Top 6 Commercial Landscaping Trends for 2023

I have a question.

Say your air-conditioning unit broke down, so you are looking for a repair or replacement— whatever is necessary. Which HVAC company would you rather visit?

  • A building with a bare-faced, lackluster and bland entrance
  • A building that boasts a lush, green and vibrant entrance

Knowing the more visually appealing and inviting company doesn’t take a genius. This is where commercial landscaping comes in!

Landscaping for modern homes has always been a no-brainer for people looking to skyrocket their home’s value. But today, even businesses can benefit from the wonders of commercial landscaping services. With the competitive business landscape getting tighter by the hour, the cutthroat battle extends to their respective company’s aesthetic presentation.

Remember: customers will first encounter your store’s front entrance before interacting with your staff. In other words, the customer experience begins before they step foot in the building.

As such, commercial landscaping is more important today than ever. Whether you’re an entrepreneur or a landscaper looking for the latest trends in the industry, this article is for you. 

Discover the six best commercial landscaping trends in 2023 here!

What Does “Commercial Landscaping” Mean?

Commercial landscaping is the process of creating aesthetic outdoor business spaces. Like other outdoor landscape services, it covers the plan, design, installation, construction and maintenance of a business’s outdoor environment.

The rationale behind commercial landscaping services follows closely with residential landscaping: to increase a property’s aesthetic value. However, they vary in overall purpose and design.

With residential landscaping, homeowners may be after increasing the property’s market value or making the household more inviting for visitors. By increasing the market value, homeowners can increase the selling price. Conversely, an attractive abode gives visitors and guests an experience.

Commercial landscaping creates an eye-catching outdoor environment that enhances a business’s overall look and feel. As a result, you attract more clients and create a refreshing atmosphere for employees, increasing their productivity. Typically, companies ask their landscape professionals to lay out the landscape in a way that reflects the company’s values. This is in contrast to more homeowners who choose a rather homely design.

Overall, commercial landscaping boils down to one thing: getting more business.

Sometimes the smallest improvements can make the biggest differences. Who knows? Maybe commercial landscaping is the clincher that decides which business dominates an industry. Entrepreneurs can leverage the power of commercial landscaping to stay ahead of their competitors.

Here’s a question for landscapers: how do you convince business owners to take you up on commercial landscaping? Simple. Through effective, compelling and tried-and-tested marketing practices.

Landscape Marketing Hero can help market your offers to companies needing aesthetic sprucing. Book a call, and let’s discuss how we can make your business known!

What are the Commercial Landscaping Trends for 2023_What are the Commercial Landscaping Trends for 2023?

Landscaping is an ever-evolving industry, so the landscape trends in 2021 may not apply today. Too often, unacquainted people box the landscaping concept with planting modern plants in the front yard. However, current trends in outdoor design suggest otherwise.

Commercial landscaping is a significant and expensive investment this year. As such, it is crucial for business owners to understand the value they are getting from landscape services. Educating entrepreneurs on modern commercial landscaping is vital to motivating them to hire your services. That’s what this article offers to bring you.

All things considered, here are the modern and trendy commercial landscaping ideas we curated for 2023:

Greener Business Entrance

First impressions last. There are no do-overs when you manage to mess up the first time a customer steps foot into your place of business. Customers make their first impression the moment they stop at your company’s driveway and walk towards your entrance door. That is precisely why businesses are looking to create a greener entrance.

Think about it.

If you are a customer, you would think a company is serious about its business when they have an immaculate landscape.

Having a greener business entrance is not literal. But most architectural designs leave harsh lines and angles that are psychologically off-putting. You balance out these sharp designs and sloppy areas by installing the right plants, trees and foliage.

Plants and trees show that you’re not purely business-oriented; environmental sustainability is also part of your resume. More importantly, customers who observe these lush greens acquire an unexplainable sense of comfort, softening them up for your offers. Ultimately, nudging prospects into full-fledged buyers becomes the inevitable outcome.

Xeriscaping for Low-Maintenance Landscaping

Xeriscaping is a commercial landscape design practice that minimizes or eliminates the need for irrigation. This low-maintenance yet modern front yard landscaping method began turning heads in 2020. But it continues to prove its importance in 2023.

Allow me to explain why.

The current administration is making huge strides toward sustainability. One example is the administration’s controversial recommendation to replace gas stoves with electric heating units. While a far-fetched example, it only demonstrates the call for sustainability— xeriscaping falls into that sustainable category.

In xeriscaping, you create an outdoor landscape that features naturally occurring, drought-tolerant or native plants. These are plants that generally require little to no maintenance. In other words, you maintain a beautiful, rich, long-lasting landscape that requires less water than typical plants.

Some examples of xeriscaping plants include:

  • Agave
  • Lavender
  • Cacti
  • Yarrow
  • Ornamental grasses
  • Sage
  • Juniper
  • Thyme
  • Sage
  • Oregano

These are only a few examples, but entrepreneurs can choose from a vast selection of plants.

Xeriscaping pairs perfectly with smart irrigation systems and organic mulch to further control water consumption. As a result, a company saves water and money, contributing to environmental sustainability and benefiting its bottom line. 

Xeriscaping may be costly, but it is worth every penny, especially in the long run.

Functional outdoor space designFunctional Outdoor Space Design

Ever since the pandemic, homeowners and workplaces alike took a time out from enjoying the great outdoors. Two years have passed, and it remains the trend in some households and commercial buildings. However, for companies who are over the coronavirus scare, aesthetic outdoor space design should become the norm.

People are beginning to reinvigorate their love for outdoor living spaces. Creating aesthetic outdoor space design is more than aesthetic appeal. It covers much more aspects like functionality, comfort and recreation. In other words, outdoor commercial landscaping should be helpful for employees, customers and onlookers alike.

A functional outdoor space design adds a layer of usefulness to outdoor spaces while increasing curb appeal. With an emphasis on both function and aesthetics, this type of commercial landscaping usually includes the following elements:

  • Visually pleasing and beneficial perennials like fruit-bearing trees
  • Xeriscaping plants
  • Comfortable seating areas and tables
  • Shading options like pergolas, awnings and umbrellas
  • Wide lawn for outdoor team-building activities
  • A recreational area like a basketball court

Outdoor living spaces should go beyond being mere eye candy. It should add a function for added value to everyone.

Demand for Practical and Functional Plants/Trees

In your quest to create an aesthetic slash functional landscape, your choice of greenery will play a significant role.

The demand for primarily beautiful plants reached its peak before the 2020 lockdown. The coronavirus pandemic shifted the trend dramatically from pure beauty to added functionality. Since then, people and businesses have participated in searching for functional and useful plants and perennials.

But here’s the thing: functionality does not mean excavating your property and turning it into an herb garden. You want plants and trees accenting the property’s looks while offering value. For instance, one popular commercial landscaping trend today is using immunity-boosting plants like aloe vera and chrysanthemum.

Some other examples include:

  • Transferring resilient and wind-resistant trees like maples, oaks, crepe myrtles and cypress. They have wide canopies offering well-needed shade on hot days and privacy screens. Moreover, their strong roots prevent them from quickly falling during strong winds and typhoons.
  • Planting wind-resistant hedges like silverberry, fragrant sumac and evergreen western junipers. While they cannot provide shade, you can use these beautiful hedges to direct traffic. They also make lovely walkways during the winter season!
  • Putting insect-repelling plants that drive away disease-carrying mosquitoes. Shrubs that repel insects can protect business owners and their customers from contracting germs and illnesses. Believe it or not, mosquitoes are also rampant across the United States.

For businesses with limited outdoor areas, functional and aesthetic greens are the best bet. While they may lack space, many shrubs and trees occupy minimal space. That means having the ability to add a splash of color that keeps the area looking lush and vibrant.

Lowkey Commercial Landscaping

Commercial landscaping is often expensive, but it can also be affordable for companies with a limited budget.

While having expensive rotundas or gazebos is fantastic, there are ways to make commercial landscaping more budget-friendly. Since 2021, more people have adopted a less is more mindset. This was when minimalism truly made its mark as an aesthetic standard. Even in 2023, the minimalism craze remains true.

Companies with limited budgets can opt for a minimalistic view that maintains its elegance and head-turning beauty. This will result in a welcoming and attractive landscape for significantly less.

Commonly, minimalistic landscapes involve transforming the lot into an aesthetic haven with fewer plants and trees. It’s all about using the right plants in the right places to create a stunning visual. At the same time, businesses can pair these with or use functional plants that keep their outdoor space low maintenance.

Will there be a vast difference compared with high-budget commercial landscaping? Most definitely. However, if the company’s core values point toward ‘less is more,’ this landscaping style fits right in.

Vertical Gardens

Vertical gardens go by many names: living green walls, plant walls and moss walls. While a popular commercial landscaping service, many do not offer this solution. But in 2023, it is one of the leading trends you could add to your arsenal of services.

Ground area for businesses is becoming increasingly scarce. With this area reduction, vertical gardens became the solution to bring more greenery with less spatial consumption. In other words, vertical gardens bank on efficiency.

However, even companies boasting large commercial areas can harness the beauty of vertical gardens.

The good thing is there’s no shortage of options regarding what plants and containers you can use. From annual vines to edible plants, the choices are practically endless. Plus, vertical gardening provides plenty of benefits, like increased air quality and reduced energy costs due to natural cooling.

With less real estate, you can dedicate the remaining commercial area to other vital structures.

The six commercial landscaping practices above should be front and center in your marketing and advertising. Adopting these popular trends gives you leverage over competitors stuck in traditional landscape designs.

The question is: how exactly can you obtain clients for your commercial landscaping endeavors? Continue reading below to find out!

How do Commercial Landscapers get Clients?

You can have the best and most revolutionary commercial landscaping ideas out there but fail miserably. Why? Because the absence of solid marketing puts any bright ideas behind the shadow of compelling advertising.

In this competitive industry, you have already lost the war to your competition if you are not visible. That said, here are ways customers can find out about your commercial landscaping business.

Referral Programs

In today’s business landscape, people often forego traditional marketing tactics for modern and digital strategies. However, traditional marketing still holds and will remain valid even in the coming years. And one of the most powerful conventional marketing strategies is referral programs.

People are more likely to believe a product or service when recommended by trusted friends or family. By utilizing the power of word-of-mouth, you uptick your business’s value in the eyes of leads and prospects. But even the most loyal customers will rarely do this for free. You can motivate them to broadcast your commercial landscaping business by incentivizing your existing customers.

For instance, one solution is offering discounts or free services for every new customer they bring in.

Social media communities

Social Media Communities

Social media is a collection of platforms where you can establish a strong presence, aligning with your brand.

One way to leverage social media is to create an active and highly engaging page. Actively entertaining comments and messages with relevant information increases your brand’s perceptual value. Moreover, posting informative content showcases your company’s authoritativeness and experience— two highly sought-after business qualities.

Doing the above leads to a band of loyal followers that can help you attract more customers.

Proper Branding

Strong branding is a principal driving force behind any successful business. It not only helps you to stand out among competitors, but you also increase brand recall and awareness.

Establishing a good and memorable brand is a combination of traditional and digital marketing practices. However, it is easier said than done. Every marketing effort should sync to strengthen branding, from creating fleet wraps to your company’s content marketing activities.

Landscaping Website

Just like landscaping serves as the gateway to commercial businesses, your website is also a gateway to your online presence. As such, your website can develop a client’s first impression of your business.

Launching an optimized landscaping website that contains every relevant information that customers need is important. Moreover, your website must be a repository of knowledge demonstrating your field expertise. Web design, functionality and user experience will all play respective roles too.

All of this plays a part in a holistic website experience. If your website needs some sprucing, seek the help of experts (us!).

Online Reviews

Finally, online reviews are the last source of commercial landscaping clients. Business reviews from Google-registered businesses are publicly available. Whatever’s written there will influence buyers on whether they must hire your services.

In other words, there is a ceiling to what marketing and advertising can bring your business. It still boils down to the quality of the actual services you render.

Here’s the thing: we know you are the authority on commercial landscaping. And we are confident that your business is unrivaled in terms of landscaping services. But how do you market and advertise your world-class offers to the world?

Unless you have tried-and-true marketing skills, we recommend seeking the pros of marketing. Otherwise, you will be wasting time and money in exchange for measly returns. Alternatively, we at Landscape Marketing Hero can help you take your marketing and advertising efforts to the next level.

Want to join the greats of the landscaping industry? Book a call and let’s make that happen.