How to select the right landscape company

Green spaces have become a must for any building whether rental, co-op, condo or brownstone. How do we keep all the amazing, healthy and local greenery going in all around us looking as fresh and lush as the day it was installed? First, owners and developers are asking construction companies to build into the contracts a longer maintenance period beyond the traditional one-year guarantee. Then, at least for the first few years the landscape plan and design intent are safe if the landscape contractor is good at maintenance and cares about retaining the landscape architect/designer's intent. What often doesn't work is when roofers do the green roof installs. Usually they know little about plants and don't offer maintenance. Nothing is worse than a landscape that went in with painstaking hours of design and planning and installation only to be changed because the initial contract ended and a new company doing the care has decided they know better than the landscape designer's original plan. How to insure proper ongoing maintenance and preservation of the original design intent? 1. Have a copy of the original planting plan from the landscape architect and insist that the new company use it to quote its price to you. 2. Have the landscape architect design an ongoing plan for the property. This introduces the importance of establishing a deeper level of care. 3. Get references. 4. Make sure the owner or management company hasn't "tied the hands" of the landscape maintenance company to save money. If there are too many constraints the company just won't be able to do its job. Teresa Carleo is the president and CEO of Plant Fantasies, Inc. (PFI), New York, N.Y.