There are few places in the United States with historical landscapes as rich and diversified as New England. Over the centuries since Europeans first set foot in the New World, the landscape has changed dramatically – from the pre-European open woodlands carefully maintained by the Native Americans to nurture biodiversity for food and shelter, to the thousands of miles of stonewalls and variety of cultivation of the early European settlers, to the recreational and residential landscapes of a growing middle and leisure class.

Today, virtually every New England community has landscapes connected to the past. Old farms from the 18^th and 19^th centuries, with their meadows, orchards, walls, and shade trees. Estates and facilities from the late 1800s featuring elegant drives and walkways, stately trees, and colorful gardens -- all elaborately designed to showcase the prosperity of the new industrial era.

With increasing environmental awareness there has also come a growing interest in preserving and conserving natural resources and landscapes. Wait a minute, you’re thinking, preserving and conserving? What’s the difference? The short answer is, plenty.

For many businesses located in regions that experience seasonal extremes, such as New England, landscape design for commercial properties can present a particularly vexing challenge. What’s the best way to design and maintain a landscape that can not only provide a vibrant, colorful environment during the summer months but also easily handle the snow loads and bleak conditions of winter that most commercial properties experience?

…and the answers to many other questions about this popular plant

Salvias are like that old childhood friend you still love to hang out with: easy-going, dependable, and undeterred by life’s ups and downs. Salvias are perhaps the easiest perennial, next to daylilies, that just about anyone can grow with success. There are so many amazing choices of Salvia that it’s hard to get bored by them.

If your property is in an environmentally-sensitive area, especially one that abuts a watershed resource, getting a landscaping project approved can be tricky. As we discussed in our previous blog posts about Mass DEP and local conservation commissions, there are a number of rules and regulations in place to protect the environment and community natural resources. In fact, local conservation commission by-laws can be stricter than state conservation guidelines. So what can you do to get your landscape project designed and approved with minimal hassle?

Commercial landscape design is much more than sticking some plants and mulch in front of a commercial building or storefront. For the smart business owner, a thoughtful, well-planned commercial landscape is a capital investment that yields long-term benefits in terms of community goodwill, positive customer relations, increased brand and business value, and even increased profitability.