Lawn Doctor opened a new lawn care franchise in West Houston. The franchise provides customized lawn care services, including fertilization, weed control, aeration and shrub care. Houston resident Shahul Hameed, who has a degree in chemical engineering and an MBA, owns the new franchise. “It matters that I give my customers comprehensive information about our services, with sufficient technical detail to feel confident that Lawn Doctor is not just another lawn care company,” Shahul says. “I want to give my customers the peace of mind that they’ve hired a local service provider they can count on.”
Caretaker Landscape & Tree Management won the 2017 Team Tree Climbing Championship, held Feb. 25 at Esteban Park in Phoenix, Ariz. The team, made of Caretaker employees, included Jeremy Scholes, Jesse Heywood, Jose Lopez and Jacob Dornbos. They competed in events like Aerial Rescue, Belayed Speed Climb, Secured Footlocker, Throwline and Work Climb. Combining points from all of these events, Caretaker was named the overall winner.
The Toro Co., City Parks Alliance and Greater & Greener 2017 chose Parque Castillo in St. Paul, Minn., and Bossen Filed Park in Minneapolis for the Toro Urban Park Innovation Award. The award honors park management groups for the roles they play in brining their communities together through recreation and arts integration, as well as park design and programming. Each park will receive $25,000 towards enhancements and improvements.
Heads Up Landscape Contractors received the 2017 New Mexico Ethics in Business Jack & Donna Rust Award for Excellence in Ethical Business Practice by a for-profit business, presented by Samaritan Counseling Center of Albuquerque. The award, which will be presented April 26 at the Hotel Albuquerque, is designed to honor organizations that promote ethical conduct and “practice that conduct in all aspects of life,” the company said. Heads Up was evaluated through an interview process done by the University of New Mexico and selected by a committee of community and business leaders.
Case Construction Equipment’s manufacturing facility in Wichita, Kan., produced its 300,000 Case skid-steer/compact track loader. To celebrate, the commemorative edition TR270 compact track loader rolled off the production line on March 13 and will be shipped to Southeastern Equipment Co. in Brunswick, Ohio.
Kioti Tractor contributed $32,220 to the Wounded Warrior Project, as part of its year-long Power Through Tour presented by country singer Trace Adkins. The company raffled off Adkins’ personal Kioti DK65 with attached front-end loader and backhoe, which was won by Doyle Myers of Shepherd, Texas, in March. The $32,220 check was presented to former Army Staff Sergeant Christopher Gordon in November.
Marty Grunder’s Grow! Conference was held Feb. 8-10 in Dayton, Ohio. The 22nd annual event was attended by 300 landscape professionals, the conference’s largest-ever attendance, from 31 states and Canada, representing 136 companies for a combined annual revenue of $500 million. The conference also raised $110,000 for the National Association of Landscape Professionals.
