Master Landscaping
http://www.masterlandscaping.net

After growing up among steel mills near Dusseldorf, Germany, Juergen Mross felt very much at home when he moved to Pittsburgh in the 1970s. But he wasn’t as comfortable in the 1950s red-brick Colonial he and his wife, Renate, bought in Edgeworth in 1986. It was large enough for the couple and their four sons, but it had a small entrance and lacked character.

With the help of Gretchen Barlett of Barlett Design, the couple added a foyer and portico with six massive columns in front. Then, in 2006 and 2007, they had landscape architect Ed Werley of Werley Associates and landscape contractor Eichenlaub transform the grounds around the house. Now Mr. Mross feels at home.

Although the house separates the front and back areas, the garden is unified by repetition and contrast, both of naturally mounding plants like azalea, spirea and itea and of curving formal hedges of sheared hornbeams and boxwood. The rows of tall hornbeams, in particular, give the front landscape a formal, European feel. Recently, Hilbish McGee Lighting Design added low-voltage lighting that highlights the hornbeams, facade and other features at night.

In the front and back, large uplights catch the huge old maples and pine trees that form the backdrop for the new landscaping and, in one sense, inspired it. After large limbs nearly struck the house during a storm, Mr. Mross decided it was time for a big change, starting with the elevations. Mr. Werley, who works with his son, John, said the front yard was raised 3 feet and a series of sandstone walls installed around a central curving staircase of carved limestone slabs.

Brick pavers were added near the street to create a dropoff area and are repeated in the walkways and a landing. There, a sculpture of upright logs cast in bronze by artist Peter Calaboyias is the center of a fountain. Originally on the side of the house, it was moved “for greater visual impact,” Mr. Werley said. At night, the hornbeams also pack a visual punch, each with its own uplight.

“There’s a lot going on there, but it’s not bright. It’s subtle,” said Halbane Hilbish, principal owner of Hilbish McGee and a member of the International Association of Lighting Designers.

In the back, Mr. Hilbish subtly lit Japanese maples, weeping Camperdown elms and low sandstone walls topped by loose hedges of yew and blue holly and rows of spirea and cranberry bush viburnum. Three weeping cherries and other specimen trees were salvaged from an earlier redesign and reused.

Other older elements play parts in the new design. A new arched gate leads to “the treehouse,” where the four Mross boys held countless sleepovers. They’re now ages 30, 27, 25 and 18. The new curving stone walls bracket a new cedar garden house built by Vixen Hill, and new sheared boxwood hedges line the new conservatory. More ‘Winter Gem’ boxwood and a bay window frame a Japanese Stewartia that has been limbed up slightly to enhance the view of the garden. Around its base are Yak rhododendrons, fothergilla and ‘Goldflame’ spirea.

“The spirea has flowers and nice fall color — a yellowish red,” said Ryan Johnson, project administrator for Eichenlaub.

He said the hardest part of this project was access — a road had to be cut from front to back — and finding space to stockpile plants and materials. When it was finished, it won an Award for Landscape Excellence from the Pennsylvania Landscape and Nursery Association.

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A rainy spring and a slowing economy has only slightly dampened plans for the area’s newest shopping center.

The Arboretum of South Barrington, near routes 59 and 72, is moving ahead to open on the weekend of Sept. 12.

While the stores are under construction at the upscale center, The Jaffe Cos., owner and developer of the project, is placing a heavy focus on landscaping for the project. A handful of area nurseries are supplying a total of 2,700 trees and 30,000 shrubs, perennials and grasses at the 86-acre center with a price tag of about $200 million.

“The economy is strained, but we didn’t cut a dime out of the landscaping budget,” said Mike Jaffe, president of Jaffe Cos. in Northbrook.

Landscapers attempted to incorporate the history of the area into the design. The Arboretum occupies a portion of a 610-acre site that once belonged to Klehm’s Nursery. In the late 1990s, the Klehms sold the tract to a residential development called The Woods of South Barrington. A portion was designated for commercial use and in 2006, plans for The Arboretum of South Barrington were announced, paying homage to its roots.

“The landscaping will really make the place stand out, with counts and mixes that are designed to give interest throughout the year. We are also trying to incorporate The Arboretum’s nursery history in the design of the entire site,” said Lee Keenan, landscape contractor for the project.

As the planting process kicks off, contractors continue construction. The first phase of the outdoor mall, known as a lifestyle center, is about 80 percent occupied. By the end of the year about 40 stores and restaurants will be open for business.

Many of the stores will be ready for the grand opening set for the weekend of Sept. 26. The latest retailers to sign leases include Anna Shea Chocolates, Francesca’s Collections and Sur La Table.

A key component of this type of shopping center is to offer a selection of stores not found at traditional malls. For instance, Anna Shea Chocolates, a chocolate lounge and wine bar, is making South Barrington its first home in the Midwest. Sur La Table will open its fourth Illinois location at the new center.

Jaffe believes the overall project coupled with the demographics of the Barrington area are attracting tenants.

Retail experts agree this isn’t the prime time to launch something of this magnitude.

“It’s not the optimal time to be opening a shopping center, but the location is good,” said Will Ander, senior partner at Chicago-based McMillan Doolittle retail consultancy.

It’s a tough time in retail, Ander said. “We’re at the verge of recession. It looks like things are bottoming out,” he said.

Family incomes are shifting more to gasoline and food. As a result, retailers at the new mall may see lower sales than they originally anticipated, Ander anticipated.

But when the mall was planned several years ago, spending was strong.

“The economy is now in a lull, but who can predict that,” Ander said.

Used book fans: The Little City Used Book Sale is set to take place June 6 through June 15 at Westfield Old Orchard in Skokie.

Tents filled with hundreds of tables stacked with more than 125,000 books will line the west parking lot by Lawler Avenue.

Change your mind: Because of increasing prices of gas and groceries, consumers are altering their plans on how to spend their tax rebate checks.

Shoppers plan to spend more of their checks on necessities such as gas and food rather than on discretionary items, like electronics and apparel, according to a National Retail Federation survey.

Shoppers have changed their spending plans since February.

In February, 4 million people said they plan to use their check to purchase furniture. Three months later, only 2.7 million people still have furniture on their list. About 3.2 million people said they planned to buy a vehicle in February. That number has now dipped to 2.4 million.

Many retailers have already announced creative promotions to give customers an extra incentive to shop with them.

According to the survey, women are more likely to spend or save portions of their check, while men are more likely to pay down debt.

Sale dates: Nordstrom is preparing for its half-yearly sale for women and kids.

Shoppers can expect to find 40 percent off or more at the 6-day sale that starts Wednesday.

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A few years ago, when Alicia Morgan-Cooper and her husband Fred decided they needed more space for their growing family, several items on their house-hunting list were non-negotiable.

“We wanted plenty of trees and greenery, a large backyard for the kids, and it had to have a garden,” says Morgan-Cooper, a pediatrician and mother of two, with a baby on the way. “I’m an avid gardener, and my garden is my sanctuary.”

Landscaping Services In spring 2005, the couple moved into their dream home, a six-bedroom colonial situated on half an acre in the city’s Guilford neighborhood. Soon after, they launched a series of home improvements, starting with the landscaping.

“We totally revamped the landscaping,” says Morgan-Cooper, who worked with a professional landscape architect, Plant Genie in Towson, as well as a landscaping contractor.

They planted nine flowering pear, crabapple and other trees, had two flagstone patios built off the kitchen and sunroom, complete with a walkway, and filled the flower beds with colorful azaleas, daylilies, rosebushes and much more.

“At first, there was a lot of mud,” says Morgan-Cooper, who said the overhaul was motivated in part by property damage due to past flooding. “But now we love it Landscaping Services. I’m not ever leaving.”

All said, the project cost about $90,000 — money the couple says was well spent. After purchasing their home for $750,000, they say it’s now valued at more than $1 million.

While professional landscaping was once viewed as a luxury, more homeowners are beginning to recognize that planting a perennial garden, installing a pond or building an arbor, may have more than only aesthetic value. Many experts say landscaping — which runs the gamut from so-called softscaping (such as turf maintenance and planting) to hardscape installation of patios and walkways — can increase the value of one’s home, and in a tight housing market, help attract potential buyers.

“Studies have shown that landscaping can increase the value of your home by 15 percent,” says Vanessa Finney, executive director of the Maryland Nursery and Landscape Association Inc., an industry trade group whose members include nurseries, garden centers, landscapers, arborists and suppliers.

“It’s about curb appeal,” says Brent Flickinger, a Realtor with City Life Realty in Baltimore, referring to that intangible factor that makes a prospective buyer want to look beyond the “For Sale” sign. “Years ago, people were fighting over houses. Now, houses are sitting longer, and the longer they sit, the less desirable they seem to people,” he adds. “Landscaping helps your house stand out. It can help the real estate agent get showings, get people inside the house. If they don’t get in the door, it doesn’t matter.”

James McWilliams, a co-owner of Maxalea Inc., a landscape contractor in North Baltimore, says he often fields calls from homeowners desiring to spruce up their houses before putting them on the market. “They may need to clear plants that are overgrown near the house, or edge and delineate the flower beds. Sometimes we are checking for insects or diseased trees. We address all sorts of things.”

Three generations of his family have worked in the horticultural business since the 1920s, and today, Maxalea employs some 80 horticulturalists, architects, landscape designers, groundskeepers, nurserymen and others.

McWilliams says their clients typically spend between $5,000 to $50,000, but it’s not unheard of, he adds, for higher-end clients to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars landscaping their mansions and estates.

“When you spend that much on a home, you don’t want 20 random plants,” he says. “You need a plan, Landscaping Services and a professional who can help you design a landscaping layout that will be beautiful.”

To that end, his team members will schedule consultations with homeowners to discuss everything from “form and function” to plants, materials, color schemes and whatever signature look the homeowner is seeking. They then sketch out a plan and draw up a budget.

McWilliams, who says he favors a “clean” landscaping style with crisp edges, minimal mulch and repetitious grouping of plants, also keeps pace with the latest trends. For instance, he’s noticing a move away from wooden decks, toward more fieldstone and Formstone patios. Another hot trend is the outdoor kitchen and living area. “People are entertaining and extending it outside,” he says.

Indeed, when Lauren Quattro and partner Marichi Capino want to entertain at the home they share in the Mayfield community near Lake Montebello, they simply walk out back to a yard that’s been transformed by landscaping.

“This is the house that I grew up in,” says Quattro, a nurse who returned to her childhood home in the early 1990s after her mother died. “I’m pretty sure my parents would not recognize it now,” she says with a chuckle.

Indeed, the once-modest brick rowhouse has been gutted and renovated inside and out, fashioned into a loft-style space, complete with a renovated kitchen. The backyard has been professionally landscaped, and boasts a pond with koi, a deck and a hot tub. Capino, a native of the Philippines who was a physician in her homeland, has planted a container garden with pansies, tulips and other colorful flowers, and looks forward to the wisteria expected to bloom later this season. “It relaxes me,” she says.

While many properties in this section of Northeast Baltimore are listed in the high $200s, Quattro says she would not sell it for less than $400,000. “It’s a great house in a great neighborhood, and worth every penny,” she says.

According to a survey performed by the USDA-Maryland Agricultural Statistics Service and underwritten by MNLA, landscape installation and maintenance pumped $234.7 million into the state’s economy in 2003, the most recent year for which figures are available.

While professional landscaping is clearly big business, Jim McElroy, president of Green Fields Nursery & Landscaping Co. in North Baltimore, emphasizes that it doesn’t have to cost a bundle. “I want people to know landscaping is not just for the rich,” says McElroy. For every person who comes in wanting, say, lighting, a stone retaining wall or water features, just as many simply want terra cotta pots with nice plants.

“You can take $500 or even $50 and do basic things … Landscaping Services mulching the beds and adding pretty flowers that will catch people’s eye,” says McElroy, who also gives advice on a weekly radio show. “The key is that the home should look well-maintained. A picture is worth a thousand words.”

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Home > News

Wednesday, March 12, 2008
11:32 AM on Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Crosslake considers licensing landscapers

by Betty Ryan
betty.ryan@pequotlakesecho.com

If the shoreline of any property is changed, the homeowner and the landscape contractor are required to obtain a permit.

Now, in addition, the Crosslake City Council is considering requiring all landscape and excavating contractors to be licensed.

Ken Anderson, community development director, showed pictures of a landscape project where non-permitted rock work caused major erosion on a lakeshore and construction of a sand beach area that encroached on a lake. Another photo showed a deck that was being built five feet from the lake.

“I could show you 40 more photos like these,” Anderson said.

The proposed ordinance would license landscape contractors and excavators. Septic system installers are already licensed.

The proposed ordinance would require the land that was been altered to be restored. Vegetation would have to be re-established to prevent erosion into public waters, fix nutrients, preserve shoreland aesthetics, preserve historic values and archeological sites, prevent bank slumping and protect fish and wildlife habitat.

There would be civil penalties: $100 fine for first violation; $500 fine for second violation; and $1,000 fine for third violation plus a 30-day suspension of license. A fourth violation would be a $2,000 fine plus a revocation of the license.

Council member Steve Roe said he thought the fines should be higher. He said some contractors just include the fine costs in their bid to do the landscaping.

“I don’t think there’s any question that this is needed,” Roe said. “We need to make sure the contractors understand.”

Council member Dean Swanson said, “We’re not concerned about the good ones. I am concerned about enforcing it.”

A landscaper in the audience thought it was a great plan, but was concerned about enforcing it. Another contractor liked the licensing ordinance, but said a $1,000 fine was nothing.

Anderson said he planned to be “up front” about the ordinance and notify all area landscapers in a letter about the ordinance. He hoped the ordinance would be approved before the coming construction season. He added that not much building is going on at this time, so there probably would be more contractors available to bid on a job.

After much discussion, the council tabled the ordinance to the April meeting. In the meantime, Anderson said he will work with the city’s attorney to incorporate some of the changes suggested and would like to have a new version back to council members before the April meeting.

February permit summary

In February, permits were issued for five homes, five garage/storage buildings, five septic systems, seven decks/patios/porches, eight land alterations, and eight demolitions/move buildings. Total estimated value of the 38 permits is $1,521,650.

In January, 11 permits were issued for an estimated value of $301,225. Total for 2008 is 43 permits with estimated value of $1,552,730.

Shoreland rule update

Anderson requested council permission to be a member of the Shoreland Rule Update Local Government Unit advisory committee. He will be one of some 25 planners or zoning administrators who will meet six to eight times over the next 18 months. The first meeting is March 28 in Monticello.

Tags: council members, decks, five feet, landscape, landscape co, Landscape Contractor, landscaper, landscapers, Landscaping, minis, porch, porches
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Looking at the gorgeous, landscaped yards in magazines can be inspiring, but also overwhelming. The weather gets warm, you plant a few pansies, then you step back and realize that your outdoor space isn’t exactly worthy of a photo shoot. Now is the time to call in professional help to expand on your vision and create the landscape look you see in magazines.

The garden gurus at RenovationExperts.com offer tips on how to hire a landscape contractor to add value to your home and make your yard the envy of the neighborhood.

Define Your Landscaping Needs
Why are you landscaping? Would you like to increase your property value or enhance the enjoyment of your outdoor spaces? Perhaps your goal is to create and a delicate rose garden or entertain friends, family, children and pets. Clearly identify the purposes you need your landscape to serve.

In addition to deciding what your yard needs to do for you, map out a “dream garden”. Gather photos of outdoor spaces you love from magazines and brochures and determine if you favor a particular style or theme and would enjoy features such as statuary and waterfalls.

Set Your Budget
Determine a realistic budget based on the size of the area to be landscaped, features and materials you’d like to use and the condition of your current grounds.

Work Towards a Designer Dream
A designer landscape first and foremost needs a designer. Landscape contractors offer various services to help design, plan and create your dream yard.

Find and Select a Landscape Contractor
Visit RenovationExperts.com, fill out one simple form with what you’re looking for and get up to four free estimates from local, pre-qualified contractors within 24 hours. There’s no obligation and you can choose who you’d like to work with.

While you may not think your outdoor project is complicated, a properly finished job using quality, lasting materials requires the professional knowledge and skill of a landscape contractor. Partnering with a pro will have you glowing with pride over your magazine-quality landscape in no time.

Tags: landscape, landscape co, Landscape Contractor, Landscaping, outdoor spaces, quality landscape, renovation, rta, Services, waterfall
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My dad, always proud of his landscaping, could plant any brown branch in the ground and it would grow. An estate gardener at one time, he patiently taught his kids how to dig, aerate, chop, weed, edge, trim and prune using the proper tools.

Did any of it stick? Not at first. When I grew up, I bought a house big enough to turn around in. It was in the woods and had no lawn. Low maintenance, I figured %26#8212; a swipe of paint, a sweep of the broom, and I could go play.

Then came rain %26#8212; followed by wild grass, lots of it. A presentable house doesn’t need nature’s shag carpet growing around it.

So there I was, day after day, snipping with scissors. By the time one part of the hillside looked great, the other part needed another haircut. But I had limited space at that house, and I didn’t want it taken up with tools.

A couple of years later, I ran across an outrageous deal on an electric weed trimmer. It was skinny enough to store somewhere. And, boy, did it whack weeds! In 15 minutes, the entire hillside was clear, and I was ready to play.

There was the lesson, almost in my dad’s voice: Choose the right garden tool, and you’ll do the job properly while saving time. I invested in a rake and shovel, too. Now I’m ready to expand my basic tool collection.

The challenge: I want to outfit my shed with an array of basic garden tools, but no more than a gardener truly needs.

Web site: www.thisoldhouse.com; This Old House Online, New York City.

Purpose: The site, affiliated with the television show “This Old House” and This Old House magazine, provides how-to knowledge and sells home-oriented products.

The setup: The home page %26#8212; more than four screens long on my computer %26#8212; links to information about the television show, magazine, how-to articles, many home-improvement photo galleries, an online poll, a digital paint-color selection tool and a question-and-answer column. You could spend a lot of time here, instead of gardening.

Ease of navigation: Bypass clicks off the home page by plugging “Essential Guide to Tools” into the search function at the top of the page; then click on “Roger’s Garden Tools.”

What you’ll find: “This Old House” landscape contractor Roger Cook lays out his ideas on the most useful garden tools for homeowners. It’s thankfully short, and it really is basic and practical.

A sample: “Roger’s advice: Build a good collection that has the right tools for a wide variety of garden projects, and you’ll end up getting the job done better and faster. Don’t worry about expensive power tools like aerators and thatchers %26#8212; those once-a-year tools can be rented when you need them (and you can share the rental with a neighbor to save money).”

The best part: The list starts with %26#8212; ta da! %26#8212; a broom. Oh, well, it is alphabetical, but no other list I found on the Web included a long-handled push broom, which makes short work of cleaning up dirt and grass clippings.

Thumbs-down: Illustrations don’t accompany every tool. For example, the text describes a grub hoe, but it would be so much better to lay eyes on a photo of it.

Surprise: One more thing Roger includes that others’ lists don’t %26#8212; a tool organizer to keep the new toys handy, off the floor and manageable in small spaces.

Related sites

%26#8226; www.lowes.com; Lowe’s, Mooresville, N.C. business names

The home-improvement retailer compiled a list of descriptions and portraits of garden tools, “How to Select Garden Tools and Supplies,” so you can’t miss when you go shopping.

Three kinds of spades, four types of rakes, two forks, five hoes %26#8212; you’d need to build an addition on the shed if you bought them all, but remember this is the entire tool committee, not its essential members.

Find the list by clicking on “Project Center” at the top of the home page; “How-to Library;” “Lawn %26 Garden” on the left-hand side of the page; then “Garden Tools” under “Buying Guides” on the right-hand side of the page.

%26#8226; www.ehow.com; eHow Inc. of Palo Alto, Calif.

Type “How to Select Basic Garden Tools” into the search function at the top of the home page, click “Go,” and you’re on your way to a short, direct guide to your new-garden layette.

Scroll to the bottom of the page for links to articles about choosing watering cans, rakes and garden shears, as well as using the right tool for the task.

%26#8226; www.diynet.com; Do It Yourself Network, based in Knoxville, Tenn.

At the home page, type “Basic Gardening Tools” into the search function and click “Go.” Select “Tools,” then click on “Basic Gardening Tools.”

You’ll get a rundown on five tools, plus links to tips on caring for tools, tools for weeding and handy gadgets for gardeners branching beyond the basics.

Home on the Web is an occasional feature in digs. The e-mail address is homeontheweb@seattletimes.com

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The Illinois Landscape Contractors Association elected Arlington Heights resident Matt Synnestvedt of Synnestvedt %26amp; Associates, Northbrook, president of its board of directors. Joining the board are: Steve Brodt, Western DuPage Landscaping, Naperville; Tim Caldwell, The Savanna Group Inc., North Aurora; and Charlie Keppel, The Care of Trees, Wheeling. Re-elected as a director was Ed Gomez, Paradise Landscape Design, Ltd., Hampshire. Continuing directors include: Robert Bertog, Bertog Landscape, Wheeling; Steve Fiore, Rocco Fiore %26amp; Sons, Inc., Libertyville; Brenda McMahon, St. Charles; and Dave Story, Bartlett Tree Experts Inc., Northbrook. Other officers are: vice president, Tyler Smith, Tyler’s Landscaping Service, Inc., Rockford; secretary/treasurer, Dan Wanzung, American Gardens, Inc., Elmhurst; immediate past president, Eric Moore, Moore Landscapers Inc., Northbrook.

Howard Knaizer of Lake in the Hills, Greg Furtek of Crystal Lake, Renee Kuruc of Bartlett and David Rosanova of Batavia all successfully completed Country Insurance %26amp; Financial Services‘ New Agent School and joined the company as agents.

Daniel G. Parsons of Gilberts was elected to the board of directors of the Northeastern Illinois Area Agency on Aging. An attorney who specializes in elder law, Parsons is active in the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, Kane Country Senior Resources and the Elgin Senior Provider Network. Additionally, Deborah Awis of Aurora was appointed to the advisory council of the Northeastern Illinois Area Agency on Aging. Awis is a self-employed agent for life and health insurance and is affiliated with Provena Mercy Medical Center.

Chuck Barham of Crystal Lake was named vice president of sales and marketing for Black Diamond Plumbing and Electric, Crystal Lake, to oversee all aspects of marketing and the newly formed commercial and residential outside sales division. Barham previously served as a senior marketing consultant for WIND 560-AM in Chicago.

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The Illinois Landscape Contractors Association elected Arlington Heights resident Matt Synnestvedt of Synnestvedt %26amp; Associates, Northbrook, president of its board of directors. Joining the board are: Steve Brodt, Western DuPage Landscaping, Naperville; Tim Caldwell, The Savanna Group Inc., North Aurora; and Charlie Keppel, The Care of Trees, Wheeling. Re-elected as a director was Ed Gomez, Paradise Landscape Design Ltd., Hampshire. Continuing directors include: Robert Bertog, Bertog Landscape, Wheeling; Steve Fiore, Rocco Fiore %26amp; Sons Inc., Libertyville; Brenda McMahon, St. Charles; and Dave Story, Bartlett Tree Experts Inc., Northbrook. Other officers are: vice president, Tyler Smith, Tyler’s Landscaping Service Inc., Rockford; secretary/treasurer, Dan Wanzung, American Gardens Inc., Elmhurst; immediate past president, Eric Moore, Moore Landscapers Inc., Northbrook.

Howard Knaizer of Lake in the Hills, Greg Furtek of Crystal Lake, Renee Kuruc of Bartlett and David Rosanova of Batavia all successfully completed Country Insurance %26amp; Financial Services‘ New Agent School and have joined the company as agents.

Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates Inc., Northbrook, announce the addition of Kevin A. Michols to its interdisciplinary staff. Michols has 26 years of experience in structural performance evaluation; rehabilitation and retrofit design; failure investigation; and construction troubleshooting. He previously served as vice president for CTLGroup, Skokie.

Chuck Barham of Crystal Lake was named vice president of sales and marketing for Black Diamond Plumbing and Electric, Crystal Lake, to oversee all aspects marketing and the newly formed commercial and residential outside sales division. Barham previously served as a senior marketing consultant for WIND 560-AM in Chicago.

Paul T. Busceni of Antioch was named dean of the Early Childhood Education program at Kendall College, to head a department with 26 full and adjunct faculty members. Busceni, who has held academic posts in higher education for eight years, was most recently program chairman of the School of Education and Human Development at Argosy University, Chicago.

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Charles Newcomb scanned the crowd looking for potential landscaping clients.

While people shuffled past his booth at the recent Harford Live Home %26amp; Garden Show, Newcomb kept an eye out for those who were more neatly dressed — those whose attention to appearance might carry over to their yards.

He also watched for couples in their 30s without any children in tow.

%26quot;If they don%26#39;t have the kids, they probably have money,%26quot; said Newcomb, sales manager for Joppa-based Akehurst Landscape Service Inc., the fifth-largest landscape contracting firm in the area, with $6.1 milllion in 2006 revenue, up from $5.5 million the year before, according to Baltimore Business Journal research. %26quot;They%26#39;ve worked hard for that money, but they%26#39;re willing to spend it.%26quot;

Many Gen Xers are more likely than their parents to pay $2,000 for a mature tree instead of waiting for a young one to grow, Newcomb said.

Such shifts in homeowner mentality are among many curves being thrown these days at landscape firms and landscape contractors. Toss in changes in labor force, lot sizes and backyard trends and you%26#39;re dealing with a flexible crew.

Newcomb said firms must be ready to adapt in order to survive and grow as his family-owned employer has done through five generations.

Fire pits, fireplaces, water features, outdoor rooms and native plants are among the hot trends for 2007, according to a survey by the American Society of Landscape Architects.

Outdoor living

Several portfolios at the Harford Live show in April reflected those trends.

Perry Hall-based Porter Landscaping Inc. had no pictures of outdoor kitchens on display last year at the show. This time, one such picture got prominent billing.

Tags: amp, landscape, landscape architect, landscape co, Landscape Contractor, Landscaping, money, native plants, outdoor kitchen, plants, water feature, water features
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Chuck Armstrong Jr. of Capital Nursery%26#39;s landscaping division has had to turn paying customers away. And those he doesn%26#39;t turn away are put on a two-month waiting list for initial consultations. That%26#39;s how good things are growing in the landscape business.

Todd Marentis, owner of California Landscape Associates Inc., is so busy he%26#39;s hoping for an %26quot;economic slowdown.%26quot;

%26quot;I just don%26#39;t see how we can get any more business than we have now,%26quot; he said. %26quot;How much higher can it go?%26quot;

And landscape architect Greg Hauser of The HLA Group said last year was the busiest year in the company%26#39;s 20-year history. Who knows what this year will bring?

Blame it on the fertilizer: An economic boom and a huge jump in new housing have made fertile ground for landscapers throughout Sacramento County and the surrounding areas where new communities are sprouting like weeds. From 1997 to 1999, Sacramento County saw a 53.9 percent jump in single-family housing construction, according to Ben Bartolotto of the Los Angeles-based Construction Industry Research Board. That%26#39;s significantly more than the statewide average jump of 18.4 percent over the same time period. Bartolotto said with all the new houses, it%26#39;s no wonder landscapers in the Sacramento area are so busy.

%26quot;Landscaping is a function of construction. When there%26#39;s new building going on, there%26#39;s more demand for landscape contractors,%26quot; Bartolotto said.

That demand is being felt everywhere in the landscape business, Bartolotto said. From the master-planned community landscape firm that designs streetscapes to the mom-and-pop landscapers who are hired to design flower beds and install sprinklers in back yards — everything is coming up roses.

Hauser is a landscape architect with The HLA Group and president of the Sierra Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects. %26quot;Our profession follows general construction industry trends. Landscaping is an integral part of new housing developments and redevelopment in different cities. And we have definitely seen a huge boom. Last year was the busiest year in our firm%26#39;s 20-year existence, just in volume alone,%26quot; Hauser said.

Hauser estimated his firm has landscaped close to 1 million acres of property in Greater Sacramento in the last five years — a figure that%26#39;s consistent with The HLA Group%26#39;s 30 percent increase in landscaping master-planned communities. A list of HLA clients includes Natomas Park, Highland Reserve in Roseville, Broadstone in Folsom, Serano in El Dorado Hills and Stone Lake in Elk Grove, where the firm tackles design for the development%26#39;s overall streetscapes, parks, pedestrian corridors, and common areas around community buildings and clubhouses.

A matter of aesthetics: One of The HLA Group%26#39;s principals, Bob Hablitzel, attributed the company%26#39;s boom not only to the landscape needs of residential development, but to a new climate of appreciation for continuity in landscaping. While lush landscaping is a luxury for the homeowner and a sign of extra cash in the pocket, it is also now being factored into the mindset of better business.

Here%26#39;s the concept: An employee who can relax in the company%26#39;s lunch garden just might be a satisfied, more loyal and, therefore, better worker. And a company that can offer the community some beauty scores high marks with the public. Big companies need nearby housing developments just as the folks who live in those houses need places to work. So the idea of tying it all together with strips of green grass and sycamores is perhaps Sacramento%26#39;s signature into the 21st century. It%26#39;s symbiosis at its best.

Tags: back yard, construction boom, grass, initial consultation, landscape, landscape architect, landscape co, Landscape Contractor, landscaper, landscapers, Landscaping, residential development, weeds
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