When you are designing the landscape for a commercial strip mall, you want to ensure that it is beautiful and inviting. The sidewalks, parking lots and buildings can make it hard to decipher one strip mall from another. To make yours stand out from the rest, you need an eye-catching landscape design. Here are three ideas to create an effective design that will make your strip mall more welcoming and attractive:

1. Create A Natural Appearance

• Consider using tall grasses, such as varieties of New Zealand Flax, whenever possible. These are ideal for strip malls. This is because they are low-maintenance and drought-tolerant. In addition, they consist of fountain-like sprays that help to break up straight lines, which are common at strip malls.
• For variation and depth, you should opt for boulders and rocks of various sizes to use throughout the landscape where grass is needed.
• Consider using raised beds, terraces as well as mounding to help create rolling quality to the area and to help create variance to the height to the scenery.
• To help add some tranquility and flow to the area, you should consider adding water features, such as small fountains, especially to outdoor areas (mentioned below).

2. Develop Outdoor Areas to Relax and/or Chat

• On a hot day, shoppers will welcome benches and picnic tables on the grass and underneath large shade trees.
• Consider designing walkways that run through beautiful garden beds that allow shoppers to feel it is okay to meander a bit as they go from store to store instead of rushing. It slows them down, which means they'll spend more time at the strip mall and also means that they will likely spend more money while there.
• To really draw people in, consider incorporating aromatic flowers. They are not only appealing to look at, but they also emit a wonderful smell that will make people feel great.

3. Make Use of Color

• Don't overlook the importance of color and contrast. If your buildings are dark, you should opt for light-colored plants. If you have a dark-colored building, you should opt for light plants. This will make for a stunning effect.
• If you have any empty walls, you may want to consider using ornamental ivy or similar plants that can be trained to sneak up the wall to liven up the empty space.
• Consider adding hanging baskets in front of stores to add some color where there is none. These are normally low-maintenance and they can be changed each season for new looks.

If you need help achieving the perfect look at your strip mall, consider hiring a professional commercial landscaper like Bill and Dave's Landscape Maintenance.