Commercial Landscaping Tips For Green Parking Lots

People tend to underestimate the importance of adding some greenery to the parking area. Yes, most of the business is taking place inside your commercial property. And customers, clients, contractors and employees probably won’t spend a lot of time out there. But investing in commercial landscaping in Denver can help build a good impression.

Other than aesthetics, adding landscaping to the parking lot can have many benefits like providing shade, reducing the heat island effect, maintaining local water quality and retaining rainwater.

Before getting started, it’s important to plan and design the layout with the help of a professional landscaper. Local codes, street patterns, soil type and many other factors need to be taken into account during the process.

Plant Trees Where Possible

Trees are an important aspect of a green parking lot. They add much-needed shade to the vehicles in the parking lot that can get very hot at times. They also frame views and guide the traffic in the area. Trees require less maintenance than shrubs, collect less trash and improve the air quality.

They can also affect the property value positively, despite the low initial cost. That’s why you should plant trees in the space you can spare. Any accidental tree growth should be allowed as long as it doesn’t hinder traffic or create a safety hazard. Try to spread large trees throughout the area for maximum shade.

Provide Sufficient Space

It’s important to provide sufficient space to trees and plants to allow their roots to grow properly. Else, you may need to call a Denver asphalt repair contractor to deal with pavements upheaved by roots. Consult your landscaper about the ideal space requirement for proper root growth.

Choose Resilient Plants

Ideally, you should go for plants that can withstand your local climate, particularly the expected rainfall. Trees growing in areas where stormwater may get collected should have roots that can handle being submerged. You shouldn’t have to irrigate them when they get established. The plants should be able to withstand the acidity and composition of the soil.

Cars release a lot of soot and gases in the parking lot, so the plants should be able to withstand these as well.

Work On Soil Quality

In many cases, the soil fertility is low in parking areas due to many reasons. The soil may get compacted, the topsoil may be stripped off and the area might be used often to dump construction debris. You need to have the compacted soil and debris removed and replaced with the right soil for plant growth.

Build Naturalized Drainage

Plants need sufficient moisture reaching the roots so that they can grow. So a consistent water supply is needed to ensure plant growth and a naturalized drainage system can help. You can build bio-retention structures like bioswales or rain gardens. It usually consists of the right trees, shrubs and perennials meant to slow down the flow of stormwater and improve water quality.

These structures help plants filter and adsorb various chemicals that are usually mixed into the stormwater. This improves the water quality and enables microbes to break down the contaminants. As a bonus, it really adds to the parking lot’s design.

Consider Permeable Surfaces

Using permeable parking lot surfaces instead of impermeable asphalt or concrete surfaces can be of great help. They reduce runoff and improve groundwater recharge by allowing the stormwater to pass through them into a collection system. Though this might not be the best option for areas that receive heavy loads or high traffic.

Types of permeable surfaces include permeable asphalt or concrete, permeable interlocking pavement systems and grass-block systems.

Balance Parking Space And Trees

One of the main concerns of property owners is the lack of parking space due to the added greenery. But it need not be an issue with the right structure. Many innovations have emerged to achieve a balance between sufficient root space and area for parking. Common parking lot structures include:

- Structural Soils

- Modular Parking Structure

- Tree Trenches

Use Shrubs Instead Of Fencing

Small trees, shrubs and vines can be a great replacement for fences.  They may help you comply with local ordinances that require fences, walls or compact hedges between lots and nearby institutional or residential areas. Moreover, they make the perimeter more attractive while helping redirect the traffic.

The main issue with this is that shrubs tend to collect trash and need constant watering and trimming. This adds to the maintenance effort.

Plan For Efficient Maintenance

Speaking of maintenance, making a plan for efficient maintenance is essential to keep the parking lot in top shape. Maintenance activities usually include mending fences, caring for the greenery, clearing litter, emptying trash cans, clearing fallen leaves and twigs and removing snow.

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Created on Sep 25th 2021 06:59. Viewed 266 times.

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