Maquinna is a beautiful gated community situated in the Terra Nova neighbourhood of Richmond. This lush, spacious landscape features turfed areas and a wide variety of plant material, providing a touch of both formal and informal elements simulating a serene park like setting. Throughout the spring there is an abundant variety of flowering blossoms that make the landscape pop with exuberant colour!
We were hired to provide comprehensive, initiative-taking management of all landscaped areas to Level 1 Well-Groomed maintenance standards as per the BC Landscape Standard. This includes not only the maintenance of all soft and hardscapes, but also advising on issues such as arboriculture, plant health care and landscape enhancements for the short- and long-term interest of the strata council and owners.
The residents expect consistent excellent quality service, specifically regarding weed free planted beds and lush green lawns. A large majority of homeowners have specific requests that vary from unit to unit. Managing individual client expectations can be challenging. However, we can do so through excellent communication between the client and our staff members. This allows us to execute their demanding needs. Their expectations in terms of managing the landscape requires proactivity from both the account manager and the field staff when it come to recommendations and reports such landscape deficiencies.
One major challenge we had this year was maintaining lush green lawns due to the Metro Vancouver’s new lawn watering restrictions. Lawns are restricted to watering 1 day per week in a 2 hour watering window. In order to keep the lawns from drying up and turning brown during the hot summer months we mow on a bi-weekly basis to keep the lawns longer in an attempt to maintain more moisture in the soil. Another challenge we faced on this property was poor drainage around the fountain area. The soil in front of the fountain had to be excavated and replaced with new soil because plant material was failing due to root rot. Since replacing the soil, the overall health of the plant material in this area has improved. The lawn in many areas where there are overhangs from roofs declined due to shade and lack of natural rainwater during irrigation shutdown. Rock beds were installed as an alternative to lawn, and it provided a neat and tidy appearance to the areas. Since we do not maintain the irrigation for Maquinna we are in constant communication with the client and report any signs of plant stress due to irrigation related issues. This is challenging in the sense that we need to rely on a third party to take care of any issues in a timely manner.
