At the February 5th Homeowners Meeting, we provided an update regarding various landscape initiatives underway within Abbottsford. For those of you who were unable to attend here is a recap:
Master Plan
The landscape design firm, BFT, has been working with us in multiple areas. One of their current projects is to develop a long-term master plan for the community. This will cover categories ranging from recommendations for enhancing our greenspace to surveying our beautiful tree canopy to address diseased specimens and planting new ones for Abbottsford’s long-term beauty. The Master Plan will provide a thoughtful forward-looking outline which can be a road map to ensure future initiatives are consistent with the Vision. This plan is expected later this month and will be shared with the community as we work through it in the future.
Upcoming Initiatives
In addition, we will be addressing feedback from you and initiating changes as quickly as possible to certain existing areas in keeping with the overall Vision for the community. One of these will be to relocate plants within the butterfly garden to the planting area next to the tennis courts. This will enhance that space as well as provide a sunnier, more conducive location for the plants to thrive. The existing butterfly garden area will be sodded and returned to its original design and green space.
We also have certain islands or medians which are bare or the plantings were hit hard in the flash freeze a couple of years ago and have never fully recovered. The result is unsightly utility boxes that need some attractive screening. Similarly, we have a number of small mulched areas at the ends of certain medians in which ornamental grasses or perennials were planted that have never really worked out very well. Our current thoughts are to remove these areas and simply sod them back over. The goal is that this will result in a more attractive and consistent look as well as a space that will be easier and less expensive to maintain.
Similarly, we have some other areas in which we have allowed the mulched area to get too large. Our current ideas are to reduce these and sod where applicable. All of this of course requires a well maintained and properly used irrigation system. As many of you know this has not always been our strong suit but we hope that certain improvements last year will carry over to this year. Ultimately the experts seem to think that our irrigation system will need an upgrade someday.
New Landscape Vendor
BFT also helped us coordinate our interview process for a new landscaping vendor back in November. The specific Request for Proposal (“RFP”) was developed based upon feedback from you regarding what you wanted in a landscaping company. This was based upon the community survey that was circulated last summer as well as direct feedback from numerous conversations over the past year. An excerpt from that RFP is attached to this and we believe you will see that it highlighted the major desires voiced by us all.
The RFP was sent to six different landscaping companies with ultimately five participating in the process. This included the submission of their bid, company qualifications, and a half day in-person interview session with the Landscaping Committee (“LC”) and two members of the Board. Based upon this process the LC considered the vendor’s qualifications, experience, and pricing and recommended Sunrise of Nashville to be the community’s provider. This recommendation was approved by the Board.
Sunrise began on-site on Wednesday, February 5th and hit the ground running! Their initial work has been on starting the process of getting our property back under control and as one of the residents said “neat and clean”. For those of you that have been in town you have seen them remove truckload after truckload of debris and the improvement is noticeable!
Sunrise will be circulating an email in the near future that we have worked together on. It will provide a reminder of what is included under our contract as well as allowing you to “opt out” of certain standard services if you prefer to handle these yourself (e.g. pruning your shrubs, using your own mulch type (our contract only provides for hardwood mulch for efficiency and pricing)). Be on the lookout for that email.
The email will also let you know that the recommended method for reaching out to Sunrise with questions or comments is via email to: abbottsford@sunriseofnashville.com
Communications within this address will be copied to both our property management company, David Floyd & Associates, as well as to the head of the LC. This will ensure that requests are easy to make and are responded to promptly versus going through the website as had been previously done. Of course, you can still contact Sunrise directly as you see the owner, Bob Wellerding, or his managers on-site, but to keep things organized we do recommend using the email please.
Front Entrance Project
As you have probably noticed, new plantings have been installed at our front entrance and as of this writing this project is nearing completion. The design by BFT with input from the LC, was shared with the community in 2024 has really taken shape! We look forward to the arrival of spring when the plants will begin to leaf out and really come to life.
You will see that a number of new mature trees have been planted in that area replacing certain existing ones that were in decline or had simply outgrown the space. In our opinion changing these plantings out has really rejuvenated the entrance overall. Similarly based upon recommendations and resident input the old black and gold lettering Abbottsford signs installed twenty or so years ago are dated and will be removed. Instead, the focus will be on the original timeless inscribed “Abbottsford” wording on the front of the guardhouse.
Remaining components to be done before this project is completed will be the installation of an attractive new fence for screening the back side of the guardhouse and its utility boxes, etc. A design has been selected and is out for bid at this time. Other initiatives in the early stages of discussion/being considered include a new improved lighting package to upgrade the current mix of wired and/or solar units.
Newly Renovated Landscapes of Residents
We have counted approximately twenty yards in which the homeowners have made some wonderful improvements to their landscaping, in some instances completely re-doing their yards. This is a great enhancement to the overall beauty of Abbottsford! We all thank you for the direct investment in your yard as well as your contribution to our community!
In talking with residents, updating their yards is something others would like to do but just do not know where to start. We recommend reaching out to your neighbors who have done this and getting advice from them about which landscaping company did their work and any suggestions they might have. BFT is also working with us to provide an outline of some recommendations for shrubs and bushes and trees that would be in keeping with the overall Abbottsford Vision. They plan to share that with the community soon and we will post it on the website.
Abbottsford’s Landscaping Vision
Lastly, we have noted the “Vision” throughout the above. This is the summary statement that was developed and shared by the LC last year outlining our goals:
“We envision Abbottsford’s landscape as an elegant, welcoming, park-like setting inspired by the timeless principles of English landscape design.
This vision is based upon the belief that experiencing natural beauty throughout the year will contribute to a higher quality of life and enhanced community pride in Abbottsford.”
Wrap Up
Lastly, Abbottsford is a large property and we need your help identifying issues that need to be addressed. So, as you drive or walk around the property and see something that should be considered let us know. Send your comments or questions to our property management company, David Floyd & Associates, and they will forward it onto the LC. Their specific Abbottsford email address is: abbottsford615@gmail.com
