Coleman’s Landscape: Ready for Christmas… And Your Landscaping Needs
By Christopher Miller
A drive up the Coudersport Pike – Route 664 – will prove to the average person many things: it’s a gorgeous drive, there are lots of trees, and there is a beautiful red 1954 pick up truck parked outside of a local landscape business in Swissdale.
Since 1973 (well before the writer of this piece was born) a landscape business was taking shape that lives on to this day.
David Coleman, the owner and patriarch of the Coleman family of Swissdale started the business in the early 1970’s with a $100 pickup truck (that burnt more oil than gas) and a Lawn-Boy mower he had purchased from a J.C Penney catalog.
He recalled one of his first jobs after beginning the business when he was interviewed recently by The Record newspaper. “Paul Confer, a friend, had built a new home in Howard, it was the most exclusive home at the time, and he wanted me to landscape it for him…it had brick planters all around the house, so I had to go on a mission to find all dwarf plants to use, and it turned out great – he was very happy,” David recalled. “The business started growing from there and I eventually added the maintenance end, like grass cutting, shrubbery installation, retaining walls, and pavers…the folks just started coming to me because they saw I had done jobs at their friends homes.”
Well before forming his own business, David worked for a landscape company in New Jersey at the shore. “I got the bug doing work in Ocean City with pristine homes, sprinkler systems, the works,” he remembered. “It was then I knew that I wanted to be in business.”
Being a small business owner has not come without its challenges, but the recipe for success, as Dave puts it, is discipline and perseverance. “I react to troubles, resolve them, and move forward – it does not help to be negative…being in business there are times when things get negative, but every day is a new day – an adventure.”
While being in business, Dave learned quickly that he wears a lot more hats than just business owner. “I am a psychologist, a diplomat, customer service representative…there are many personalities and I adjust them per job and per customer.”
Dave, a seasoned veteran of the lawn care industry states that he can easily spot a lawn that was manicured with a Lawn-Boy mower, a Sears or any other mower.
With the holiday season in full swing around us, a major staple of the landscape business moves toward selling Christmas trees. “I’ve had this part of the business since 1980,” he recalled. “I have seen people (businesses) come and go, I decided that it was difficult for me to advertise in newspapers because my trees are priced per tree…if one has a crooked base or it’s not as full then I will price it differently,” Dave revealed.
“We choose our own trees, cut them, and have them sitting on our lot for customers to choose from…wreaths are all made by hand as long as we don’t run out of the greens,” Dave said.
Being a landscaper, one is truly at the mercy of the weather. “It can play a hard part in what you are doing or trying to do – drought, too much rain, diseases in lawns, it is all a factor,” Dave explained.
Many people think of landscaping as only a Spring – late Summer business, but for the Coleman family it is 24/7/365.
As explained to The Record, the Spring season is typically beginning around March 15 with spring clean ups on properties, coming back later on to mulch or seed. Lawn maintenance begins in late April early May and then Summer takes hold around June/July where the Coleman’s are out pruning shrubbery and planting new plants. By October, the Fall clean up begins taking place and selecting the season’s Christmas trees happens, sometimes as early as late August. In Winter, they have many accounts – residential and commercial – to remove snow.
Speaking of winter…do you remember that old truck I referenced earlier in the article? It just so happens there is a story behind it, too.
“It is a 1954 Chevy and was bought in upstate New York from a bar/restaurant business, it’s mechanically sound and could have been driven down to Lock Haven, but we played it safe and shipped it down here,” Dave explained. “All it really needed was a new paint job and light body work.”
According to Dave, this truck was the work of his imagination and seeing many in the Hallmark Christmas movies. “I was thinking of another way to market our trees, and I could not think of anything better than to duplicate a Hallmark-like truck with a wreath on the front, playing music (in future parades and such)… we could all use some lifting up right now.”Christmas is a frame of mind, not just a day, for the Coleman’s.
Christmas tree sales begin on Friday, November 27 (otherwise known as Black Friday) and are available until all the trees have sold, 11 am to 6 pm daily.
Members of the Coleman Family Team include Adam, the Public Relations and Customer Service man, Christopher, the “get ‘er done,” estimator guy and Kyle who is mechanical, knowledgeable with parts and fills in from time to time when there is an overflow of lawns that he can do on his own.
David Coleman would like to especially acknowledge the services of Todd Marconi and Marconi’s Garage for their help in the truck restoration and painting, Seth Brown and his keen eye for detail when it came to the mechanicals and cherry wood side boards and sons Christopher, Adam and Kyle for their many hours of sanding and of course, his lovely wife Kim.
Coleman’s Landscape Service
3696 Coudersport Pike
Lock Haven
570-748-8693
Since 1973
www.colemanslandscape.com
