What is Landscape Management?

Landscape management is the process of overseeing the design, creation, and maintenance of a landscaping project. The actual process may involve providing services to individuals or businesses or even to parks, wildlife preserves, or governments who maintain protected areas of forest. In all forms, landscape management seeks to effectively care for the landscape while complying with the wishes of the client.

One of the most basic types of landscape management has to do with maintaining residential yards. In this application, the management process involves providing effective lawn care. This can involve such tasks as planting trees and shrubs, treating the grass and soil so the groundcover is healthy and uniform, and using a diverse mix of design elements to create a pleasing appearance for the property. Contractors and landscapers who focus on residential clients normally also provide ongoing lawn maintenance, such as cutting the grass and trimming shrubbery.

In like manner, landscape management may focus on creating and maintaining a landscape design around office buildings or corporate campuses. Many of the same skills and techniques employed with a residential property can also be used effectively with commercial properties of this type. The scale of the work is normally much broader than with residential customers and may require a larger crew to maintain the design properly.

While landscape management for homes and businesses may require nothing more than a working knowledge of flora and fauna along with an eye for detail and design, choosing to be involved in the maintenance of forests and other wooded areas is somewhat more complex. For this reason, professionals who choose to enter landscape management of this kind often have completed degree programs related to forestry and agriculture. They will be familiar with tree seeding processes, irrigation techniques and be mindful of cultivating the general landscape in a manner that will not disturb local wildlife.

In all its forms, landscape management can be extremely rewarding. Like any creative endeavor, landscaping requires the ability to visualize the completed work even when the current condition of the land is far from the vision. The ability to work with land that has little to no visual appeal or purpose and to be able to carve out an environment that is pleasant to the eye and also serves practical purposes requires a great deal of time, commitment, and skill. For this reason, people who go into landscape management often spend years preparing for their work, combining formal instruction with practical training in an apprentice situation.