Sarasota Landscaping Company Grows With Sustainability, Adds Jobs

Tammy Kovar's path to becoming a sustainable landscape industry entrepreneur began in the laboratories of Monsanto, where she worked as a biologist. She left one of the world's largest producers of agricultural products with a better understanding of how the biology of agriculture works. That has enabled her to fulfill the verdant and lush landscape dreams of golf courses, planned communities, businesses and homeowners with an environmentally friendly approach.

The key has been to make landscaping allies out of naturally occurring soil bacteria. She likens it to the benefits people derive from eating yogurt.

"This is a pro-biotic for the soil," she says of the bacteria. "There are companies that ferment and grow them and then we're able to get them mixed in ratios we like." Kovar eventually wants to develop and market her own product line of biological landscaping products.

The result is not one, but two successful businesses based in Sarasota, Biological Tree Services which is a full-service landscaping company, and Sustainable Landscape Supply, which offers a range of environmentally friendly horticultural and landscaping solutions.

Kovar's approach to working with nature in the urban Florida environment has yielded success and that means opportunities for people who want to join what she calls her "green team" and work toward a goal of sustainability. She anticipates hiring people who can help her develop and market products, sell services, manage operations (especially people familiar with golf courses), arborists and agricultural chemists. Besides people who can work close to the ground, Kovar also cites a need for Internet marketing, web and graphic design professionals. She encourages like-minded people with backgrounds in these areas to submit resumes.

"We're all about the future and how to make this a better place," she says. "Everybody at my company has that same passion and together I think we're going to make a huge impact in Florida, the United States and the world."

Writer: Brad Stager
Source: Tammy Kovar, Biological Tree Services