NHLA Featured Professionals

Membership

Featured Professionals

David Meulenbroek
Studley Flower Gardens, Inc.
Rochester, NH

Like many in the Green Industry my exposure began in a family business. I began working around the store and on the landscaping crew when I was strong enough to make a difference. At first my motivation was to prove that I could handle the physical load and put in an honest day’s work. My duties were primarily digging and lugging. I was told to simply move a pile of dirt from here to there or dig a hole or a ditch. Throughout high school I would work during the summer and save my money for the winter months. Though the work did not appeal to me I did like that I didn’t worry about money during the school year.

During my college years I studied philosophy and international relations during the semester and continued to landscape in the summer. I enjoyed the contrast of working my mind in the winter and my body in the summer. It always gave me something to look forward to, a change. The seasons were longer since the summer breaks were longer and I began to see the transformation of more projects from start to finish. My duties expanded as my skills increased. I began to prune shrubs, grade mulch, build hardscapes, and install water features. Even though I was not designing these elements I was completing their installation. I began to feel that I was making a difference, that I was accomplishing something that was adding to peoples’ enjoyment of their homes.

The combination of the healthy work outdoors and creating landscapes of lasting beauty with my hands was becoming very appealing. After college I tried various jobs, from desk jobs to tending bar, and I realized that it was working outdoors and seeing a concrete accomplishment that made me feel fulfilled. I quickly learned that pushing papers across a desk and drinks across a bar were not giving me that same sense of meaning to my life. That was when I decided to continue the business that my parents had enjoyed for so many years.

Working full time in the business brought more responsibility and the realization that I did not know as much as I thought I knew. Being away from school for a couple of years made me yearn to learn again. Having the goal of becoming a certified landscaper made sense to me on many different levels. It fulfilled my need to learn and it instilled proper landscaping practices at the same time. I became more fluent in the language of plant material as my love for it deepened. I gained a general understanding of botany, soils, and turf, things that I did not learn in my philosophy courses.

Since becoming certified I have been congratulated by many of my regular customers and sought out by others. It seems that those who are passionate about their landscapes seek out those who are passionate about landscaping. NHLA certification is emblematic of this. NHLA certification has given me a solid foundation upon which to continue to learn about the landscaping industry which is so rich and varied. I am proud to say that I am the 39th certified landscape professional in NH!

Recently I have become a PLANET Certified Landscape Professional which is another certification that I highly recommend that people in the industry complete. Every year I look forward to learning, and being a part of a professional organization provides this opportunity. The NHLA Newsletter is full of information and meeting peers at Twilight Meetings and the like are great ways to stay connected with what others in the industry are doing. It is through continued education that we achieve our full potential.

David Meulenbrook is co-owner of Studley Flower Gardens in Rochester, NH, www.studleyflowergardens.com.

Profile Archive