Many people take the exterior features of their home, office or business for granted. The only advantage they see in landscaping yards and lawns is the aesthetic aspect. Sure, a well-manicured lawn, neatly arranged flowerbeds, and trees and shrubs are certainly nice to look at, but an attractive landscape has benefits you might not be aware of.
1. Landscapes Help You Focus
A recent study said that anyone engaged in work that requires a lot of thinking needs to take “micro-breaks” throughout the day to maintain their attention and focus. The study found that viewing green landscapes, trees, flowers, or anything connected to nature improves your focus and helps your brain work better.
2. Landscapes Keep You Cool
It’s no secret that cities or urban areas are much warmer than rural areas, especially in the summer months. The high temperature is largely due to heat-trapping asphalt and concrete surfaces being more prevalent in cities. Emissions from cars and factories aggravate the situation. It does not help that the tall buildings also trap heat and restrict airflow, making it longer for the area to cool down during the evening.
Landscaping around homes, offices or commercial spaces is found to help reduce this heat trap. When there is more grass, trees, shrubs, and plants, they block or reduce the sun’s glare that concrete pavements absorb.
3. Landscaping Cuts Energy Costs
Trees also provide more shade, allowing for a lower temperature in most areas. When you have enough trees on your landscaped area, you also decrease the need for air conditioning use in homes and offices during the summer, allowing you to slash your energy bills.
4. Landscaping Improves Air Quality
Did you know that a young tree could absorb about 13 pounds of CO2 a year? When that same tree reaches the age of 10 years, it can absorb a maximum of 48 pounds of CO2 annually. Imagine how much more CO2 can disappear from the atmosphere when trees fill up an entire city.
And of course, a tree’s by-product is life-giving oxygen. So, apart from reducing the Greenhouse Effect, landscapes with shrubs and trees improve air quality.
5. Landscapes Can Conserve Water
Your landscape doesn’t have to consist of only the “usual” plants, trees, flowers, and shrubs. You may use cacti and several other houseplants in combination with trees and flowering plants, to have variety and reduce the need for watering your landscape all the time.
You may also opt to lessen the plants, trees, and soil by replacing parts of your landscape with rocks. This way, you can further reduce water usage and expensive grounds keeping. In states like Utah, for example, using rocks in your landscape is a good practice, especially during the summer months when water consumption can go high. Can’t find interesting-looking rocks in your area? No problem. You can always contact landscaping rock suppliers that have the right items for your lawn or garden.
6. Landscapes Make You Feel Better
The calming effect of simply gazing at wide-open, green spaces with amazing layouts can lower your blood pressure. In an urban setting, walking or being around plants and trees enables you to inhale more fresh air instead of smog. You can feel even more relaxed when you take a stroll along verdant pathways and (literally) stop to smell the roses.
7. Landscapes Help You Earn More
The best reason for maintaining adequate and attractive landscaping is that it can translate into more money. Adding or maintaining an attractive landscape in your property, for instance, can raise your home’s “curb appeal” and value significantly. Since people “feel better” when they see greenery, businesses and shops with blooming plants within their perimeter tend to attract more walk-in clients and customers.
Landscapes – whether at home or in a commercial space – make you feel relaxed, focus your mind, improve your surroundings, cool the area, enhance air quality, and reduce your utility bills. Most of all, these help you earn more by increasing your home’s market value or your business’ attraction to customers.
If you take the time and spend some money to work on your landscaping, it will all be worth it for you and your property or business — all while contributing to the preservation of the environment.
