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Author: Marisa Palmieri

Marisa Palmieri

Marisa Palmieri

Marisa Palmieri is an experienced Green Industry editor who's won numerous awards for her coverage of the landscape and golf course markets from the Turf & Ornamental Communicators Association (TOCA), the Press Club of Cleveland and the American Society of Business Publication Editors (ASBPE). In 2007, ASBPE named her a Young Leader. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Journalism, cum laude, from Ohio University’s Scripps School of Journalism.

LM150 list: Call for submissions

Update, 4/9: The entry deadline has been extended to April 19. Landscape Management is accepting submissions for its LM150 list. Entries are due by April 2 April 16. The LM150 is a list of the largest landscape companies ranked by annual revenue. LM has published the list annually since 2009. It has grown to include […]

Photo: Kelly Limpert

Geared up for growth

Entrepreneur, coach, author and speaker Andy Bailey kicked off his keynote session at the LM Growth Summit with a quote credited to legendary NFL coach Tom Landry: “A coach is someone who tells you what you don’t want to hear, who has you see what you don’t want to see, so that you may become […]

Troubleshooting common mulch problems

Most landscape professionals understand mulching is one of the most important ways to maintain healthy landscape plants. When applied correctly, mulch prevents water evaporation from the soil, reduces weed growth, helps maintain an even soil temperature and provides many more benefits. But, mulching is not without its problems. Here are a few common mulching pitfalls […]

Editor’s Note: Agree to agree

I don’t typically like to ask readers to immediately skip all the way to the end of the magazine, but this issue, I encourage you to make your way to the “words of wisdom” section at the bottom of the Backstory department. This month the advice is delivered by Jessica Milligan, general manager and vice […]

Bland Landscaping is latest to get private equity backing

Apex, N.C.-based Bland Landscaping Co. formed a financial partnership with Prospect Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm. Brothers and second-generation owners Kurt Bland, CEO, and Matt Bland, CFO and COO, will continue to lead the company. They retain “significant ownership” in the firm, which is expected to serve as a platform for growth and acquisitions. […]

Photo: Landscape Management

GIE+EXPO: A telling trade show

If the landscape industry’s largest trade show is any indication of how the market is doing, things are going well. This year’s GIE+EXPO, held annually in Louisville, Ky., topped the last three years’ records in both attendance and exhibitors with more than 24,000 people from around the world, representing a 7 percent increase over 2016. […]

Industry Pulse: Another great year

Editor’s Note: All graphs in this post can be enlarged by simply clicking the image. “It’s an incredible market.” “I don’t see it slowing.” “There’s lots of work out there.” These are just a few comments we received anecdotally from readers when conducting our annual LM Industry Pulse report. The survey results displayed within this […]

Editor’s Note: Tough to ignore

It’s difficult to ignore the news about prominent people losing their jobs over allegations of sexual misconduct in the workplace. Today it happens to be NBC’s Matt Lauer, but in the past few months, many other members of Hollywood, the media, the business world and politics have been accused of sexual harassment and much worse. […]

West Coast tree company transitions to employee ownership

Arborwell transitioned to employee ownership by becoming a 100 percent Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) Trust, on Jan. 1. The Hayward, Calif.-based tree care company’s 200 employees became beneficial owners through the ESOP. Peter Sortwell, founder of Arborwell, views this as a natural step consistent with the firms’ recognition of employee contributions to the success […]

Photos: Tony Ventouris

Double duty

What you can learn from a landscape company that survived the year both of its owners were deployed. “Oh boy, what do we do now?” Larkin Scott III recalls having this thought in the summer of 2015 when he found out that he’d be deployed for the third time in his role as a Black Hawk […]

Editor’s Note: Ready to serve

“I don’t know how you did it when your husband was deployed,” a coworker said to me the other day. His wife was out of town and he was fending for himself at home for the first time with their new baby. Honestly, the year my husband was deployed to Afghanistan with the Ohio National […]

Yellowstone acquires Heads Up Landscape

Yellowstone Landscape, based in Bunnell, Fla., acquired Heads Up Landscape in Albuquerque, N.M. Terms were not disclosed. Yellowstone ranks No. 9 on the 2017 LM150 list of largest landscape companies with $137,500,000 in 2016 revenue. The company performs landscape maintenance, design, installation, tree care and irrigation services for commercial clients in Georgia, Florida, Texas, North Carolina […]

Court approves $4.7M OT case settlement for former Brickman supervisors

Earlier this month, a Pennsylvania court approved a nearly $5 million overtime case settlement against The Brickman Group, now BrightView. The class/collective action settlement resolves the case, Acevedo, et al. v. Brightview Landscapes, which was filed against Brickman Group in October 2013. It alleged the company underpaid overtime to its salary-paid supervisors by paying only half-time […]

How to improve your chances of winning awards for your landscape work

Follow these tips to improve your chances of winning awards for your landscape work. This month at the Landscapes 2017 conference in Louisville, Ky., the National Association of Landscape Professionals will honor companies during its Awards of Excellence dinner. Companies from around the country compete in multiple categories to be considered among the “best of […]

Editor’s Note: Back to basics

Another year, another edition of the LM Business Planner. We’ve covered various themes in our annual growth-focused issue over the years. For 2017, we thought we’d go “back to basics.” We asked our expert contributors to choose and address the fundamentals they believe are vital for landscape business owners—whether they’re novices or veterans—to keep in […]

SavATree scoops up Swingle in pursuit of ‘national brand’ status

Bedford Hills, N.Y.-based SavATree merged with Denver-based Swingle Lawn, Tree & Landscape Care. Terms were not disclosed for the deal, which is a step toward SavATree’s vision of building a national brand. SavATree ranked No. 15 on the 2017 LM150 list of largest landscape companies with nearly $90 million in 2016 revenue. Swingle ranked No. […]

Denver Post details CoCal’s labor woes, H-2B use

Earlier this month The Denver Post chronicled CoCal Landscape’s recruitment efforts, which included attempting to hire American workers and ultimately relying on the H-2B guest-worker visa program. CoCal’s story, the article said, “encapsulates the complex relationship between American employers and temporary foreign workers.” Over the past 25 years, Jesus “Chuy” Medrano—the founder of CoCal who immigrated […]

Chenmark invests in Maffei Landscape Contractors

Maffei Landscape Contractors, based in Mashpee, Mass., partnered with Chenmark Capital Management, based in Portland, Maine. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. Founder and CEO Robert Maffei, who began Maffei Landscape while in high school in 1991, will remain CEO. The full-service company has more than 100 employees. Chenmark Capital is a family investment firm […]

TruGreen acquires Turf Masters in Northeast

In addition to recently rolling up Nashua, N.H.-based Lawn Dawg, lawn care giant TruGreen acquired Turf Masters, based in South Windsor, Conn. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. “The Turf Masters acquisition allows us to expand our presence and build the TruGreen brand in one of our most important and strategic regions of the […]

Campanella: TruGreen buying Lawn Dawg is ‘bittersweet’

TruGreen acquired Nashua, N.H.-based Lawn Dawg last week. Terms were not disclosed for the transaction that Lawn Dawg President Jim Campanella called “bittersweet.” Lawn Dawg adds about 26,000 customers and $15 million in annual revenue to Memphis, Tenn.-based TruGreen, which did more than $1.3 billion in 2016 revenue and ranks No. 2 on the 2017 […]

Amvac acquires OHP

American Vanguard Corp.’s wholly owned subsidiary Amvac Chemical Corp. will acquire OHP, a supplier of pesticides for the greenhouse and nursery markets. Terms of the deal, which is expected to close Oct. 2., were not disclosed. “We are extremely excited to have OHP become a significant part of Amvac’s noncrop business,” Amvac COO Bob Trogele said. […]

Pro Lawn-Plus/All Seasons Pest acquired by Bug Out Service

Jacksonville, Fla.-based Bug Out Service, a brand of Environmental Pest Service, has acquired Jacksonville-based Pro Lawn-Plus/All Seasons Pest Control. The merger expands Bug Out’s presence in this market and adds more than $1 million in annual revenue and 3,600 customers. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. “Bug Out is proud to welcome Pro Lawn-Plus/All […]

Editor’s Note: Good form

Want to make all your managers self-conscious at one time? Talk to them about business etiquette at a company meeting. That’s what our CEO did last month at our annual sales and editorial training meeting. I know his intent was to inform—not to make us squirm—but nothing ever has made me flash back through my […]

Handbook Q&A: Chris + Sarah Coleman

Chris + Sarah Coleman Four Seasons Nursery & Landscape Services Bel Air, Md. LM: What’s your approach to an employee handbook? SC: The handbook was one of the first things we wrote up when we purchased the company from my mother-in-law four years ago. I took what I knew from being in a totally separate […]

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