After being in the family grocery business for more than 20 years, Jeff Gardner awoke one morning and said to his wife Tracy, “I want to maintain lawns.” Just like that, he turned in his apron and started down a new career path. Jeff made that decision three years ago.

If someone tells you there’s gold in Cape Cod, one of the first things you may think of is a beautiful New England home with a colorful garden. Or maybe you will picture the surf cresting over a sandy beach. For other people, Cape Cod gold can be found in all the fresh fish and chowder they can eat.

What first comes to your mind when you think of Branson, Missouri? If you say Bobby Vinton and several dozen other entertainers, you wouldn’t be alone. Neither would you be if you mentioned the Ozarks, and the fishing and hiking that goes with the territory. But castles? What do these symbols of Medieval Europe have to do with Branson? Just ask anyone who has visited Chateau on the Lake.

When Steve Quillen says Grass Roots Inc. is a mowing company first, he means it. Each week, mowing crews tackle 470 properties in and around their home base of Wilmington, Delaware. The company, which targets high-end homeowners, gets the job done efficiently and effectively with a fleet of nine vehicles, seven Walker Mowers, and 14 full- and part-time employees.

Ask Dave Hawkins of East Calais, Vermont, if he’s a pioneer, and he’ll probably just shrug his shoulders and say, “Not at all.” His family roots are planted deep beneath the Green Mountains that highlight the state.

If you ever meet Jim Webb, owner of Valley Landscape Services Inc. in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, just remember one thing — don’t call him a cowboy. “I ain’t no cowboy,” explains the southern California transplant. “I’m a California boy who just lives around cowboys.” As a matter of fact, the closest he comes to anything out of the Old West is his practice of being a straight shooter with his employees and customers. “I believe in being honest in my business,” relates Webb, “and it hasn’t done me wrong yet.”