Landscaping for Public Spaces

Perficut-PublicSpaces-Blog-Feature

When communities and businesses need smart, people-friendly landscape designs, they choose Perficut.

There are special considerations when it comes to designing for public spaces, and Team Perficut has the experience and know-how to make these unique spaces beneficial for all. Here are some recent community needs — and how Perficut met the challenge.

Two views of custom limestone enhancements on the Raccoon River Park playground infrastructure

Creating Cool Shade

Anyone who has whooshed down a hot slide on a sunny day remembers the searing feeling on the backs of their legs. Carefully placed shade around a playground can eliminate that discomfort — on slides, climbing structures, benches, as well as underfoot on play surfaces.

Cooling shade, updated equipment, and universal accessibility were among the goals when West Des Moines recently updated the largest playground in the largest park in their system, Raccoon River Park. With hundreds of thousands of visitors each year, the park is beloved in the community and beyond. However, the playground was established in the 1990s and was showing wear and tear.

In renovating it, West Des Moines Parks & Recreation embraced universal design principals so the playground could be used by anyone and everyone — no matter their age or abilities. In a public park, plant material provides essential shade, which cuts down on the overall heat and provides cool spots for rest, but it has other benefits as well: Perficut team members planted more than 1,500 shrubs and perennials and 40 trees to allow children, adults, and caregivers to experience the sensory aspects of plants. The leaves and foliage provide color, textural variety, and stimulating sounds when breezes blow. Shadows created by leafy trees and shrubs create contrast, depth, and interest in the overall landscape. The plantings act as sound dampeners, and natural habitats invite butterflies and birds to visit. Finally, shade is important in preventing sun damage to play equipment, ensuring the community’s investment will be long-lasting and safe for years to come.

walk this way

With over a mile of restaurants, shops, and in-demand businesses, the Ingersoll Avenue corridor is a hot spot in the Des Moines metro. It is also nearing the end of a multi-year effort to make the district more pedestrian friendly and safe for bicyclists. This involved installing a bike lane, reorienting parking, and adding more sidewalk space that is lined with planting beds and raised planters.

Team Perficut was asked to install and maintain the shrubs, perennials, and annuals along Ingersoll Avenue — a large and important job. For the millions of visitors to the area each year, colorful planters and garden beds are visually appealing and inviting, and they help mark businesses and indicate areas for walking, resting, and dining. The plant material that Amy Edmondson, Perficut’s Floral Production Manager, chooses is key to creating a joyful atmosphere on Ingersoll Avenue. She aims for a color and texture variety and picks plants that integrate well in the local ecosystem. Low demand for water is also important in being a good community partner.

headshot of Amy Edmondson

“I did four different ‘recipes,’ if you will, so I can test what will work well on the site. I know things that are likely to do well there, like sunflowers, salvia, and marigolds, but sometimes plants will surprise you.” – Amy edmondson

Most often in public spaces, Perficut’s Floral Team has to anticipate people walking through their plantings. On Ingersoll, however, elevated pots and railings around the sidewalk level beds are good protection. “There seems to be enough space for everybody. They planned well for all the traffic, and there’s room for walkers and bike riders and cars. That intentionality on their part helps us,” Amy says.

Out of the Office

In addition to communities partnering with Perficut for landscape enhancements, businesses also turn to us to create inviting, engaging areas around their commercial properties. Organizations like Nationwide and Athene recognize the rewards of outdoor respite for their employees, and they rely on Team Perficut to make it happen.

Office landscapes that are accessible and visible to employees provide physical benefits and stress relief. The ability to focus periodically on a bit of nature outside the office can reduce work pressures and stimulate creativity. Perficut has installed gardens that allow employees to eat lunch, meet clients, or simply take a “brain break” outdoors.

It’s not just the employees who enjoy a beautiful commercial landscape: Visitors to a business are welcomed by the visually appealing aesthetic of healthy plants, flowers, shrubs, and trees, which leads to improved business-client relations.

And finally, diversity in the plant material around an office building contributes to the overall strength of a community’s climate and environmental sustainability. Plantings, lawns, and trees help with water-quality and watershed issues around a commercial property.

In working with community and business partners, Perficut serves two visions: the leaders who develop and fund the improvements, and the visitors and employees who simply enjoy the opportunity to exercise, imagine, play, and relax.

Let Perficut make outdoor enhancements in your public space.
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