You know a company is serious about its landscape when it has 100 acres of lawn to mow, maintains 25 acres of mulched planting beds, and has planted more than 15,000 trees and shrubs since the mid 1980s.

Here's a job most any landscape contractor would enjoy. Maintaining one of California's most prestigious display gardens. Located 30 miles south of San Francisco, Filoli Center beckons back to the early 1900s when wealthy residents built some of the most luxurious country homes of the century. This one, built by William Bower Bourn II between 1915 and 1917, is still in its original setting.

You're a Vietnam vet, a retired police officer, and you've worked hard your entire life. What are you doing mowing lawns for a living? That's the question Walker Talk asked Vernon Henderson, owner of V. Henderson Landscaping, Washington, D.C.

When Pierre S. du Pont bought Longwood in 1906, initial plans didn't call for developing his new property into the world's premier horticultural display gardens. Today, however, Longwood Gardens is just that. 

Sandy Weaver, owner of Albuquerque Grounds Maintenance, is feeling pretty good these days. After all, this is her company's tenth year in business. AGM has an excellent reputation as well as a good mix of commercial business. And it's backed up by a cadre of loyal, hardworking employees. In Sandy's own words, "I'm glad to be where I am. But it sure wasn't easy getting there."

Few environments are more demanding for a mower than a school. Trees, hills, entrance ways, ball diamonds and football fields require machines to mow on a variety of landscapes with equal agility. For Humke Elementary, in Nekoosa, Wisconsin, the demands are even more challenging since the school grounds are open in the summer to host baseball leagues.