Environmental Insights

Chances are, you've probably passed by quite a few of our projects without even realizing it. Next time you drive by Georgia College & State University in Milledgeville, or drive through Dublin City, take a moment to appreciate the landscape designs that might just be our handiwork!

If you’ve ever been involved with a property or site renovation then the chances are you’ve come across a landscape architect. Landscape architects are the people behind virtually every outdoor space in the human world, from urban parks and town squares to industrial sites and residential complexes. Good landscape architecture strengthens not only the people and communities that occupy the space but the natural ecosystem too. 

In any landscape, sooner or later there comes a time when, well...it’s just time. Time to rip it all out and start over. Whether it’s your grandmother’s half-dead crepe myrtle, the driveway with the lush crop of crabgrass pushing up through the cracks, or that redwood deck that looked so hip in 1988, you kind of just know by looking at it that “the time” has come.

Recently, we were contacted by a nice couple who owns a property in Glenwood, a tiny rural town in south-central Georgia. It had a lovely view of a beautiful pond. They’d owned the home for a while, but now that they were both retired, they were ready to turn it into the home of their dreams.

We’re always excited to welcome new team members, especially when they bring diversity and new skills to our team. This fall, we are extra pumped to introduce the newest and most uniquely talented member of the T.Lake team: our brand new DJI Phantom 4 Pro V2.0 quadcopter drone!

Want to know how to install professional-looking landscape lighting? Sure, I can give you some landscape lighting tips. I’ll post a few of my best below.

But first, bear with me, because I just have to rant about what NOT to do with landscape lighting. It’s actually easy to demonstrate. All you have to do is get in your car and ride around after dark. I can almost guarantee that within a few blocks you’ll have passed case after case of really bad lighting installations.

Like the giant square box runway lights that just blast light at a building as if it were daylight, doing nothing to highlight the architecture or evoke a mood.

Or the residence where somebody bought bullet lights and aimed them at a shrub, and it looks like what Moses saw on Mount Horeb: a single bush all alight with nothing but harsh shadows all around.

Or the facade of a house that has a bright, bright light in one spot right next to a patch of blackness so dark the devil could be hiding there. It’s jarring. When will people learn that you can’t just go buy lights and point them at things and expect it to come out looking good?

Now that I’ve got that off my chest, let’s talk about how to do landscape lighting right.

Chances are if your landscape has been in for 15 or more years it is overdue for renovation. Even if your landscape was well planned and maintained for the long haul, a decade and a half’s worth of growth is almost guaranteed to leave it looking a bit unkempt. Crowded roots, straggly growth, overgrown trees and shrubs, bare spots, ho-hum or dated appearance: these are all signs it’s time for an overhaul.

If you’re reading this and nodding your head in recognition, here are some landscape renovation ideas to consider this spring.

Landscape design for retail areas can be challenging. You’ve got to take a lot of things into account, including safety, accessibility, and economy of space as well as aesthetic appeal. In mixed-use situations, factoring in the needs of residential occupants adds to the challenge.

One big thing to remember when designing retail landscapes is that this space comes at a premium. Parking, utilities, buildings and other infrastructure all must share limited space, so one always has to be thinking about how to best get ROI on amenities spaces. A well-planned installation can successfully tie the disparate elements of the retail landscape together to create a sense of unity in design, even while economizing on space.

Here are some trending outdoor design ideas that are worth considering for retail and mixed-use applications:

To prevent headaches and costly problems, avoid these nine residential landscape design mistakes with your next project.

There are four words no one wants to hear: We have a problem.

And when you hear that as a property manager, you know it’s probably going to be another late, restless night.

To keep from having serious problems, here are seven commercial landscape design mistakes to avoid on your Macon GA property.