscaping because we believe maintaining that core focus makes us better.

These differentiators set us apart from the competition.

1. Our Employee Tenure. Advancement from within is a major focus of our core employment philosophy. That means the people in our management positions have all worked their way up from field crew members. Most of our managers are also landscape industry certified with a certified landscape technician or a certified landscape professional designation, as well as licensed in pesticide applications.

We firmly believe that when we take care of our commercial landscaping company team members, they take better care of our customers.

2. Our Team Takes Pride in Continuous Improvement. We believe maintaining employee training elevates our quality control and customer service, which we feel is important in every single commercial landscaping company job.

Every morning before each day starts, we do a morning huddle, discussing best practices, seasonal changes and tips, and safety reminders. Our account managers and field supervisors are also out in the field all day checking on crews, critiquing, and teaching service techniques.

3. Our Focus on Customer Communication. Communication is something facility managers appreciate. You don’t want to have to guess what was done or what’s going on or if something will be done on your property. That’s what you are hiring a professional for.

At Turfscape, we appreciate consistent and regular communication, too. That’s why we guarantee same-day communication with our customers. This doesn't always mean we can solve your problem in 24 hours, but we will text, email, or call you back, depending on your preference, and let you know we’re aware of your question or issue and that we’re working on it.

Internally, we take this communication piece very seriously as well. In our process, work is not marked complete until it’s communicated to the client as complete. Until we reach out to you and let you know a problem was resolved or a project is considered finished, it is not filed as complete in our office. This is to ensure that communication is not forgotten or neglected. We refer to this process as “closing the communication loop.”

We hope this property manager’s guide helps you better care for your Northeast Ohio commercial facility. If you’re seeking a service provider, we’d love to help you and learn more about your facility. Get started today with a free quote. We’ll review your options together so you can feel confident and make a great choice.