As part of Total Landscape Care’s look back on 2019, here are the top 10 stories during the month of October.
10. Foamstream offers landscapers an herbicide-free weed killing option
Photo: WeedingtechSince the nationwide controversy surrounding glyphosate and other chemical-based herbicides has yet to reach an end, the European company Weedingtech offered an herbicide-free weed treatment option at this year’s GIE+EXPO called Foamstream.
“Whatever you think about the safety of glyphosate and herbicides, we don’t want to get drawn into that argument,” says Leo de Montaignac, CEO of Weedingtech. “But what we all know is that there is a massive, growing demand for herbicide-free alternatives. More and more people are looking for alternatives, and we’ve got a great bit of technology to help people who want to transition from what they’re doing to either less herbicide or no herbicide at all.”
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9. Ginkgo Leaf Studio: Creating external art
Jim Drzewiecki often uses his architectural background to create landscape designs that compliment the house.Photo: Jill Odom/Total Landscape Care
Nestled in the historic district of Cedarburg, Wisconsin, is a quaint building that used to be a cobbler’s home in the late 1800s. This building houses the offices of Ginkgo Leaf Studio, a landscape design firm owned by Jim Drzewiecki, APLD.
From an early age Drzewiecki was interested in landscaping, and by the time he was a teenager he was redesigning his parents’ backyard.
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8. Inside Ginkgo Leaf Studio’s design process
Hannah Paulson (left) and Jim Drzewiecki (right) work together to create custom landscape designs.Photo: Renn Kuhnen Photography
At Ginkgo Leaf Studio, based in Cedarburg, Wisconsin, there is a no charge, no obligation meeting first at a prospective client’s house.
“We have a design questionnaire that we email out ahead of that meeting,” says Jim Drzewiecki, owner and principal of Ginkgo Leaf. “We require that they fill it out and return it to us before we meet because we want some insight into what they’re looking to do before we meet with them.”
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7. Kujawa Enterprises rises to the challenge of high-profile clients
Photo: Jill Odom/Total Landscape CareKujawa Enterprises, Inc., (KEI) based in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, has been operating since 1926, but it hasn’t always been in the landscaping business.
KEI started out as Cudahy Flour and Feed when brothers-in-law Joe Kujawa and Peter Benka launched the company. As times changed, so did the business, evolving to overcome the challenges it faced.
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6. Stihl expands its gas- and battery-powered chain saw offerings and more at GIE
MS 500iPhoto: Jill Odom/Total Landscape Care
Stihl reveled in its chain saw history during the 2019 GIE+EXPO, exhibiting a hall of fame-like display of some of its past iterations of chains saws all leading up to the star of the show, the MS 500i.
The MS 500i is the first Stihl chain saw with fuel-injection technology. Stihl’s first usage of fuel-injection technology was launched on the TS 500i Cutquik cut-off machine. According to Mike Poluka, a product manager for Stihl, the company used what they learned from the Cutquik and implemented it with this new chain saw.
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5. Women’s Tree Climbing Workshop to conduct tree climbing demos for 2019 GIE+EXPO
Photo: Women’s Tree Climbing WorkshopNew to GIE+EXPO this year, the trade show will feature women-led tree climbing workshops, which are included with registration.
The program ‘Climb Trees, Expand Your Horizons’ is presented by Davey Tree in collaboration with The Women’s Tree Climbing Workshop (WTCW), and is sponsored by Stihl with support from Shelter Tree.
The WTCW was co-founded by Melissa LeVangie Ingersoll, Bear LeVangie, Jan Kettell and Marcy Carpenter in 2009 and is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year.
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4. ASLA announces the 2019 winners of their Professional and Student Awards
Photo: ASLAThe American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) recently announced their 2019 Professional and Student Awards winners.
All award recipients, their clients and advisors will be honored at the awards presentation ceremony during the ASLA Conference on Landscape Architecture on Monday, Nov. 18 in San Diego, California.
This year’s 36 Professional Award winners were chosen from 544 submissions, and ASLA says they represent the best of landscape architecture in the general design, residential design, analysis and planning, communications and research categories.
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3. Mean Green releases autonomous commercial electric zero turn
Photo: Beth Hyatt/Total Landscape CareAt this year’s GIE+EXPO, Mean Green Mowers unveiled its new autonomous commercial electric zero-turn mower, also known as ATOM.
By partnering with The Kobi Company to create the ATOM, Mean Green says it hoped to develop a safe and affordable, large area robotic mower that could lend a hand to the increasing labor shortage facing the green industry.
According to Joe Conrad, president of Mean Green Mowers, there have been numerous autonomous mowers created over the years, but so far, none have been able to meet market expectations regarding accuracy, price, versatility and safety. That is, he says, until ATOM came on the scene.
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2. Echo debuts 20 products for 2020
Photo: Jill Odom/Total Landscape CareLast week, Echo invited a group of professional landscapers and the media to its 20 for 2020 press event, where it provided a first glimpse at the 20 new products that will be available next year.
“Launching 20 products in any given year is a big deal,” says Wayne Thomsen, vice president of marketing and product management.
On Oct. 3, attendees got the first sneak peek of the 20 new products, including Echo’s entry into the pressure washer and generator markets.
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1. Companies unveil new mower options for this year’s GIE+EXPO
Ferris ISX2200Photo: Ferris
With the 2019 GIE+EXPO right around the corner, take a look at a few mowers you can expect to see more of once you hit the expo floor. The trade show is set for Oct. 16-18 at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville, Kentucky.
