About
My name is Ryan Wheeler, and I've been working in the landscaping field since 1997. I started out working for Harbor Lawn Service, a landscaping company based in York, Maine. I worked for the company for a little over two years until the owner decided to get out of the business. As Harbor Lawn Service started to cut back, I was offered a few customers and that’s how I started my own business.
As I was still in school, at first I primarily only mowed lawns on the weekends. After a while word got around and I started receiving more calls for mowing and other types of tasks, such as pruning, weeding, mulching, plantings and more. Due to my lack of knowledge in those specific areas, I thought it would be good to get a formal education in those areas so that I could feel confident in my work, knowing that I was practicing good landscaping practices and improving the landscape based on knowledge instead of guesswork. Too often today I see trees and plants dying because they've been planted incorrectly, or because poor pruning has allowed pests and diseases get inside of them.
Because I really enjoyed landscaping, it was pretty easy for me to decide what career I wanted to pursue. After high school, I attended the Thompson School of Applied Sciences at the University of New Hampshire, where I took multiple classes in plant and tree identification, pests and diseases, irrigation, design, maintenance, plant structure and function, weeds, business management, and landscape construction. I graduated with an Associate's Degree in Landscape Operations.
While studying at college, I was still able to service 35 customers from residential to commercial accounts and still attend school full-time and maintain an honor status as a student. While in my first year of college I started my business, The Greens Keeper LLC.
Although I have been working in the landscaping field for more than nine years, my company has only been around since 2003. When I first started the business it was only part-time, but we have become a full-time landscaping company that offers a broad range of services from lawn maintenance to installation and hardscape.
Although the company is expanding, our customers like the fact that we are still small enough to know our customer on a personal level -- and we plan to keep it that way. Our focus is to grow while still maintaining a close connection with our customers.