Landmark Landscape Contractors
Everyone’s heard of curb appeal. It’s a fancy way of describing how nice a home looks from the street when passing through a neighborhood, especially when shopping for a new home. Paver walkways and landscaping greatly enhance the external beauty of a home, but sometimes it can be challenging to design the perfect outdoor setting surrounding your home. That’s where skilled landscapers from a company like Landmark Landscape Contractors can make all the difference.
A RICH AND FERTILE HISTORY
Landmark Landscape Contractors has been thriving since ‘90s, when Bryan Smith started his landscaping business. Smith graduated from Delaware Valley College in 1993 with a Bachelor of Science in Ornamental Horticulture and Design. He is also joined by his wife, Colleen, as well as a dedicated team that he says has helped contribute to his success. Five years after starting the business, Landmark moved to its current 25-acre location in Northampton.
“How do you do a design or sell a landscape job if you don’t know what plants are even available?” Bryan Smith says. “You cannot tell a customer, ‘just trust me.’ We wanted to have our own private nursery where we could grow and collect an inventory for our customers to see and choose from.”
After 10 years of development, in the spring of 2010, the company was proud to announce the opening of its retail nursery, Landmark Gardens and Nursery, at this location.
“This was a natural progression for us as our growing capabilities increased,” Smith says. “We now have a good mix of both field grown, landscape sized material as well a large selection of annuals, perennials, shrubs, and trees in containers that people can take home in their cars.”
ELEMENTS OF LANDSCAPE DESIGN
With so many pretty plants, trees, and flowers, not to mention the countless options to beautify outdoor living space with swimming pools, fire pits, and built-in grills, the designing and decision processes can be overwhelming at times. Smith recommends that customers first set a budget for their landscaping projects.
“I think most people start backwards,” Smith says. “They begin with ‘what do I want,’ then it becomes ‘now how do I fit what I want into my budget?’ And this can be a recipe for disaster.”
An experienced designer can help customers identify their needs and wants as well as their budget. Landmark also offers a “Let’s Work Together” program geared toward do-it-yourselfers who enjoy tackling a project but might need a small push in the right direction. With a minimum retail nursery purchase, customers receive consultation, professional landscape design, delivery, and placement of the plants according to the design. Plants are placed in the landscape according to their needs so that customers save money in the long run and also have an easier time maintaining their gardens.
GARDEN DESIGN FROM VISION TO FRUITION
Landmark offers a personalized service that customizes each landscaping design to the individual customer, ranging from simple plantings to complex overhauls of the existing space. An experienced landscape designer meets at the residence or location in order to conceptualize the area and the best options for that space. Sometimes customers have a vision of their desired landscaping design while other times Smith and the team can simply see the available space and make the best recommendations with the customer’s preferences in mind.
“When most people look at a landscape design plan, it is difficult enough to try to envision what the finished result will look like or what the plants and materials look like,” Smith notes. “After the consultation and the design are completed, the customer has the option of meeting at our nursery to look at the plants selected for the design. It’s always exciting to present our customers with a design and hear them say, ‘WOW! I would have never thought of that!’
“At this point, if the customer doesn’t like the look of a particular plant or size of the plant, we can provide many other options,” Smith adds. “We encourage our customers to hand-select and tag their choices in our nursery so they know what they are buying is what will be showing up at their home. The display gardens are a valuable tool as well. Our customers can see what mature plants will look like and how a properly designed and installed landscape should look after it’s mature. Most people need visual aid.”
This visual approach can make planning your landscaping design so much easier, not to mention more cost efficient. The ideal end result should be the customers have received exactly what they were expecting and more. Landmark strives to provide excellent communication from start to finish and even offers continuing after-care services to help maintain a customer’s investment.
“Spring is a great time to start planning your new landscape,” Smith advises. “Planning early helps avoid any delays with your project. Visit our nursery or give us a call; we’d love to help you plan your perfect outdoor space or landscape.”
Guests visiting the nursery might find Colleen and Bryan’s three daughters (Brianna, Cassidy, and Ella) wandering around the nursery, and don’t be surprised if their nursery cat, Sage, greets you at the entrance.
Landmark Landscape Contractors and Landmark Gardens & Nursery are located at 902 Mud Lane in Northampton, PA. For more information, call 610-502-1550 or visit landmarkpa.com.
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