Disaster ResponseFeaturedIndustry NewsLawn Mowing Maintenance and Lawn CareLoaders, Excavators & TractorsMaintenanceManufacturer/Supplier UpdatesProductsProducts and EquipmentThe Latest
Bobcat Introduces TL623 Telehandler
Jessica Schwartz
Specialty Services
Michigan landscaper offers something different from most contractors Merrion Landscapes reconstructed the boulder walls and egg rock under the deck, and constructed two new boulder walls, regraded the sod and transplanted and planted over 100 plants and flowers at this customer’s house.PHOTOS COURTESY OF PATRICIA CHRISTIAN-MERRION. Patricia Christian-Merrion’s landscaping business grew out of a passion for gardening, which she started doing 14 years ago. She found gardening to be therapeutic and three years ago started sharing her skills by helping people with their projects. Last year, she decided she wanted to do something that made her happy, and that was landscaping. A photo of Patricia on her website page named “Meet Patricia,” which has a higher hit rate than the company’s homepage. It shows that people are interested in doing business with people and they want to get to know who they are working with. Christian-Merrion’s husband encouraged her to transform her hobby into a business. The idea appealed to her, but she was still somewhat reticent. “It’s one thing to do it for yourself, but it’s another thing to take other people’s considerations, wishes, thoughts and desires into the mix and be able to come up with something you’re both going to be satisfied with,” she says. “I had a bunch of girlfriends tell me that I was insane starting this during a recession,” she says. “They said nobody has money and there are a million landscapers – did I really think I had a chance at succeeding? I ...
Change of Pace
Massachusetts couple trades corporate salaries for job satisfaction Nikki and Ethan LaForte, co-owners of Ethan’s Eden Landscape and Design. At one time in their lives, Ethan and Nikki LaForte were toiling away in large corporations. While the money the couple was earning at their corporate jobs was decent, their level of job satisfaction was not. For Ethan, there was another type of job he enjoyed and yearned to return to. “I had been doing yard maintenance since I was 13 years old and had been servicing some of the same clients for many years,” he says. “I loved working outside and working for myself. I studied business management and horticulture at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, and used my education to start Ethan’s Eden Landscape and Design in 1996.” Nikki worked as a chemist after graduating from Mount Holyoke College in 1996 with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and biology. “I felt stifled and unhappy working in a lab all day and yearned to be outside and to become an entrepreneur,” she says. “I always had a natural affinity for landscape design and what some would call a ‘green thumb.’ I decided being a business owner and a designer would be wonderful and was excited to be working with my husband, but wanted to be more formally educated in horticulture and business first.” Nikki went on to earn a master’s degree in business and computer information systems and a diploma in landscape design from The Institute of Garden Design. ...
Evolving Business Model
Southern Nurseries focuses on meeting the needs of landscapers Bulk amended soil is loaded at a Southern Nurseries site.PHOTOS COURTESY OF SOUTHERN NURSERIES. Southern Nurseries in Nashville, Tenn., has evolved in size and focus from a lawn care business to a multilocation, wholesale landscape supply and retail business. Terry Flatt, president of Southern Nurseries, has relied on flexibility and innovation in developing a business model that has carried the company through growth and expanded business. That focus is serving Southern Nurseries well in the economic downturn that has drastically reduced new construction across the country in both residential and traditional commercial development. Flatt started a lawn care business in 1983, which evolved to include landscape maintenance and installation, as well as landscape supply. By 1995, Flatt established Southern Nurseries, Inc., as a wholesale landscape supply company with a retail segment. His brother Ryan joined him, taking on the role of vice president in 1999. Southern Nurseries developed a business model that is working for the company in light of the reduced landscaping needs brought about by the economy. Technology and market projection were used to develop the current business mix that focuses on supplying landscapers with amended soils and hardscape products, along with trees and plants, as well as a retail business for the homeowner market. Southern Nurseries also provides a professional landscape referral service of area landscapers to homeowners. Changing focus “Over the years, we were about 50 percent wholesale landscape supply and about 50 percent retail,” Flatt said. ...
Happy Gardens
Passion for gardening turns into lucrative business Agniseszka “Anna” Hurst, owner of Happy Gardens. When Agnieszka “Anna” Hurst came to the U.S. from Poland in 2004, she was looking to start her life anew. “I was always doing office jobs, and I knew you had to do something in life to bring in money, but it was never a passion,” she says. “When I moved here, I wondered what I could do that I truly loved. I wanted to be one of those people who say ‘I love what I do.'” She explored various options, but nothing made her happy. “We bought a house and I started working on my garden,” Hurst says. “This is how I realized I have a true passion for it. I started looking more into how I can utilize this, and the business evolved naturally.” At the time she brought up the idea to her family, someone approached her about designing a garden. “She didn’t even know I was planning on doing it,” says Hurst. “She could just tell I was passionate and knowledgeable, and so she approached me to help her. That’s how it started.” Hurst started Happy Gardens in 2008. The company serves the Dallas/Fort Worth area with services in maintenance, landscape design and installation, stonework, water features, dry creek beds, retaining walls, living fences, annual color, and land clearing and preparation. Weekly maintenance services include weed removal, inspections and recommendations for insect infestations, site cleanup and debris removal. Deadheading, trimming and pruning ...
Plant Trends
Changing conditions spur product changes Aaron Dillon, in Fremont, Calif., has combined an interest in horticulture and U.S. history in a graduate degree program focusing on the changes in California nurseries since World War II. “The biggest change was in technology, with geoplastics becoming available and the interstate highway development,” he said. Continued growth and development allowed the movement of nurseries into more remote locations, with plants being trucked to developed areas. With agricultural land disappearing, there was pressure on nursery spots for their land as premium sites. While Dillon’s degree studies focus on California, tree and plant nurseries nationwide have changed tremendously since that era, and changes continue to evolve in plants offered by nurseries. Crew members perform pre-shipment plant inspections, which include watering and trimming.PHOTO COURTESY OF HEIDI HEATH FARMS. These changes are often spurred by natural events that include prolonged droughts, floods and longer, colder winters in areas that normally do not experience extended freezing temperatures. These are only a few of the elements that lead to changes in nurseries and the plant materials they offer. Changes in plant choices are driven by consumer interest, which often is an outcome of promotional material now distributed in glossy print and Internet offerings leading to a quickly developing interest in new plants. Whether it’s flowers, shrubs or trees, nurseries across the country respond to changing consumer interests spurred by various events, and this year those changing interests are spurred, to a significant degree, by the economy and changing weather ...
Can You Dig It?
Selecting the proper earth drill and accessories for any hole digging project Installing a fence, planting shrubs, putting in new landscape lighting – different grounds care projects with one common link: each requires the proper hole to be dug in order to complete the task properly. How hard is it to dig a suitable hole? While the process is far from rocket science, it’s not quite as simple as one would expect either. All hole digging projects may appear to be the same on the surface, but it’s often what’s below the surface that really matters. Additionally, the available equipment and accessory options, while great for enhancing productivity, can make things a bit more complicated for the operator. Many models of hydraulic drills incorporate a forward and reverse lever for easier, safer operation in virtually any soil condition. These days, it’s more than just grabbing a shovel or hand-held posthole diggers and hitting the dirt; sophisticated, productive earth drilling equipment exists. Even though they all achieve the same basic end result, a hole, all one-man earth drills are not the same. No longer “just a hole digger,” designs and features have advanced and improved over the years; the industry has come a long way from the simple hand method of digging. With many models and accessories available, units are now able to match specific applications and cut through virtually any type of ground. Whether the project calls for several identical holes in typical lawn soil, or a single large hole ...
Success in the West
Landscaping entrepreneur takes company to the next level Reclaimed cedar and lichen-filled stones give this arbor an authentic weathered appearance. Vines, perennials and ornamental trees enclose the yard providing for a lush appearance.PHOTOS COURTESY OF LIFESCAPE ASSOCIATES. Michael Hupf, CEO of Denver-based Lifescape Associates, Inc., is a shrewd businessperson and entrepreneur. He seeks outside experts and consultants, and continually introduces new sustainability measures to all areas of his business. He is a strong networker, and he can be found at the industry’s most important events and seminars. Even though Hupf’s direct working experience while growing up in the green industry had been tepid at best prior to joining Lifescape Associates, he represents a new breed of landscaper experiencing success in the new landscaping market. Colorado Buff flagstone steps wind their way around granite and moss rock boulders. A 4-foot-high fall of water creates a unique sound that also masks unpleasant street noise. Hupf was introduced to the green industry while growing up in Hastings, Neb., where his father owned a 1,500-acre grain and cattle farm. In high school, he was the first employee of a start-up landscape company, and together with his four brothers also found time to run a truck garden at the local farmers’ market. After graduating from high school, he took a hiatus from the green industry, and moved to Omaha to attend Creighton University where he earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting. After graduation, he worked for Deloitte Touche for four years, and then was accepted ...
Perfect Partnership
Two friends turn a love of the outdoors into a successful landscape company Below: A before picture of a residential project, a plain backyard. Above: Here’s the completed project. Now there’s hardscaping, a play area for the kids with mulch, and various plantings to make an interesting landscape design.PHOTOS COURTESY OF NATURE’S ACCENTS LANDSCAPE SERVICES, INC. Justin Bentz and Travis Breininger have known each other since seventh grade and became best friends throughout high school. Their deep friendship and love of the outdoors forged a friendship into a business partnership. Today, the two men own Nature’s Accents Landscape Services, Inc. (www.naturesaccentslandscape.com) located in Hamburg, Berks County, Pa. “We worked for the same landscape company during the summers through college. This is where we were exposed to the landscaping world – mostly mowing and maintenance; little exposure to installs, pavers and plantings. found out about Pennsylvania College of Technology’s Landscape/Nursery program through our foreman . We each enrolled and transferred, which would have been the start of our junior year. Before graduation, we were both hired by a professional – we thought at the time – landscape company in Berks County. We did landscape installs and maintenance on nights and weekends, building enough demand to decide to leave our jobs the summer of 2003 and begin our own company … doing landscape work we wanted to do. This is our ninth year in business,” says Breininger. Landscape service diversification Nature’s Accents started offering a variety of soft and hardscape services from ...
