Ah, spring! Birds are twittering, the flowering trees are budding, and your commercial property looks, well, yikes.
No offense, but you could use a spring cleanup.
Will Comstock, Senior Production Manager of Commercial Maintenance at Michael Hatcher & Associates, walks us through the essential spring cleanup services your property needs to spruce up.
1. Clear Out Planting Beds
It’s amazing how much gunk can collect in your planting beds over the winter. No self-respecting flower would be caught dead in that mess. (Unless they’re already dead in that mess.)
Crews clear out all the moldy leaves, slimy plant debris, and any other yuck that made its way in over the past few months so your new spring flowers can stand proud.
2. Cut Back Perennials
Those tall, graceful ornamental grasses that looked so pretty right through fall are looking a little scruffy.
New growth will be sprouting soon, so you need to trim the old dead growth away to make room.
Same for other pretty perennials like liriope and daylilies. Trimming them back allows for the air flow and sunlight they need.
“It’s kind of a reset button,” Comstock says. “It gets all your plants ready for new spring growth.”
3. Rejuvenation Pruning
As your landscaping starts to mature and outgrow its space a bit, property cleanup services should include a little pruning. It can go a long way to tidying up.
We’re looking at you, Lorapetalum, hollies, Abelia, and Nandina.
Pruning manages the size of these plants and promotes new growth, just in time for the new growing season. 
Keep in mind overgrown shrubs and plants don’t just look bad. They’re a safety and security risk.
“People can hide in them, they can block security cameras and security lighting,” Comstock says.
Also, one word: snakes.
“Pruning isn’t just for aesthetics and security,” Comstock says. “Overgrown shrubs can harbor snakes and vermin. People start to throw trash in there and suddenly your landscaping becomes a trash bin.”
We had you at snakes, right?
4. Elevate Tree Canopies
Now that more sunlight is on its way, prepare to let the light in by pruning the lower limbs of your property’s trees to elevate the canopies.
“It lets more sunlight in,” Comstock says, “which is good for the turf.”
5. Make Way for Mulch
After crews clear ratty old leaves and debris from your planting beds, they’re ready for fresh mulch, right?
Maybe if you hire any old landscaping company for Memphis spring cleanup services. But we’re extra picky. (It’s part of our charm.)
Hatcher crews go the extra mile and define the edges of all your beds with a crisp, clean line.
“Not all companies do this,” Comstock says. “It helps set us apart.”
Crews use shovels to create a tidy trench or a mechanical edger on more expansive properties.
“It adds a wow factor,” Comstock says. “It makes the property really stand out.”
These crisp bed lines also help keep your mulch in place when heavy rains could wash it out.
Messy bed edges are a Comstock pet peeve.
“It drives me crazy when there’s no delineation line and I see the mulch just fade out into the turf,” he says. “I told the guys today it’s the little things we do that set us apart.”
6. Assess Trees for Ice Damage
Ice is great for skating and tea, but not so nice for flowering trees.
If it was an icy winter, crews assess the health of trees that might have been damaged.
Crape myrtles, so popular around here, are especially susceptible to ice damage.
Keep That Spring Cleanup Going with Portering
Once your property is all cleaned up for spring, it’s tempting to stand guard out there to make sure nobody tosses a candy wrapper on your lawn.
But who has time for that?
We do. We don’t stand guard, exactly, but if you add portering service to your landscape maintenance contract, crews will pop over once or twice a week to scoop up any lawn debris, stray cigarette butts, food wrappers, and plastic bottles rolling around that make it look like you don’t care about how your property looks. 
Hatcher works with a dependable street sweeping subcontractor that will visit your property once a month and give it a clean sweep. Even those stubborn piles of leaves and litter that get stuck in corners will disappear.
Less worry and stress for you.
Don’t Neglect Spring Cleanup Services
Sure, put off your grocery shopping, your yoga session, or cleaning your oven.
But please don’t put off your property cleanup services.
“If last year’s leaves are still under your shrubs, and your ornamental grasses have new growth coming out of the dead growth, it just doesn’t look good,” Comstock says.
“You see it sometimes on a property,” he says. “Maybe they didn’t want to pay for clean up or they decided to do it themselves whenever they get around to it.
“It definitely sends the wrong message to your customers,” he says. “They’ll think,
‘If they’re not taking care of their property’s needs, are they taking care of my needs?’”
Also, snakes. Just saying.
Ready for Memphis Spring Cleanup Services? Trust Hatcher
Too busy to notice a little spring mess?
Your customers and potential tenants aren’t. You don’t want them slipping on moldy leaves or muttering about your neglected nandina.
It’s time to spring into action, with skilled landscaping crews dedicated to the details that set your property above the rest.
Ready for spring cleanup? Talk to one of our commercial landscaping experts today! We’ll meet at your property, create a custom plan, and get you on your way to enjoying a beautiful, worry-free property.
