In fact, some of these methods have been covered on Total Landscape Care in the past. Whether it’s watching lawn care pros on Youtube, or reading books from the likes of David Mellor of Fenway Park, there are a lot of ways to find inspiration while developing your landscaping business.
Today, I wanted to talk about a great way to find inspiration for landscape designs by taking a look at five amazing landscape design blogs. You may find inspiration for your landscaping or lawn care business in these amazing blogs as well.
1) The Impatient Gardener
First on the list is The Impatient Gardener, a blog which is run by Erin of Southeastern Wisconsin. The blog is full of originality through and through. Whether it is methods for quickly planting bulbs with a power drill, or simply astounding and unique landscape designs, this blog covers it all. One of the coolest articles on Erin’s blog is Espalier Everywhere.
Now, if you think you don’t know what espalier is, neither did I, but chances are you have seen it before. Espalier is a method of pruning trees that makes them flat. It is often used to grow trees against walls in tight spaces. But when done right it is simply astounding!
2) By Design Landscapes
By Design Landscapes is one of many blogs across America which is owned and operated by a landscape design company. By Design Landscapes, Inc. is a landscape design company based in Lakewood, New Jersey. Their blog is not only an excellent showcase of their landscape design talents, it is also a place where they share their landscape design expertise with others.
One article which is really interesting is Stormwater Basin Remediation. Although I will likely never run into this issue myself, I really enjoyed learning how stormwater runoff is mediated on larger properties and commercial compounds. The process they went through to turn an overgrown area into a stormwater basin was pretty interesting to see.
3) Level Green Landscaping
Level Green Landscaping, based out of Washington, D.C. really goes above and beyond with their articles and content. One of my favorite sections on their site is their case studies. One of these case studies is Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative and Level Green.
In this article they talk about the challenges and their experience in general when it comes to maintaining the landscape of a 33-acre solar panel field. As you can imagine, cutting 33 acres is hard enough, but with 23,000 solar panels in the way, I can imagine it is a bit of a headache from time to time. Talk about a lot of weed whacking! According to their article, they have been able to cut down their crew size to only 7-8 workers to maintain this 33-acre lot. I don’t know about you, but a 33-acre solar panel lot is a pretty amazing goal to aspire to.
4) TLC Gardens
Not to be confused with Total Landscape Care, TLC Gardens is a landscaping company based out of Boulder, Colorado. They also love to write about landscaping too! As someone who recently moved to an area where I can’t find any bees to pollinate my squash this year, I really appreciate their article called The Butterfly Effect.
Seriously, we truly underestimate the value of our pollinators. In my experience, it is always important to keep them in mind as we develop our landscapes. Not only do we need them to help us grow food, they have great taste for beautiful plants!
5) Dirt Simple
Finally, I wanted to talk about Dirt Simple, a landscape design blog run by Deborah Silver & Co., based in Sylvan Lake, Michigan. As far as storytelling goes, this blog does an outstanding job at using pictures and words to tell a story. A great example of this is Pruning The Boxwood.
Now, quite honestly, I have never seen a better combination of photography and words to tell a story. It’s true that the article is about pruning boxwoods, which may be second nature to many of you. But, the way in which the Dirt Simple blog covers the topic is very interesting to see.
Finding your inspiration
It is important to stay motivated when it comes to your landscape or lawn care company. It is easy to lose motivation after 10 hours of mowing lawns or installing trees in the hot sun. Yet, it is crucial to stay motivated. Landscape design blogs are a great way to do just that!
Did I miss one of your favorite blogs? Share it with me on Twitter!
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article was written by Douglas Dedrick. Douglas is a landscaper with over a decade of landscaping experience, and currently operates his lawn care business Natural Landscape Designs in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. You can follow him on Twitter @LawnOrganic.
