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Spurred by the boom in the regional construction industry, landscaping projects in the region comprising commercial and residential landscaping design and maintenance are set to double in volume to exceed AED 60 billion by 2010 according to UK’s CMPi, organizers of Gulf Landscaping. The event is scheduled to take place at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre from 17th to 18th November 2008.

Landscaping in the GCC is a competitive business fraught with high competition, shrinking profits and high capital expense. “With the advent of international players, regional landscape designers and builders are realizing that there’s more to growth than sunshine, soil and water,” said CMPi Group Director, Chris Fountain.

Spurred by the boom in the regional construction industry, landscaping projects in the region comprising commercial and residential landscaping design and maintenance are set to double in volume to exceed AED 60 billion by 2010 according to UK’s CMPi, organizers of Gulf Landscaping. The event is scheduled to take place at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre from 17th to 18th November 2008.

Landscaping in the GCC is a competitive business fraught with high competition, shrinking profits and high capital expense. “With the advent of international players, regional landscape designers and builders are realizing that there’s more to growth than sunshine, soil and water,” said CMPi Group Director, Chris Fountain.

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Mr. Fountain noted that the GCC is beginning to value the outdoors and landscaping professionals are now in big demand. “Driven by the construction boom, many households have increasingly turned to landscaping services to design, develop and maintain their investments while landscaping contractors are learning how to grab their share of this high growth market,” he said.

Gulf Landscaping is an exhibition for the booming Middle East outdoor design and landscaping architecture industries. The event is designed to generate business leads for companies in the landscaping business.

The exhibition will serve as a sourcing platform and networking event for the regions landscape architects, developers, contractors and other key buyers, to enable them to select products, services and solutions for the huge number of major developments in the commercial, retail, leisure and residential sectors, as well as city parks and highways.

The event will be co-located with Working Buildings Middle East and Fit-Out Middle East to enable those involved in the development and delivery of this major growth industry to meet their landscaping and outdoor architecture needs in one visit.

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Abu Dhabi, June 2 (IANS) Driven by a construction boom, the market for landscape designing in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is expected to grow to well over 60 billion UAE dirhams (about $16 billion) in the next two years, WAM news agency reported Monday. The commercial and residential designing projects in the Arab federation are set to exceed 60 billion UAE dirhams by 2010, the news agency quoted Britain’s CMPi, a leading landscaping firm, as saying.

“With the advent of international players in the sector, the local landscape designers and builders realise that there’s more to growth than sunshine, soil and water,” CMPi group director, Chris Fountain, said.

He said the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is beginning to value the outdoors, and landscaping professionals are now in big demand.

“Many households have turned to landscaping services to design, develop and maintain their investments, while landscaping contractors are learning how to grab their share of this high growth market,” he said.

CMPi will organise an exhibition Nov 17-18 on outdoor design and architecture in the Middle East. The event is being organised to generate business ideas for the landscape designing companies.

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the average household spent more than $400 for garden-related items. Landscaping grew by 19 percent, water gardening by 49 percent, fruit tree planting by 26 percent and vegetable gardening by 1 percent. Experts watch sales and several other areas to distinguish trends.

Why are they important? Garden and landscape trends shape consumer choices for the next year and years to come.

I mentioned last year after returning from the International Master Gardeners Conference in Little Rock that green gardening was the undertone of many of the speakers. For 2008, the Garden Media Group identified going green as the No. 1 global trend, professional trend-watchers for the gardening industry.

“Environmentally savvy homeowners know that it’s not just good enough to live an environmentally friendly lifestyle; you’ve got to be environmentally responsible ” said Garden Media’s Susan McCoy.

Gardeners want to find ways to conserve water, use locally produced or recycled materials and use environmentally responsible maintenance procedures.

Eco-chic is the buzzword for gardens designed and maintained in an ecology friendly manner. Gardeners are recycling plastic pots, composting and using rain barrels to catch rainwater. To restore balance in nature, they are creating feeding spots for birds and planting flowers so that bees, ladybugs and beneficial insects have fruit and nectar to eat.

Water gardening is still trendy. However, it is not necessary to have a huge water feature. In fact, wasting water is out. New smaller scale fountains and ponds are en vogue. They use less water, require less maintenance and can be more interesting in a home landscape. Pondless waterfalls are an option as are tabletop and recirculating fountains.

Many gardeners are opting for less grass in smart and easy landscapes. They are adding stamped concrete patios, walks and driveways. Turfless landscapes are showing up as gardeners install rocks, shrubs, trees and ground covers rather than traditional grass lawns. More expensive initially, it will save time, money and energy in maintenance, especially if combined with a drip irrigation system. Natives show up frequently in low maintenance gardens as well as ornamental grasses.

Half of this country’s consumers say that a lack of time is a bigger issue than a lack of money. The landscape service industry is exploding as homeowners who have purchased homes with large landscaped lawns just cannot find time to maintain the outdoor aspects. Full-grown plants and trees are hot sellers for homeowners too impatient to wait for smaller ones to naturally mature in the landscape.

Outdoor rooms take center stage in gardening trends. For the past five years, outdoor living and decorating were cited as the top two mega trends. In 2007, $6.2 billion was spent on outdoor furniture, accessories and grills. More than a million outdoor kitchens were constructed, and upscale homeowners opted for construction of gazebos near their outdoor pools. Stylish table lamps, special submersible lighting for fountains and dramatic illumination options are now on the market as a result of interest in outdoor living projects.

Simplicity is in with a new twist on the monochromatic slant. One basic color theme dominates a bed or pot with foliage plants and succulents, many of them variegated, used as accents. Landscaping Services A ratio of 60 percent of a primary color, 30 percent of a secondary color and 10 percent of accent color is attractive for a pot or bed. Big is beautiful these days. Big plants in big containers with big bold color are being used to create stylish pot scapes.

The “slo” food movement is growing, according to Landscape and Garden Consultant Adele Kleine.

“This philosophy reduces dependence on convenience and processed fast food. One of the purposes of gardening is to encourage adults and children to feel better emotionally and to inspire them to take more control over what they consume. That’s what slo food does,” Kleine said.

Farmers markets and organic food stands are part of this movement, as well as home vegetable gardening. Garden sales via the Internet are increasing dramatically. This year, sales are expected to equal or exceed catalog sales, growing from $7 million in 2007 to more than $10 million.

Consumers jump on the bandwagon for products that are new and hot, so growers will continue to introduce hundreds of new plants each year to meet consumer demands. Organic pesticides, fertilizers, eco-friendly products and drought tolerant and/or pest-resistant plants, many of which are container suitable - plus more native options - are expected to be big sellers this year.

Hopefully, these eco-friendly trends are not merely fads that will fade with time Landscaping Services. We all can be responsible caretakers of the environment, but need readily accessible products to help us do so.

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Meet with landscape designers at 10 private gardens and landscapes they designed and installed from Southern Marin to San Rafael, Terra Linda and Novato. These gorgeous, well-established gardens may feature a stone fountain, pond, waterfall or beehive.

Whether your garden has shaded or sunny areas you will get great ideas for successful plant combinations. Tour gardens are diverse, but all are pesticide-free.

Gardens may feature a creek with stabilization project, steep terraced hillsides with oaks, redwood and fern bordered rock creeks, succulents and ornamental grasses, fruit trees, lawns, herbs and medicinal plants or flat meadow areas. Some are Asian or English garden-influenced with a California twist. See ways to better use rain and irrigation water on your property.

Learn how the right plants and planting can reduce fire danger around your home. Garden includes natives and other Mediterranean summer-dry climate plants.

Discounts to visitors are offered on landscaping services. Refreshments provided and free resource booklets and other garden experts are available at each site to answer questions.

Marin’s Eco-Friendly Garden Tour Sat., May 17 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Featured designers include PlannedLand, Jeannine White; Edger Landscape Design; EcoScapes, Leslie Patton; Quinn’s California Landscapes; Blume & Dean Landscape; Equinox Landscape; California Native Landscapes; EcoLogic Landscaping, Leith Carstarphen; Reilly Designs and Art Gardens Landscape Company.

Registration required, directions provided at time of registration: Call Gina Purin of MCSTOPPP at 499-3202. Cost: $15 per adult.

Support Community Gardens with City Council

The cost of fresh fruit and vegetables is going through the roof. Many children have lost their connection to the earth and its seasons. Seniors have become increasingly isolated. People from all walks of life have little or no access to garden space, whether apartment renters or folks who own condos, townhomes or McMansions. Community gardens bring people together, provide opportunities for socialization and education on healthy gardening and eating.

Please contact the Novato City Council and let them know you support community gardens. The Garden Committee has identified two good potential locations. Novato covers a large geographic area and one garden would be a great start, whichever location they choose.

For little cost to the city, it will bring great benefit to Novato residents. Individuals including seniors and families with children will be able to experience the pleasure of gardening, the health benefits of garden exercise and fresh, pesticide-free food.

The Novato Community Garden Committee has been working with the city and other groups to find a permanent location. They received grant funding through the Kaiser Foundation and Supervisor Judy Arnold that will help the gardens get off the ground. Ongoing funding for insurance and water management will be provided by nominal annual garden plot rental fees.

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Theres nothing like smelling the perfume of flowers and witnessing lush greenery right in your courtyard! Outdoor living, with aesthetic utility, is at its best when nature dazzles the eye and nurtures the soul, explains Neera Gulati

Retreat spaces is what I would call them. Landscaping Services  If you have your own land and are building an independent house for yourself and the family, it would be a wonderful idea for you to create a living space away from your main house, which would be a sanctuary you will want to remove from the house to create a sense of privacy and solace. In this busy world, you would love to be away from the busy household chores and create a space outside your house, that is either in the garden area or a backyard. Or if there is space constraint, you could do something in a balcony or a terrace.

One of the most popular outdoor spaces is the outdoor dining room and kitchen. Plans for outdoor dining rooms can range from the basic to the outrageous, depending on your inclination and budget. Merely placing tables and chairs to take advantage of (or to avoid) the sun, with a barbecue set up nearby, may be all you need.

Even so, consider accents to dress up the space, like container gardens and solar powered lights. If you want to go broke, install an entire outdoor kitchen with weatherproof cabinets and appliances to form the ‘walls’ or boundaries of the space which you can then dress up with lively tiles and a dining set, and use a pergola to provide shade and some cover. Outdoor living spaces are often the only access to nature that the modern lifestyle affords. You can create natural spaces at home. It certainly isn’t difficult to build outdoor living spaces. But it does take an appreciation for the ‘divide and conquer’ approach. We take it for granted that our houses are divided into rooms, but the concept for having similar outdoor living spaces may sound odd.

At first indeed, the biggest obstacle standing in most people’s way is that it just doesn’t occur to them to divide up a yard so as to maximize their enjoyment of it. The more conscious we become of outdoor living spaces, the more we can tailor them to suit our needs. Having separate outdoor spaces allows you to create mini landscape designs. Just as you can paint or wallpaper an indoor room using a colour scheme unique to that room, so also you can use colour to make individualised statements for each of your outdoor living spaces. But here, instead of paint or wallpaper, you determine your colour scheme when you select the plants you’ll be using for the area. Proper application of colour theory in landscape design can even influence mood and perception.

More the merrier

The materials which you can use for outdoor living spaces can be different from the indoor rooms. For floors, for eg, you could use grass, patios or decks. For the walls, you could use formal hedges, fences or informal hedges. For the ceiling pergolas, decorative canvas canopies, awnings or lawn umbrellas will be great. Keep both aesthetics and function in mind when constructing outdoor rooms. But in areas dedicated to physical activity, if you have to choose between the two, focus on function. Never compromise on safety. You can make up for compromises in aesthetics later, when you accessorize your outdoor rooms.

Below are examples of outdoor rooms and how to put them together.

Pool areas: Landscaping around swimming pools presents specific challenges regarding safety, maintenance and  privacy. You don’t want people slipping on anything, you don’t want to spend all your time cleaning the debris, and you don’t want the neighbours peering in at you. In selecting a ‘wall’ to enclose the area, all of these considerations come into play. ‘Floor‘ in pool areas must be slip-resistant.

Meditation areas: For meditation gardens, (which is a wonderful way to de stress from your busy schedule), privacy is very much an issue. Here reflection, not physical activity, takes centre stage. Aesthetic consideration, consequently, will carry greater weight. Most people find plants more relaxing than hardscape, so consider planting hedges to form the wall of such outdoor rooms. For a floor, consider a combination of natural materials.

In meditation gardens, a ceiling may come in quite handy. Here, you’ll choose between aesthetics and functionality. A vine covered arbour may be more inspiring to gaze up at, than a lawn umbrella, but the latter will keep you and the books you may be reading, dry. If you’d like something more solid than an umbrella, consider installing a pergola and covering it with fibreglass. But water shouldn’t be banned from contemplative outdoor rooms. If there’s any place in your yard for accessories such as garden fountains and waterfalls, surely its here. There is nothing like the soothing sound of bubbling water to put you into a reflective mood.

You could also create an living room outside. Deck it up with cozy furniture, speakers and ambient lighting, with plants of your choice, and you would love to use this place, all the year round.

Nowadays, most people want to live and entertain in a much more informal atmosphere. Guests also would love to gravitate towards the great room, which blends into the kitchen and outdoor living spaces.

These outdoor dining spaces should reflect the informal yet stylish design of the interior great rooms. Create an outdoor retreat that allows you and your guests to spill outside from the room. Don’t be afraid to mix chandeliers and old antiques outdoors, especially in outdoor dining areas. Utilise a touch of indoor style and unify the space by adding outdoor drapes, pillows and rugs to complete the look.

The use of colour, pattern and texture in fabrics is an excellent way to reflect the indoor space. Add colourful elements by choosing flowering plants to accent containers scattered throughout the outdoor living space.  Mix and match materials in these outdoor settings, juxtapose wrought iron with glass, steel with terracotta, wood against woven components. Outdoor living is at its best when nature dazzles the eye and nurtures the soul. Create your perfect casual environment out.

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Gardening with native plants - that is, with species that grew here before the first settlers arrived from Europe - has always had its supporters, Landscaping Services but it’s a trend that’s getting stronger as part of the eco-friendly movement. Advocates argue that because native species have adapted to local conditions, they’re easier to grow, less likely to invade other parts of the garden, and require less water, pesticides and fertilizers. They also maintain that native plants are the best choice to attract birds, butterflies and other wildlife.

Does this mean we should dig up our non-native perennials and shrubs and replace them with ferns, trilliums, and maples? Not according to two Ottawa garden experts. They say that while native plants do offer advantages, the most practical approach — and sometimes the most eco-friendly — is to integrate them with non-native species, finding the best location for each plant.

“There are a lot of generalizations about native plants, but these aren’t always true,” says Eva Schmitz, owner of Artistic Landscape Design. Take the statement that native plants are hardier. “A species from a country like Russia may be just as hardy as a Canadian native, perhaps hardier,” she says. Nor are native plants necessarily less invasive.

“Some natives spread very quickly,” says Adele Courville, design centre manager at Rockcliffe Landscaping. “An aggressive, self-seeding native may be fine for a woodland area, but not for an urban garden. You can try to stop a plant from spreading by creating a barrier below the soil surface, but in time, it will over-root and won’t survive.” While she believes that native plants are the best for wildlife,

Ms. Schmitz considers this to be a generalization, too. “Birds and bees are attracted by colour and shape. They don’t avoid a plant because it’s originally from Europe or Asia.”

Rather than focusing on whether it’s native or not, both women stress the importance of picking plants that will suit their location in the garden. How well any plant does, they say, depends on whether you have the light, moisture, soil and other conditions it needs. Native white spruce, for example, flourishes

in the forest, but can’t take city pollution; red lobelia thrives in water, but will die in a dry location. “Many native Ontario plants grow in woodlands with rich,

organic soil and plenty of water and shade,” Ms. Courville notes. “They won’t succeed in dry, full sun environment.You must provide similar conditions or a native species can wind up being high maintenance.”

In the wrong space, natives may be as susceptible to disease as other plants. “If you have a native, upright phlox in an area with poor circulation, it will get mildew,” Eva Schmitz says. “Again, it’s about putting the right plant in the right location and keeping it healthy. That’s also the best way to eliminate the use of toxins such as pesticides. I don’t spray any plant.”

Besides being a practical solution for many gardens, integrating native plants with other species boosts can boost variety and visual appeal. Natives can be straggly and inconspicous-looking, and depending on the plant, may take as long as five years to bloom. “Natives that have been hybridized often provide bigger blooms,” Ms. Schmitz observes. “They may also be taller, more compact, and have stronger stems and healthier leaves. In fact, native plants can be made richer with hybridized versions.”

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Passers-Landscaping Services by through downtown will see some changes this week as the town gears up for summer.

Public Works Director Rob Desmarais and his whole department will be out working in the Millyard and downtown area, starting today.

An annual occurrence, this year’s spring cleanup of the downtown will include even more extensive maintenance, he said.

“We’re pulling in basically everybody we’ve got,” Desmarais said.

Crews will clean and repair sidewalks and curbing, fill potholes, repair handrails, remove graffiti. Landscaping, planting, mulching and weeding will also be done.

“My plan is to do this every year,” Desmarais said.

Attending the Finance Committee last week, Jane Snow of Fern Avenue told the committee she was in favor of giving the Municipal Council a raise – with some stipulations.

While the current $1,200 is low for the amount of time and effort put into the position, she said, a jump to the proposed $5,000 is “a bit much.”

Snow said she favors a smaller increase if that amount includes all the costs related to attending training and professional development conferences, and if it were based on attendance.

In past years, it has been frustrating to see councilors not attend meetings with certain financial matters or ordinances on the agenda, Snow said.

Finance Committee Chairman Allen Neale said there are times councilors can’t attend a meeting but that does not mean they are not engaged in the topic at hand or what is being discussed. Councilors still take the time to research and look into the matters or will send along their thoughts, he said.

The Finance Committee ultimately agreed to recommend that councilors get a $3,000 stipend, with the president getting $4,000. The Municipal Council will vote on whether to grant the raise at an upcoming meeting.

While town officials say that the closed Mobil station on Route 110 will soon reopen as a Sunoco, another Elm Street property remains for sale.

Woody Cammett of Cammett Engineering said last week he is selling his property at 295-297 Elm St. The 1.58 acres of commercial land is for sale for $1.6 million and includes three buildings. The property is included on the land known as the Golden Triangle.

Cammett said Friday he put the property up for sale in December/January after getting his last tax bill.

Landscaping Services “It’s just time to sell,” he said. Cammett has owned the property since 1986, he said.

A few years after it was first proposed, a historic carriage barn was taken down last week at the property of Rogers Funeral Home on Hillside Avenue.

The carriage house dated back to the 1890s when carriage-maker Thomas Clark lived in the Hillside Avenue home. The windowed building, which connected to the funeral home via a ramp, had problems due to its age. There was no foundation, and the wooden floor sagged and was soft in some spots.

The Historical Commission granted its approval for owner Paul Rogers to remove the structure in 2006. A legal dispute between the funeral home and its neighbor delayed the removal, but that case was recently settled.

Rogers plans to construct another building in the same spot that will allow for additional rooms at the funeral home. The new building will be designed to mirror the old carriage house and will be slightly higher than the barn in order to be level with the funeral home. A hallway will replace the ramp in order to allow visitors to walk through to the other rooms.

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When the wealthy jet off on holiday, someone has to live in their beautiful homes and look after their animals. Brenda Webb spends a winter caring for precious and pampered English pets.

Imagine spending a few weeks in a beautifully converted barn in the gorgeous Surrey countryside with all mod cons, including cars, at your disposal.

The only exertion involves feeding and exercising the clients’ well-trained field Labradors twice a day. Walking the dogs is a sheer delight in this stunning rural landscape.

Or perhaps a week in a luxurious four-storey apartment on the banks of the River Thames in London, complete with indoor heated swimming pool and a fully equipped gymnasium.

And the chores here? Caring for the owners’ ancient Airedale terriers that sleep most of the time, but tag along for a quiet stroll along the Thames towpath in the late afternoon sunshine.

Believe it or not, I get paid to do this!

Welcome to the world of Animal Aunts a Hampshire based agency that specializes in providing animal sitters for wealthy English and European clients.

Being wealthy is a prerequisite, with fees ranging from $150 a day for a dog and cat to $300 plus for six stabled horses.

On top of that the client pays travelling expenses, food costs and extra fees if the horses need to be exercised ($20 per horse per day).

With an equestrian and farming background, partner David Morgan and I have found ourselves in demand since being accepted as Animal Aunts two years ago.

Spending a few months animal sitting has been a fantastic way to see the English countryside and fill in the time while our yacht Bandit is on the hard.

It’s also intriguing, as you never quite know where you will be sent or what you will be looking after.

We’ve been lucky to have had some fantastic sits in beautiful homes ranging from plush apartments in exclusive London suburbs to rambling houses on grand country estates in the heart of rural England.

Our charges have included all manner of dogs dachshunds, Dalmatians, retrievers, Labradors, Jack Russell terriers, a lurcher, a Great Dane, a Rhodesian ridgeback, Landscaping Services a golden doodle (poodle retriever cross), a labradoodle, setters and a variety of mongrels.

We’ve had top-level dressage horses, hacks and hunters, a stallion, unbroken horses and exquisite show ponies.

Catwise there have been Persians, Siamese, Burmese, Birmin, Rag dolls, a Chinchilla, British Blue, Maine Coones, plain old moggies and an assortment of other creatures such as goldfish, geese, ducks, swans and reptiles.

Being passionate about horses and a lover of the countryside,Landscaping Services  it is the equestrian sits I’ve enjoyed the most, my favourite being a fantastic property in Hertfordshire where the charges are seven delightful dogs and six horses.

The beautifully mannered dressage hacks and expensive show ponies live the life of luxury in immaculate stables with two grooms to attend to their every need, except the early-morning and late-night feeds, a task which fell to us.

We find that most of our clients have a full complement of staff including cleaners, gardeners, handymen, secretaries and grooms.

Our presence is often simply to ensure the household continues running as usual and, most importantly, the animals’ routine is not disturbed.

One client even had a dog walker who came in each day to walk the dog.

Another had a cleaner for eight hours twice a week, making me totally redundant in the housework department no complaints there!

Sometimes we have to pinch ourselves to believe that we are being paid to do this.

But, naturally, there have been a few horror stories, including a cat that insisted on peeing inside despite my best attempts to persuade it not to.

Then there was the 10-week-old Rhodesian ridgeback puppy that just couldn’t get the hang of toilet training at least three frustrating times a day there was a mess for us to clean up.

Most English dogs have complete run of the house and sleep on the beds and furniture, which I still struggle with, especially when they leave their fur and hair everywhere.

It’s a big responsibility looking after client’s precious and pampered pooches and there have been a couple of heart-stopping moments.

The worst was when a valuable and beloved Tibetan terrier that the clients had insisted “never strays” ran off at night. I spent several hours wandering the streets on a freezing and foggy December night looking for it, realising that my days as an Animal Aunt were probably well and truly over.

When I finally returned cold and wet the dog was sitting at the back door waiting for me. Needless to say, it never went off the lead again.

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The Springfield Planning and Zoning Commission is currently accepting nominations for the 2008 Landscape Awards.

The awards honor developments which demonstrate quality landscaping that brings beauty to the city of Springfield, enhancing the community’s quality of life.

Nominations are not limited to sites landscaped during the past year, Landscaping Services but may include developments in which matured landscaping further illustrates the value of plantings. The nominated sites must be located within the Springfield city limits. The deadline for nominations is in August. People may submit more than one nomination.

Nominations may be made in any of the following categories:

1. Major Improvement or Rehabilitation of an Existing Site. This category addresses conversion or redevelopment of an existing site such as the Chestnut Center, Landscaping Services a commercial center in the 500 block of West Chestnut Expressway.

2. Retail Establishment or General. This category includes overall development of a retail site. Sites such as Hammons Field and About Faces Photography have been nominated in the past.

3. Manufacturing or Office Establishment. This category includes overall development of a manufacturing or office establishment. Bank One was the 2007 winner.

4. Residential Subdivision/Neighborhood or Mixed-Use Developments. This category looks at landscaping interspersed throughout a subdivision that is either under common ownership or owned by the general developer and planned developments. An example of a past winner is Old Monterey Apartment Community.

5. Residence — Single Family. This category covers landscaping of single-family residences that can be seen from the street. An example of a previous winner is David & Harriet Fesperman, 2355 E. Galloway St.

6. Public Properties. This category includes publicly owned properties and grounds. An example of a past winner is National Heights Baptist Church, 3050 N. National Ave.

7. Special Recognition Certificate. This category covers those properties that may not easily fit another category or may have been nominated and, though not a winner, nonetheless deserve recognition for their effort. In 2006 there were six single-family residence nominees that received special recognition for their landscaping efforts.

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Generations of knowledge have been passed down through the Carson family to form the basis of Audubon Organics.

“My father taught me everything he knows,” says owner Kevin Carson. “He taught me what his father taught him.”

The young owner has learned a lot from working in the family business, Landscaping Services it’s where his entrepreneur roots were firmly planted. Kevin began the solo endeavor of creating Audubon Organics in 2001.

Backed by working knowledge in the family’s construction company, H.E. Carson & Sons, Kevin kept busy doing everything from landscaping to building roads. After obtaining his University degree, he decided to view the roads from a different perspective than construction.

“When I finished University, I drove across Canada and the United States and ended up in New Orleans during Mardi Gras,” he recalls. “While I was there I went to the Audubon Zoo. I immediately liked the name Audubon and thought it would be a good name for my company.”

Carson who always aspired to start a construction company also had a passion for landscaping.

“The Audubon Zoo is named after the Audubon Society, which does a lot for nature, it seemed like the perfect fit,” he says, and beginning with sand, gravel and a small trucking company, Audubon Development was born.

When the opportunity to acquire a considerable amount of mulch was provided, Kevin took the bait and bought into the market.

“I purchased a pile of mulch which had been composted for 40-50 years,” he says, noting that the aging process provides a healthy environment for the product. “You can’t buy time, and there is no substitute for age.”

The trucks, which were part of the company, became useful as a vehicle for selling Kevin’s wares. It could all be sold out of the back of his trucks. After the first year the company grew, and as it did, his topsoil became a number one seller. The company became too busy for one person.

“The second year I had to hire someone to take phone calls and hired a couple of drivers to deliver,” shares the owner. “Now there are 12 full-time seasonal staff.”

Landscaping Services All Audubon Organics products are high quality and they have one of the only tumble screens around, which makes the topsoil fluffier and easier to work with, easier to spread.

“Most places use a high volume of peat moss as a filler,” Kevin says. “We use true topsoil that is not manufactured.”

The landscape occupied by Audubon Organics at 655 Mapleton Road is filled with triangle shaped piles of product. Although they wear a protective cover due to the season, the business is ready to open the first day of May.

Audubon Organics cater to the individual and the industrial market.

“We have U-Bag services where if you don’t want a truck load of soil you can bag your own,” Kevin explains. Landscaping Services “A lot of people come in with a trailer and fill it up. For large quantities, we deliver.”

The company also sells decorative stone, and crushed stone for driveways. Although Kevin has other companies, Audubon Organics is the pet, which he started from the ground up.

“I enjoy working with people, educating people about lawn and development,” he says. “When I see a healthy lawn of someone we sold product to, knowing that we helped contribute to their success makes me satisfied.”

Tags: amp, compost, family business, gravel, landscape, Landscaping, landscaping service, Landscaping Services, mulch, Services, soil, trucking company
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