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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.

photo: Kelly Limpert

Backstory: Mike Mason

Mike Mason Vice President/COO The LawnPro Louisville, Kentucky Education Jeffersontown High School Louisville, Ky. Class of 1993 University of Kentucky 1993-1994 University of Louisville Louisville, Ky. Bachelor of Science in Business Administration & Finance Class of 2003 “I started in accounting and moved over to finance. It just fit the way my mind works.” Did […]

Reliable, TR Gear acquired by Five Seasons

Two Midwest commercial landscape and snow removal companies have been acquired by Five Seasons Property Management. Five Seasons is a new company based in Southeastern Pennsylvania. It acquired Reliable Property Services, based in St. Paul, Minn., in July, followed by TR Gear Landscaping, based in Fairfield, Ohio, late last month. “I look forward to working […]

Planning & pink

As you can see from this month’s cover, it’s our 12th annual Business Planner. This is the issue where we tap an array of industry experts to cover topics vital to growth. This year, we specifically asked them to write about the things they believe you must do during your planning period to have a […]

In the weeds

Atlanta-based Top Turf shares how it strives to achieve quality by focusing on weed control. If there’s anything Kevin Bryan has learned in his 22 years running Top Turf, it’s this: success boils down to quality. And for Top Turf, that means focusing on weed control and employees. “Business-wise, the biggest challenge is always getting […]

NALP launches consumer awareness campaign

The National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP) launched a consumer awareness campaign and seeks to raise $1 million per year to fund it. Dubbed the Industry Growth Initiative (IGI), the program is designed to create demand for professional landscape services, increase the size of the industry’s labor pool and defend the industry from activists’ attacks. […]

XYZ Landscaping Company

Licensed to landscape

Should states require landscape contractor licensing? We look 
at the pros and cons. In a perfect world, Greg Winchel would be all for licensure in the green industry. The owner of Winchel Irrigation based in Grandville, Mich., sees the benefits: increased professionalism, consumer protection, the ability to raise prices and more. But the world isn’t […]

Just say it

Attend enough conferences about the landscape industry (or write enough stories about it) and you begin to hear many pieces of business wisdom repeated over and over. Much of it’s good and galvanizing when you hear it the first time. Some of it, though, starts to sound trite when you hear it repeatedly. That said, […]

TruGreen acquires Noon Turf Care

TruGreen acquired Marlborough, Mass.-based Noon Turf Care. The companies announced they “joined forces” in a notice posted at NoonTurfCare.com. “By combining the resources of both companies, our customers will continue to receive the same excellence in programs and services that they’ve come to expect over the years from Noon,” it said. “Customers will begin to […]

Yellowstone Landscape drops legacy brand names

Austin Outdoor and Bio Landscape, the two companies that make up Yellowstone Landscape Group, are unifying under one brand: Yellowstone Landscape. CEO Tim Portland shared the news in a client announcement, which was posted on the company’s website Aug. 27. The company also got a new logo and updated its color scheme. Yellowstone Landscape, which […]

Actively seeking solutions

As many turf and ornamental pesticide active ingredients have gone off patent, LCOs have more choices when it comes to product selection. How do you decide whether 
to use a patented or off-patent pesticide product? 1. Consider profitability. Most lawn care companies operate on slim margins and are affected by factors outside their operational control—such […]

Getting to the root

Did you know Andrew Jackson Downing pioneered the use of lawns around homes, and Frederick Law Olmsted promoted them by including turfgrass in public space designs? Or that four of the top five food crops are grasses? (Sugar cane, corn, wheat and rice.) Neither did I, until late last month when I attended the Grass […]

Backstory: Jason Case

Jason Case President Case Snow Management North Attleboro, Mass. Education Attleboro High School Attleboro, Mass. Class of 1998 In high school, Case played on a state championship basketball team. Saint Anselm College Manchester, N.H. Bachelor of Science Business Class of 2003 Northeastern University Boston Certification, Construction 
Project Management 2003-2004 Did you know? Case and his […]

Sun Valley Landscaping’s KPI pursuit

As part of its pursuit to run its business by the book “Mastering the Rockefeller Habits,” the team at Sun Valley Landscaping is working on implementing key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure its success. (Omaha, Neb.-based Sun Valley Landscaping was featured in the LM July 2015 cover story “Committed to the core.”) “I’ll start by […]

Destination Sun Valley

As Sun Valley Landscaping grows, its owners have big plans for how they’ll continue to develop their property. The company, which was featured in the July 2015 cover story, sits on the same five acres of land where one of its legacy companies, Sun Valley Hardscape Design, has been located for 20 years. Currently, the […]

Web Extra: Sun Valley’s marketing play

The motto–and marketing message–at Sun Valley Landscaping, featured in the July 2015 LM cover story, is “Landscapes for Life.” The company has parlayed that maxim into a partnership with the Omaha Storm Chasers, the Kansas City Royals AAA affiliate, which plays at 4-year-old Werner Park. For the last three seasons, Sun Valley has sponsored the […]

Volunteers spruce up Arlington for 19th year

Can you imagine Arlington National Cemetery without turf or trees? Scott Jamieson posed that question on July 20 during his opening remarks at the National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP) Renewal & Remembrance event in Washington, D.C. Jamieson, vice president of Bartlett Tree Experts, is president of NALP. What would Arlington—or any memorial site—be without […]

Photo: Colin Conces

Committed to the core

Establishing a purpose and values—and living by them—drives growth 
at Sun Valley Landscaping. Paul Fraynd and Hugh Morton have a challenge on their hands. They want to hire a best-in-class staff so they can grow their company. At the same time, they need to expand their operation to attract great people. “Applicants say, ‘I want […]

Backstory: Mike Rorie

Mike Rorie President GroundSystems Cincinnati Education Madeira High School Madeira, Ohio Class of 1977 Did you know?   “The name of my first company was Maintenance Service Inc. We changed it to GroundMasters around 1982 because we wanted a name that resonated more with landscaping.” “My wife Angela and I enjoy traveling together. We golf year […]

Shades of gray: Irrigating with graywater

With the West’s drought—and California’s historic response to it—making national news, the seeds of water conservation have been planted in the minds of homeowners and property managers nationwide. Irrigating with graywater is an opportunity for contractors 1). to potentially provide services for clients or 2). simply to educate them. Here’s an introduction to some options. […]

Chain reaction

Over the last three years, as I’ve been involved with the National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP) Community Stewardship Awards program, one thing has remained constant: the committee members’ focus on inspiring others. This awards program is an 
initiative of the association’s 
public relations committee. It was created to bring awareness to the good works […]

“How can I help?”

I just committed 20. What does that mean, exactly? I made an online pledge to volunteer 20 hours of my time by the end of 2015. If Sun Valley Landscaping—the company featured in this month’s cover story—has its way, my volunteer time will be just a fraction of the 10,000 hours people will rack up […]

NALP seeks members, nonmembers for peer groups

The National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP) seeks members and nonmembers for its peer group program. It currently has five groups with four to six landscape companies per group. A sixth group is expected to launch soon. “Any company can apply and will be considered for new groups as they form,” said Bruce Wilson, lead facilitator […]

Lease or buy?

Pros + Cons Leasing and buying are the primary ways landscape contractors add to their fleets, but don’t forget about renting. Here are some pros and cons for each option. Buying +Pro: Residual or resale value. You can trade it in down the road to offset the cost of the next equipment you buy. +Pro: […]

The 99 percent

Small business is difficult to define. What do you consider to be a small landscape company? A million dollars in annual revenue is a convenient benchmark because many entrepreneurs romanticize about making their first million. Others, anecdotally, peg $3 million as a better benchmark of “making it” in this industry because one can apparently get […]

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