For the 2,600 students who attend the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington, a beautiful, 94-acre campus is icing on their overall liberal arts education. Featuring ivy-covered walls on the older buildings, along with lush, green turf, the campus won a 2013 Green Star Award from the Professional Grounds Management Society (PGMS). The recognition is for excellence in ground maintenance at an urban university.

Chris “Babe” Predella is 28 years old. His company, Babe’s Lawn Care, in Brimfield, Massachusetts, employs 11 people, fields five crews, and offers fullservice landscape management to 200 customers. He does snow removal, and prior to the first snowfall delivers 300 full cords of firewood to customers. To make life even more interesting, this year he purchased a 15-acre plot of land with an office and garage.

When Simon Padgett moved to Marco Island, Florida, from England to start Multiskill Lawn and Garden Services, he had a few surprises in store. Back home, landscapes are not bombarded by hurricane salt spray, and spiral white flies couldn’t infest palm trees that don’t grow there. He didn’t expect to see so much competition in the marketplace. And doing business here? Well, in his words, “You have an incredible bureaucracy that creates all sorts of obstacles.”

Maintaining a cemetery can be one of the toughest applications for any mower. It not only has to maneuver in between and around headstones, but cemetery grounds are notoriously bumpy as graves deteriorate over time. When the cemetery is located in Montana where winters can be difficult, having mowers that can do double-duty snow removal is important as well.

One way to grow is to offer a standard service to all customers, one that saves both time and money. This strategy, however, holds little appeal to Brad Paton, owner of Shades of Summer Landscaping in Hamilton, ON, Canada. In business for only five years, his approach is to adapt service offerings to properties.

Dennis Jontos, owner of Cutzgras, Inc., in Port Charlotte, Florida, says: “Our philosophy is relatively simple. We’re dedicated to providing quality work, period.”