“How to keep up appearances, be your customers first choice and differentiate your business from the competition”

In today’s competitive markets businesses must ensure they’re the customer’s first choice

Just picture the scene. You’re going out to dinner to a new restaurant and as you drive up, you see for the first time the outside; you think  “we’ve made a big mistake coming here” however, inside probably the food, service and staff are wonderful, it’s comfortable and welcoming; but the first impressions from the outside has put you off?

Is it possible your business is losing potential customers? Perhaps you aren’t even aware you’ve lost them because if they didn’t like what they saw, then they were off down the road without you ever knowing. The first visual sighting customers see of your business is what becomes their first impression and that is the impression that sticks.

Well, fortunately, quite often the answer and solution is easy, quick and obvious to resolve.

Over the past two months we have been inundated with inquiries about artificial exterior plants and trees. People are asking how they can use no maintenance hassle free, exterior planting to enhance the outside of their business and make them more attractive and appealing to prospective customers. Equally popular is the interest in people looking for information and ideas on how to exploit the Alfresco Culture, and how to go about creating outside all weather and comfortable eating and drinking areas

In the past twenty years we’ve helped businesses throughout the country to develop their exterior social areas used for eating and drinking, mainly in the licensed and leisure industries. Over recent years restaurant, cafe and hotel owners have discovered the opportunities and realised financial rewards and benefits by adopting the continental exterior cafe culture. A significant increase became more obvious following the smoking ban in enclosed public places during July 2007.

There is presently particular interest in artificial boxwood and artificial topiary trees. These are the most common variety of plants we see about and people just love to have them in and around their gardens, on their patios and decking areas. They’re “just the ticket” especially as a quick and easy solution to smarten and brighten up entrances and other prominent areas. We know to keep real planting alive and in good condition also requires periodic clipping and pruning. Not a particularly difficult task however a good eye and steady hand is helpful along with making the time during busy periods to do it; plus the time for feeding, watering and general care.

We find the most popular requested artificial plants are the Boxwood or Buxus topiary trees in the form of pyramids and balls, known as standards - or sometimes referred to as “lollypop” shapes. A similar situation regarding Artificial Bay Laurel trees, the pyramids and balls are the favorite choice of shapes. No surprise there, the same plant varieties as the real ones we commonly see around peoples’ homes and businesses, but find difficult to keep alive, grow and flourish, but are now distressed, unkempt and with brown leaves.
Plant Containers - So, with your choice of plants then select complimentary, contemporary or traditional plant containers and you have fabulous, maintenance free and instantly eye-catching displays.

It was common place in the stately victorian gardens to use the live Buxus topiary to grow decorative hedges, a former ”must have” status symbol. Obviously a very time consuming task, requiring patience to allow these relatively slow growing plants to grow before inflicting  a pair of sharp pruning shears upon them, and continuing to do so until after many years full bodied works of art were created.

The ease, convenience and flexibility of artificial boxwood hedges dose allow the creative frontiers to be extended very quickly with instant effect. A fantastic product; a product offering many practical advantages in addition to those just mentioned such as time saving, ideal in windy and exposed locations, preferred choice alongside busy highways (real plants can suffer from wind burn and the effects of vehicle exhaust pollution) and an ongoing money saving solution in the form of staff maintenance and watering costs.

Outdoor artificial plants have a valuable role to play in many business application and very often used in tandem with fresh seasonal planting which is unique because fresh flowers bring wonderful vivid colours, soft pleasing textures and lovely variety of scents.

plantART’s twenty plus years of knowledge, experience and expertise on how to use artificial exterior plants to boost your business performance has now been edited into an article titled artificial topiary, boxwood, and bay laurel. It is our “take” on the uses, application and construction of artificial exterior plants and presented in a light entertaining manner. We suggest here and allow you to discover ideas and give guidance on how to use artificial plants and trees to their best effect.

And, we show you how the versatility of the humble artificial boxwood mat is used to create nice simple hedges along with many other crazy shapes and figures. If you are into DIY and have a creative flare; we show you how to make your own Buxus hedges.

Do take a few moments to have a look and let me know your thoughts. I look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards,
Paul Unger.
plantART - [ISD (UK) Ltd]