This plan is the result of nearly three years of activity and effort to finalize the landscaping design of Charleston National.  Numerous members of several Boards of Directors as well as members of the Charleston National Garden Club conducted tours of the community in order to document the existing landscape beds, to assess the condition of the plantings, and to research cultivars of flowers, shrubs, and trees to determine those that would best suit the Charleston National community.  A landscape architect was engaged to evaluate and make recommendations for the National Drive entry between Highway 17 and South Morgans Point Road. 

A landscape consultant was contracted to study the entire community and to make recommendations to enable the Landscape Committee and the current Board of Directors to finalize the landscape plan and to help set short term and long term goals to effect the plan. The Board of Directors also met with the current landscape contractor to get further input.  In addition, the past partnership between the Garden Club and the Country Club was renewed as a set of planned cooperative landscaping projects with the Homeowners Association and the Country Club sharing the costs.

The goal throughout this process has been to achieve a through-composed, thematic approach that encompasses all of Charleston National, including the two entrances, the individual neighborhoods, and all common areas, and that identifies and recommends the ideal plants, both annual and perennial, shrubs, and trees for each particular area in the community.

During this time, attention also was paid to other aspects of Charleston National.  Upgrades were made to the irrigation system and lighting throughout the community, including additional irrigation and lighting and repair of both systems.  Included in the plan below are recommendations for continued improvement and maintenance of these aspects of the landscape plan.  Within the past year, both guardhouses were repaired and repainted.  Future plans include a preventive termite contract for both buildings.  (Note:  The subject of the lagoons in the community will be included in a separate document and will include information regarding the maintenance of ponds by the company contracted by the Board of Directors as well as recommendations regarding the maintenance at water’s edge by the homeowners whose lots are on lagoons.)

Listed below are certain conclusions reached and decisions made by those members of the community and by those contracted by the Board of Directors who have worked on the landscape design for Charleston National:   

Recognize that numerous tree and shrubbery beds have been planted throughout the community and are attractive and healthy.  Emphasis should be placed on enhancing beds that are established, transplanting and improving plant materials in these existing beds rather than replacing materials whenever possible.

1. Replace existing trees, shrubs, and flowers, both annual and perennial, where needed. 

2. Save as many of the current plants as possible, transplanting as much as is practical from one area to another.

3. Select native plants whenever possible in order to minimize plant loss.

4. Include two plantings of annuals – one for spring/summer and one for fall/winter –to maintain year-round color.

5. Add perennial flowering plants, including grasses, to reduce the cost of twice-yearly planting of annuals.

6. Continue to replace pine straw with Asiatic Jasmine ground cover over time to reduce the cost of twice-yearly pine straw applications.

7. Include regular pruning and fertilizing of shrubs and trees throughout the community through a separate landscape contract.

8. Determine the itemized cost estimate for each aspect of the landscape plan.  Seek bids for larger projects.

9. Prioritize the order for implementation of the individual aspects of the landscape plan, and recognize that the plan is ongoing and will take several years to be fully realized.  

10. Arrange for a member of the Landscape Committee to be present when major landscaping projects, including planting, are being done.