The sunsets in Tuscany are special and LM’s Jones didn’t want this one to pass by without a photo with Aaron Zych, ILT Vignocchi and Bob Marks, emi landscape. (Photo: LM staff)
LM recently returned from a nine-day trip to Italy with The Grow Group and members of two ACE Peer Groups, connecting with 17 lawn care and landscape companies from 15 states.
The Joneses met up with the Grohs — Tom and Dana, of Minnesota Sodding Co. — outside the Duomo in Florence. (Photo: LM staff)
Following dinner at the estate, the guys made it down to the American Bar for a less formal conversation. From left to right are Tom Groh, Minnesota Sodding Co., Paul Myers, McFarlin Stanford, Garrett Matthews, Matthews Landscape, Shreveport, La., and Sam Rankin, Etch Outdoor Living, Des Moines, Iowa. (Photo: LM staff)
Following a fun-filled day in Florence, the ACE Domination group reconvened for the ride back to Petroio. In the back row is Bret Schmitz, High Prairie Landscape; Bob Marks, emi landscape; and Aaron Zych, ILT Vignocchi; in the middle row is Robyn Schmitz, High Prairie Landscape; Brie Marks, emi landscape; and Donna Vignocchi, ILT Vignocchi; and up front is Seth Jones, Landscape Management magazine and his wife Adrianne, Paul Myers, McFarlin Stanford and Tracy and Scott Wallingford, McFarlin Stanford. (Photo: LM staff)
Want to know a good way to shake off the jet lag from traveling from the U.S. to the Estate of Petroio? A day one tradition called “Prosecco tennis.” The rules are simple — tennis racket in one hand, glass of prosecco in the other. Keep the ball in play! (Photo: LM staff)
McFarlin Stanford and The Grow Group hosted ACE Domination the first week and then a new group of landscape and lawn care professionals came to Italy, this one known as ACE Calibrate. Vince Torchia of The Grow Group (left) joined Nick Jensen, Jensen Gardens, Kayden Glynn and Jones for week two. (Photo: LM staff)
Talk about a happy coincidence… a few months ago, Tom Groh, Minnesota Sodding Co., was reading about a windmill that was designed by Leonardo da Vinci. Da Vinci drew the blueprints for a windmill that had a rotating top that could be shifted with the prevailing winds of the seasons … but the windmill wasn’t built until decades after his death because of its complexity.
Little did Groh realize that, just a few months later, he’d be standing in that very same windmill he was reading about: the windmill of Monterifrassine. Here, Groh points out how the gears could be removed and interchanged while Matthews, Marks and Jones observe. (Photo: LM staff)
Nate and Jaime Jensen, Jensen Gardens, Omaha, Neb., enjoyed watching the sun set from the vineyards on the Petroio estate. (Photo: LM staff)
