Skip to content

Author: Sarah Pfledderer

Avatar photo

Sarah Pfledderer

Former Associate Editor Sarah Pfledderer is a West Coast-based contributing editor for Landscape Management.

Hiring heroes

From aiding in the destruction of bombs as a radio field operator in the U.S. Marine Corps to destroying weeds, among other tasks, at The Grounds Guys of Greater Little Rock, Ark., Andrew Wagner’s transition to the civilian sector—primarily the Green Industry—was somewhat seamless. Then again, his stake in landscaping started awhile ago. When he […]

Deere makes major donation to National Mall

Glance at the National Mall from an aerial view and you notice a divide in the grounds—a lush greenery on the east side in front of the U.S. Capitol building and a lawn in need of a face-lift on the west side in front of the Washington Monument. That unbalance will soon come to an […]

Throwback Thursday: May 1996

With the World Series drawn to a close—and the Red Sox having a third championship title under its belt—the May 1996 cover of Landscape Management stood out to me this week. While it has no linkage to the sport of baseball, the cover story, titled “Hiring home run hitters” and authored by then Senior Editor […]

2013 GIE+EXPO, GIC see increased turnouts

The 2013 GIE+EXPO brought more bustle to the Kentucky Exposition Center than years past—12 percent more, to be exact. “We’re busting out of the rafters here,” said Kris Kiser, president and CEO of the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute (OPEI), a host of the show. In line with its 12 percent attendance growth this year, the […]

Throwback Thursday: November 2003

It couldn’t be more fitting than the week of GIE+EXPO to dust off the pages of a story about the show from 10 years ago. Titled “GIE here to stay” by then-Editor-in-Chief Ron Hall, this week’s throwback post is from the November 2003 issue of Landscape Management. It breaks down the logistics of the show […]

‘PLANET Gives Back’ to Louisville, Home of the Innocents

As part of the third annual PLANET Gives Back, held Wednesday in line with the Green Industry Conference (GIC), nearly 75 volunteers revived the grounds at Home of the Innocents, a nonprofit shelter and pediatric convalescent center in Louisville, Ky. Tasked with laying new mulch on a playground, planting around 25 trees, restoring a butterfly […]

Photo slideshow: PLANET’s GIC underway

The Professional Landcare Network’s (PLANET) Green Industry Conference (GIC) commenced Wednesday in Louisville, Ky., in hand with the GIE+EXPO. Along with the PLANET Gives Back volunteer event, a kickoff event and welcome reception, several workshops also were hosted at the Louisville Marriott Downtown on the first day of the conference. Visit PLANET’s website for a […]

24 products debuting at GIE+EXPO

As part of the LM Reports department of Landscape Management’s October issue, we spotlighted 24 products to be featured at GIE+EXPO/Hardscape North America. Peruse the slideshow here for descriptions of the products and reference the list below for their companies and booth numbers.

Throwback Thursday: May 1987

Our aim, at Landscape Management, is to share new ideas and innovations that can be used for the betterment of your landscaping company. This is a mission we’ve stuck to since the magazine’s inception in 1962, when it was named Weeds and Turf. In line with “Throwback Thursday (aka #throwbackThursday or #TBT,” we’ll be posting […]

M&A outlook: Eyeing their moves

Green Industry buyers and sellers aren’t making many moves just yet. The mergers and acquisitions (M&A) market has been the equivalent of an ever-long chess game for the Green Industry in 2013. Buyers and sellers are simply strategizing and waiting to make a move before yearend—or in some circumstances make no move at all. For […]

Noon Turf Care strikes another deal, acquires Fuller Green

Less than a month after its acquisition of Premier Lawn Care, Marlborough, Mass.-based Noon Turf Care struck another deal, acquiring Fuller Green Lawn Care of Shrewsbury, Mass. Terms weren’t disclosed. Owned and operated by Jerry Fuller, Fuller Green has served the Boston West area for more than a decade, garnering a hefty base of residential […]

Drive Safely Work Week: Landscape professionals dish out tips

As dawn breaks and your company vehicles pull out of the driveway, consider the person in the driver’s seat—hopefully buckled in—as a teenager using the family car for the first time. “What’s the last advice you would offer him or her as they depart?” asks Bill Scully, corporate safety director for ValleyCrest Landscape Cos. “Some […]

John Deere donates $400K in equipment toward National Mall

Glance at the National Mall from an aerial view and one might notice a divide in the grounds—a lush greenery on the east side in front of the U.S. Capitol building and a lawn in need of a facelift on the west side in front of the Washington Monument. That unbalance will soon come to […]

Bremec bares facility to OLA

The Ohio Landscape Association hosted a landscape facilities tour of the Bremec Group Sept. 19, drawing more than 50 attendees to the facility in Chesterland, Ohio. In addition to its landscape business operations, Bremec houses a greenhouse and nursery, garden center, pond shop, fountain studio and pottery chalet at its locale. Owner Bob Bremec said […]

Vectorworks 2014 to be released Sept. 17

Vectorworks 2014, the latest computer-aided design (CAD) and building information model (BIM) software version from Nemetschek Vectorworks, is slated for release Sept. 17, when it will be downloadable for members of Vectorworks Service Select. The software will be available for shipping to other customers Sept. 23. The 2014 version bares more than 130 improvements to […]

Noon Turf Care acquires company, has more in the works

Marlborough, Mass.-based Noon Turf Care acquired the residential side of Premier Lawn Care, expanding its customer base in the Boston West area by 300 clients. And while he was hushed to disclose the amount of the acquisition, Noon Turf Care CEO Christopher Noon said the Massachusetts-based company expects to add $250,000 in annual revenue from […]

Managing seasonality: Alternative services and beyond

Wreaths and tinsel seemed a far better option to Gary Fouts than laying off employees from his landscape maintenance business for the eighth year in a row. For this reason he opted to operate a Christmas Décor franchise in 1999 during the off-season for his New Lennox, Ill.-based company, then-named Principle Lawn Care & Maintenance. […]

Irrigation contractor license gets 10-year extension in Illinois

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed the 10-year extension of the irrigation contractor license into law Aug. 2. Without this extension, the law would have required irrigation contractors to be licensed plumbers in order to do any type of irrigation work in a commercial or residential landscape setting. “This is a big win for the irrigation […]

HindSite Software releases Irrigation Software Buyer’s Guide

HindSite Software released an Irrigation Software Buyer’s Guide, which breaks down the pros and cons of purchasing irrigation software and lists eight questions to ask before making a purchase. It also defines different costs and pricing models for software and shares trends to consider upon purchasing software, such as evolutions in portable devices and on-demand […]

Delaney reappointed to EPA advisory committee

Tom Delaney, director of government affairs at PLANET, was reappointed to a two-year term with the Pesticide Program Dialogue Committee (PPDC), a federal advisory committee that provides feedback to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Pesticide Programs. Speaking to the benefits of his appointment to the Green Industry, Delaney said, “It gives us a better voice […]

Keep ALB and other pests in check with healthy trees

More than 80,000 trees have been cut to a stump and grinded to nonexistence due to Asian Longhorned Beetle (ALB) infestations, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The invasive pest dons long antennae and white spots on its 1 to 1½ inch-long, black body. It targets 13 types of trees, thermoregulating itself inside and […]

Scag, mower innovator, pioneer dies at 94

Dane Scag died Aug. 9 at the age of 94. With more than two dozen patents, he is most recalled as an innovator and inventor to the Green Industry. He contributed, among other pieces, the three-wheel mowing tractor, Scag dual-drive hydro walk mower and Great Dane Surfer. Scag left more than equipment to the industry, […]

ServiceMaster blames TruGreen for poor Q2

The ServiceMaster Co., based in Memphis, Tenn., released its preliminary unaudited second-quarter 2013 results, and they fell short of CEO Rob Gillette’s expectations. Crediting TruGreen for dips in revenue and operating performance, Gillette said, “Excluding TruGreen, our other businesses performed about as we expected.” Results showed a 2.4 percent decline in ServiceMaster’s $939 million operating […]

To top