CHAPTER 1

Recession Woes

August 2010, another dreary year in the recession, and my company,Big D Commercial Landscape and Maintenance was in trouble.Like a lot of industries, we had been wrestling with a decline inbusiness over the last year and things were getting sticky.

Commercial landscape services generated big business in our stompingground throughout the Dallas and Fort Worth area, and Big D hadgradually increased over the years from one crew to a fleet of trucks andeighty employees.

The company owner, Steve Sawyer, was a talented landscape architectwho had earned a favorable design reputation throughout the metroplex,and eventually added a maintenance division which, in the landscapeindustry, was bread and butter because landscape maintenance wasongoing and ensured a steady stream of reliable revenue to supplementthe ebb and flow of design work. Fortified with these two divisions, growthover the years had moved in a steady upward direction. I was hired for themaintenance division and was eventually promoted to account manager,and had been close personal friends with Mother Nature for the last tenyears.

As a customer liaison I worked with operations to ensure thatlandscape upkeep programs were scheduled and performed in good order,and I also generated sales and participated in other projects like producingcompany newsletters and designing seasonal flower displays. Becausewe were a commercial landscape contractor rather than residential, mycustomers were mostly property and facility managers who managed thedaily operations of office buildings, homeowners associations and othercommercial properties. The primary goal was ensuring optimal curb appealso that occupancy rates stayed at the highest levels. When people asked mewhat I did for a living, I'd tell them about being in commercial landscapemaintenance, but I'd often get a raised eyebrow reaction from folks notfamiliar with the industry, as if I was saying I was strangely proud to bean outdoor janitor.

I've never understood that reaction because when I was growing upmy Granny Sadie owned a landscape company, and to me it seemed like afascinating way to make a living. During the summers when I was out ofschool, she frequently took me along with her to work. I'd be sound asleepat home when early in the morning I'd hear a tap on the window by mybed. I knew it had to be Granny Sadie, and I'd eagerly open the blinds tofind her standing there grinning when the sun had barely started to lightthe sky. "Come on Ginny," she'd whisper loudly so as not to wake up Momand Dad, who had laid down the law about her ringing the doorbell beforetheir usual time to rise. "Get dressed and let's go tag some trees!"

I'd jump out of bed, meet her at the front door to let her in, (both ofus tiptoeing), and get dressed in a flash. She always had a prepared noteto leave on the breakfast table, such as, "I'm taking Ginny with me to FortWorth to pick out some trees. We'll be back before supper." She never arrangedthese outings ahead of time, in spite of the fact that we'd both gotten intotrouble about these unplanned abductions on more than one occasion.But spending a day on the job with Granny Sadie was just too much funto be missed. This was the time before cell phones, so once we snuck outthe front door the day was ours with no interruptions.

Talk about a big adventure! All day long we'd run around pickingout trees and plants at nurseries in locations that seemed on the other sideof the world, and stop in at various job sites to see how the crews weregetting along. Her business was mostly in residential design, but she alsohad work with a few churches and retail businesses. Lawther's LandscapeServices was a small but vigorous company which she took over from herfather-in-law when he retired. Her husband, my Granddad, died in hisforties, long before I knew him. Great Grandpa Gus took her under hiswing and taught her the business to help her make a living. Granny Sadiewas a powerhouse of energy and she loved the industry.

Later when my little brother Sam was three years old, Granny Sadiestarted bringing him along with us. Nothing made her happier thanhaving her grandkids lined up in the front seat with her, chattering andgiggling. We did a lot of giggling with Granny Sadie. She had a habitof tearing around, not quite entirely certain where some of the far flungnurseries were located when she was on the hunt for a rare plant. It alwaysseemed like these special plants could only be found at nurseries locateddown remote country roads, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Oneday, as so often happened, she was temporarily lost and was asking herselfdistractedly, "Now where am I?"

Little Sam piped up, "Texas!!" That tickled me and Granny Sadie tono end. The giggles were endless when we were together.

Her favorite type of job was to reconstruct an overgrown landscape,recycling as much of the existing plant material as she could. She addednew plants sparingly, trimmed up the old plants, and repositioned things tofreshen the look, and successfully saved her customers a boatload of moneyon projects. This was a rare approach because most landscape companiesdepended on the sale of new plants to make projects profitable. But GrannySadie was satisfied with a modest profit and always had plenty of work as aresult of her prudent approach. And besides, she loved the challenge.

"These older plants are long-lived for a reason," she'd explain as sheexamined plants to be recycled. "They are native to the area, and placedin the right environment can outlive most of my customers. I love thechallenge of bringing order to chaos. Learn to do that, Ginny, and you'llenjoy the thrill of a genuinely creative life!"

Her residential customers were some of the most prominent citizens in thewealthiest neighborhoods of Dallas. Granny Sadie adored her customers butsome of them were a bit odd. One of her best customers was Mrs. Stanbridge,the wife of an oilman, who often interrupted the work to make the crews stopand pray with her behind the garage. The men thought she was crazy, but shewas apparently lucid enough not to pray in the front yard where the neighborscould see. Nor did she insist on prayer when Granny Sadie was around. But shealways recommended Granny to her friends and that was good for business,but being eccentric, she naturally had eccentric friends.

For example, Miss Leland, who Granny always described with aweas "A sure enough Daughter of the Texas Republic", had a worrisomehabit of getting the crew to stop what they were doing to bury her latestdeceased pet. She always dressed them up for burial in doll clothes orother costumes, and insisted the crew stand in attendance while she leda graveside service. Those poor cats died with an alarmingly frequencythat caused the foreman, Garfield, to kid Granny Sadie about her goingin the house alone whenever Miss Leland invited her in for iced tea on ahot summer day. Garfield would whisper dryly, "If you aren't out in thirtyminutes I'll call the police, but I'm not going in there after you."

Granny Sadie could distract these ladies from their disruptive behaviorif she brought us grandkids along. The ladies always came outdoors to greet"Mrs. Lawther's little grandchildren" and she always made sure I had neatpigtails tied with pretty ribbons, and a little cowboy hat for Sam, whichseemed to please the ladies and put them in a saner mood. With the ladiesdiverted, the crew rushed to finish the work before they were interruptedto bury another dead cat...