While we are certainly better known for our award-winning residential designs, we are often asked to help design commercial and industrial landscapes as well. We are currently in design on this Paso Robles commercial site, in collaboration with our good friend and architect, Nick Gilman. The client’s primary goals for the project are to establish a low-maintenance, low water-use landscape that will complement the industrial aesthetic of the building’s architecture and provide some much-needed summer shade for the established parking areas.

We know from experience that commercial landscapes are not usually meant to be showy, and that they often find themselves neglected over time. As with any commercial design project, we started this project by establishing a bulletproof plant palette of long-lived trees, foundation shrubs, and groundcovers. Plant selections for commercial landscapes should always be sized appropriately to the planter area they will inhabit, taking into consideration the mature size of the species, thereby reducing maintenance requirements, and ensuring that even a neglected landscape will still look relatively well kept.

Tree selection can be especially important in commercial landscaping. Mature trees provide shade, seasonal interest, and scale to an otherwise nondescript site. This site will feature the consistent evergreen appeal of the seldom-used Holly Oak, alongside the deciduous Chinese Pistache and Raywood Ash trees. In fall, the deciduous trees will surely be the star of the show with their varying leaf color. In addition to the traditional landscape plans for this site, we have also developed a realistic 3-D model of the mature landscape, allowing the architect and owner to confidently ‘see into the future’ and appraise their tree and plant selections.

Altogether, this landscape is set to be colorful, dynamic, water-wise, and most importantly, easy to maintain. We’re excited to see this project break ground and come to life over the next year or so. If we can help you with an upcoming commercial landscape project, please be sure to reach out – [email protected] or give us a call at (805) 466-6263.