Start a Landscape Maintenance Business Part I

By Steve Fleming

When I was finishing up high school and getting ready for college my Dad was facing a late-in-life career decision. His trade was a dying technology in the printing business. He was the last person practicing his craft in San Diego, CA, but the shop he worked for was closing up. The only other positions left in this trade on the West Coast were in Los Angeles. He really didn't want to move.

His hobby had always been gardening. It occurred to him that perhaps he could stay in San Diego and work as a gardener in his own business. So, he bought a landscape maintenance route and became self-employed. His new business flourished and soon he needed help. This is the part of the story where I came in. I needed a part-time job, as most teenagers do.

Soon I was learning about landscape maintenance. At first I just pushed the mower and edger. When I started we didn't have line trimmers so that work was done with hand clippers (I LOVE the guy who invented the line trimmer). Then I learned the other basics of trimming and plant care.

Part-time jobs come and go and this one was no different. My Dad sold the business after a few years and ended up moving to LA after all. I continued on with college.

Years later, I found myself at a crossroad. I was doing well in a management career, but was unhappy in the field I was working. What to do? I felt a bit trapped.

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The Secret To Gardening Success

By Don Engebretson
The Renegade Gardener

Whenever someone asks, "How did you learn so much about gardening?," I answer, "I joined the Minnesota State Horticultural Society."

When most people hear the word "horticulture" (particularly in its noun form, "horticulturalist"), the mind conjures up images of an oak-paneled drawing room, wherein lie a handful of sharp-nosed, white-whiskered old men ensconced in leather-backed chairs, clutching their pipes while nodding knowingly to their fellow arborists, botanists and the like. It's easy to imagine them in tweed jackets with leather patches on the elbows, and when they speak it's best to grant them British (or at least upper-class Canadian) accent.

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Being a Pro: Here I am!

By Steve Fleming

The successful business is known to all of its potential customers. The only way to do this is to let them know you exist. You have to reach them and say, "Here I am!". Only then will you have the opportunity to show them your product or service. So how do you reach all these people? You certainly can't go out and meet every one of them face to face (not today anyway). So, what do you do? Advertise. That, in case you were not aware of it, is the magic word in the capitalist marketplace.

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Trimming Around Sprinkler Heads

By Tom Gowman

Prior to the invention of pop-up lawn sprinklers or sprinklers that popped up only an inch or so the gardener was faced with a dilemma. The sprinklers were too low to spray over most grasses or were set to high for most mowers.

The solution came in three forms. The first was obvious. Trim around the heads with grass shears. Lots of work, but it achieved its aim.

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High Tech Landscaping

By Walter Olson

The world of High Tech has arrived in the Green Industry. Although we do not yet have robots installing sod we do have very sophisticated computer programs to aid the landscaper, gardener, and architect.

One of the primary areas of computer use is in the design field. There are computer systems ranging in price from under $1000 to over $30,000. These systems will provide anything from simple drawing aids to complete computer-aided design packages.

No matter what computer hardware and software you may use the key word here is "aid". The computer will assist you, but it will not do the creative work for you. The computer eliminates the repetitve tasks and brings greater control and ease to your work.

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The Bottom Line...
Winning the Sale!

By Tom Lanza

Let's explore the main reasons sales are lost in the residential landscape market.

First of all, I'm sure we all agree that the residential and the commercial/industrial landscape markets are altogether two different ballgames. Both are tremendous markets, offering great challenges and opportunities. In residential landscape sales, people tend to make their decisions based on emotion to a greater extent than with commercial customers.

Here is how it usually goes:.

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Landscape & Garden Book Review
Flowers of Southern Africa

By Simon Mitchem

Gorgeous is the only way to describe this magnificent book of watercolor botanical prints of the wild flowers of South Africa. It is a limited edition; ours is #896. The author is also a botanist.

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