Landmark Landscaping Interview:
MARIE MACHADO

TELL ME A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE PROJECT.

I’m the office manager for Landmark Landscaping and Woodlands Management located in Burlington, VT. It is a company concerned with keeping Vermont beautiful while working with native species and with the natural landscape to enhance the natural beauty of the land. We encourage our clients to use native species to the Northeast of this country. We encourage and buy from local nurseries in the Chittenden county and the New England region.

We get our compost and mulch from a project called the Intervale, which is a local Burlington-based non-profit organization that has been recycling organic materials to make its compost for years. We encourage our clients who have the room on their own property to create compost that includes yard waste as well as kitchen waste. We instruct them how to keep compost healthy, alternating green and brown, rotating it, aerating it. We use that compost when we can on site. Whenever we remove materials from a client’s property, we hold them in our own yard and use them if at all possible in other client’s properties. Much of our organic matter is brought to the Intervale to be composted. If we’re removing topsoil or fill, we try to use it in other areas where we need topsoil or fill. Same with the stonework. Our stone is purchased almost exclusively from Panton, VT. Also we use some of the quarries in Barre. We try to educate our clients about invasive species. We do our own designing, implementation, installation, and maintenance. That’s the way we prefer it. We’re not simply a landscaping or architectural firm. Soup to nuts. We take it from the concept to groundbreaking to enjoying it afterwards. Some of our clients even have parties at the completion of the project where our employees are invited to celebrate a job well done.

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN IN BUSINESS?

This company has been in business for 17 years.

HAVE YOU BEEN INVOLVED IN THE COMPANY THAT LONG?

No. I’m a relatively new hire. Jonathan is the owner who started with a pickup truck years ago. The foreman we have on staff, Brady, has been with us for eight years. I believe Marie is two years and RJ has been here about three. Those are the permanent, full time staff. In the summer months and into the fall, we hire seasonal employment. We encourage a lot of the college students, people who enjoy working outside who have some knowledge of plants. For many years we had an intern program. At this time we do not.

DO YOU WORK WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS ON THE PESTICIDE ORDI-NANCE?

Well, I’ve read that they’re trying to phase out many pesticides. I’ve always, quite frankly, been alarmed that they promote products for home use such as Roundup or DEET, things like that. I know very well what those agents are, they’re the same things we defoliated Vietnam with. They should not be used in the household, they should be used in a controlled environment. Landmark does not use chemical pesticides or fungicides. If the plants are selected and planted properly, you do not have that problem. If you have a healthy area, you don’t have those type of sicknesses. Generally those kind of sicknesses arrive when you have mono-crop cultures or you plant things in places they do not naturally grow. The best way to do it is to avoid that situation in the first place. Our weeding is done by hand, and we don’t use chemicals. Anytime we come across blight, it’s usually pruned by hand. There are rare, rare cases where pesticides have been used, but generally we avoid the use. There has to be some tolerance for pests within agriculture.

ARE YOU INVOLVED IN THE LEGACY PROJECT? I SEE YOU’RE A MEMBER OF VERMONT BUSINESSES FOR SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY.

We participate in almost anything that promotes healthy environments. We all donated our time to the clean-up in Burlington, to the BOB, and we donated trees and compost. We donate materials for any project like that. Things that promote and educate environmentally sound practices. We are not specifically affiliated with the Legacy Project, but we have done some work with them. We feel it’s very important for businesses to reinvest in their community.

WHAT ARE YOUR FUTURE PLANS FOR GETTING INVOLVED?

It is much decided on a project to project basis. We’re well known in the Burlington community and in Chittenden County for our ecologically-minded work. Most of our promotion is word of mouth and when we’re contacted by agencies that share similar interests, we make the time to help.