Using native plants in your landscape designs

 

The landscape industry is very competitive. Many potential clients shop designers looking not only for the best plan, but also the best price for designs as well as installation. It can be very difficult for potential clients to see the differences in plans from a piece of paper. It is especially difficult for them if there are many of the same or similar plants called for in the design.

 

Utilizing native trees and shrubs in your designs can help to separate your work from many others.

This can move the sale away from comparing prices to comparing the elements of the designs themselves. All of these selling points are easy for a client to agree with, prompting more nods in your favor. Most people consider themselves an environmentalist to some extent.

 

Use these points in your sales presentation of a design using native plants:

• Native plants have evolved in place over geologic time. Their distribution across the natural landscape is due largely to adaptation to local and regional site and climatic conditions. The benefits of using native plants are varied and numerous.
• Native plants are environmentally friendly. They require less maintenance and are cost effective, both in the nursery and in the landscape. In other words, they require less pesticides and fertilizer treatments and they conserve water. Once established, the will not require an irrigation system for their survival. This can be a very substantial cost savings for your clients in the long run. It can be especially important for clients who have vacation homes.
• Native plants are hardy. The have adapted and evolved through the ages to local soil types and climate therefore withstanding winter cold and dieback as well as drought conditions. You may lose less plants that are expensive to replace in cost not to mention the time and labor.
• Native plants promote biodiversity, provide food and shelter for native wildlife, and restore regional landscapes. A native landscape can blend effortlessly with the surrounding natural landscape.
• Native plants prevent future exotic and invasive plant introductions. Although many exotic, or non-native, plants are not invasive, some are. Invasive exotic plant material escape, naturalize, spread, and replace the native plant communities. These exotics can be vectors of disease and insects. Kudzu, privette, and bittersweet are examples of exotics gone awry.

Contact us for more information on the advantages of using native plants in your next landscape design.