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Committed to quality

Generations of owners at Toms Creek Nursery & Landscaping have stayed true to their family roots.

Sustaining a business through good times and bad is part of the lifecycle of a generations-old operation, and at Toms Creek Nursery & Landscaping in Farmer, N.C., a tradition of staying the course has resulted in a rich, evolving legacy.

Ovie Henson started Toms Creek during the Great Depression, and current owner Brandon Vaughn, her great-grandson, has learned how to run a lean, quality-focused business because he’s “a product of the recession.” Like many design/build outfits in this region, strip malls and ongoing development in the 1990s reeled in what seemed as endless business. Visit bit.ly/tomsquality to read the full story.

More from Toms Creek
Vaughn talks about what the team has learned from operating for almost 100 years. bit.ly/tomscentury

Find out why Toms Creek charges for its design work. bit.ly/tomsmoney

 

Safety Sheets

“It can be a real challenge to get new employees up to speed while you’re gearing up for the busiest time of the year,” says Ellen Bauske, program coordinator for the UGA Center for Urban Agriculture. Language barriers can present a further complication.

To help with this challenge, the center developed Safety Checklists for New Landscape Employees, which can be downloaded by visiting bit.ly/safteylist.
 

Show your work

We want to showcase the best design/build jobs in the industry, and we need your help. We are collecting entries for a feature that will run in the magazine for the rest of the year. All we need you to do is send photos (preferably before and after photos) and a couple of paragraphs describing the job to Managing Editor Brian Horn at bhorn@gie.net. We are specifically looking for driveways, xeriscapes, rain gardens and pools. If you are selected as the winner we will send you a $25 Lowe’s gift card and you will be featured in a future issue of Lawn & Landscape. The deadline is June 15.
 

Education to your ears

We hosted two webinars sponsored by Koch Turf & Ornamental to help LCOs operate their businesses better. You will have to register to receive access to the webinars, but when you do, you’ll be able to hear the following:

How to find and keep lawn care labor
Your products are only as good as the people who apply them. Brad Johnson, CEO at Lawn America, offers his advice and practical tips on how to keep the best technicians at your company to ensure profitability and high rates of customer retention.
bit.ly/lcomarketing

Lawn care marketing mastery
The way consumers make their purchasing decisions today has changed compared to how they decided 10 years ago. Chris Heiler explains how lawn care operators can improve their marketing programs and keep up with the changes.
bit.ly/lcomarketing

The place to be

If you are looking for an event in the industry, whether for fun or education, we have a calendar of events at bit.ly/lawnevents just waiting for you. Email lleditors@gie.net to have an event listed.