Started as a landscape  maintenance company in 2002, Greg’s Grass & Landscaping has grown over the years to include much more.

Greg Stegenga, owner, said the business has nine employees and uses innovative means to create outdoor areas with the use of special stamps and artisan hand carvings. Its website states the business is committed to offering the finest quality workmanship with a careful attention to detail.

When asked how the company began, he said: “It kind of found me, rather than me finding it, I guess.”

Though it started simply with landscape maintenance in 2002, the company added landscaping in 2008. Since then, it has added decorative concrete, ledge falls water features and Boldstone stone coatings.

Boldstone is the method of re-using leftover quarry tailings and blending them together with flexible water-based polymer binders. The end result is a flexible natural stone — it can be cut, shaped and even applied as wallboard, according to the company website. It can be used for tiles, trim, panels and rolls, to name a few, and is considered to be an eco-friendly material that costs much less than other alternatives.

Greg’s Grass & Landscaping also offers brush, tree and shrub care, mulch services, mowing, lawn renovation and aeration, fertilizer and weed control, and utility pipeline spraying.

Stegenga said along with the company’s ideas on outdoor living areas, the business is proud to use an organic-based turf program that feeds the soil rather than the plant.

In addition to the landscape maintenance and design, Greg’s Grass & Landscaping provides parking lot sweeping and  snow removal.

Stegenga said clients like the fact that the company is local and that with one call they can get their needs serviced.

The company website states Greg’s Grass & Landscaping is dedicated to helping its clients make the best choices possible. They want to help create a look that they will love for many years, if not decades, to come, while also creating a design that will make sense.

The company has Tim Zenk, a certified Boldstone installer, Techniseal certified installer and ICPI concrete paver installer.

Steve Tubbs is an additional office manager and is involved with plant design.

Greg’s Grass & Landscaping

What: Specializes in everything from landscape maintenance, to mowing to landscape planting and design.

Owner: Greg Stegenga

Address: P.O. Box 1031, Albert Lea

Phone number: 377-1123

Web site: gregsgrass.com

What’s hot and what’s not? Here’s some tips from Greg’s Grass & Landscaping:

• An emerging trend this year is the bold look of the New Day Rose Stripe Gazania. If you would rather have a more subtle look, the Alyssum wulfenlanum “Golden Spring” is a good alternative.

• Another trend is having an edible garden, as people become more conscious about the foods they eat and the ingredients in store-bought foods.

• As the economy is stabilizing, more people are requesting water features in their landscaping.

• People are also planting for privacy.