Landscape Maintenance Really Can be a Passion
Author Kurt Vonnegut once said that one of the primary flaws of human character is that “everybody wants to build and nobody wants to do maintenance. “ While that is certainly true of many, it can’t be said of Mark Truelove, the director of landscape maintenance for Unique Environmental Landscapes, which provides expert landscape maintenance, as well as design and installation, throughout the metro Atlanta area. He and his certified crew handle every aspect of residential, commercial and HOA landscape maintenance, including seasonal color, pruning, fertilization and more.
In fact, you could say that Mark has a, well…true love, for getting the installation picture-perfect and then keeping a landscape picture-perfect, no matter the age of the landscape or the environmental conditions. “Each plant and every tree has its own, unique calendar,” says Mark. “Everything we do is timed for the plant’s or tree’s individual growth cycle. That’s why both design and maintenance are so important and closely related.”
During the design process at Unique Environmental, every plant or tree is carefully selected for not only the aesthetic beauty of the landscape, but also with a careful understanding of how the plant or tree will mature in the landscape and the type of maintenance it will require. “Very few landscape professionals pay such close attention to the plant’s or tree’s calendar, but we do because we want thriving landscapes for the longterm,” adds Mark.
It’s no surprise that Mark has such a passion for keeping plants, trees and shrubs healthy and gorgeous. He started early. By the tender age of 18 he was working outside and can remember the smell of the outdoors. “Being outside and working with living things is a full sensory experience,” says Mark. “Every season has its own smell and sound. I’ve been doing this for 33 years and never tire of being outside. It reminds me of those younger days and good times!”
It is precisely Mark’s considerable landscape knowledge and extensive horticultural experience that makes him, his crew and Unique Environmental the best in the Atlanta-area landscape business. “The best landscapers know that it takes vision, honesty and integrity to design and install landscapes that will stand up longterm,” Mark says. “You have to get beyond the ‘developer mentality’, which focuses on the easiest and the cheapest plant material, and give consideration to maintenance needs, functionality and maturity. That takes experience, planning and preparation.
In fact, because of dramatic innovations in machinery, technology and even plant materials, Mark and all of the staff at Unique Environmental continually stay abreast of research and routinely update equipment.
“Many innovations in the landscape maintenance industry have been dramatic,” adds Mark. “I tell my guys all the time things are so much better now than in the past! It’s a great time to be serving homeowners, homeowner associations, and commercial clients with the highest quality landscape maintenance.”
While it is evident that Mark and Unique Environmental Landscapes go the extra mile, not all landscape professionals think about maintenance that way, Mark says. “You know, professionalism, work ethic and taking personal responsibility for the landscape and the plants really sets Unique apart. We run across companies in the landscape design, installation and maintenance industry who do not treat this as a professional endeavor and the clients suffer. They are left with poorly designed areas not well suited for the site or climate. Or, worse even, the maintenance company fertilizes or prunes for ‘efficiency’, not according to the plant’s or tree’s calendar. As they say, everything has a season and we work with that. We are totally transparent about how we do what we do and why we do it. That really sets us apart. We are proud to be upfront about how your landscape will thrive when Unique Environmental maintains it.”
Mark points out that Unique Environmental sets the bar for the landscaping industry – and it’s all based on passion, knowledge, mutual respect and understanding.
Mark does have a true love for landscaping maintenance and design – and it shows.
If you’d like to put Mark and his team’s passion for maintenance and landscaping to work for you, contact us now.
