Equipment and services benefit landscapers

By John Fitzsimmons

Landscape design, installation, and maintenance involve creativity, materials, equipment, and skill sets provided as a service. As such, its enterprises also need complementary support on the supply side for materials, equipment and business services. This was all present at the annual Landscape Show 2025, presented recently at Sandown Racecourse in Melbourne by Landscaping Victoria.

The Landscape Show really is an event for ‘the doers’ and their business supporters. As the promos say, it’s got everything ‘from tools and tech to plants and paving’, not forgetting the educators and students on the road to tomorrow’s landscapes.

This year, there were more than 100 exhibitors, and to my eyes, the variety was greater than ever. Yes, equipment and materials were prominent, but the increasing number of service providers offering professional and business support to the folk in boots and hi-vis or polar fleece was well worthy of note.

Firstly, let’s note some of the equipment innovations, some of which are still on the long road to (deserved) overnight success.

Prominent upon entry to the event was Pellenc Australia’s stand, the French-based company perhaps better known in the grape-growing, fruit-growing, and winemaking sectors. However, it also offers equipment in the ‘green spaces and urban cleanliness’ space. To the fore was the company’s Rasion 2 battery-powered pro mowers.

These machines, which come in two models, are the ‘Smart’ and the ‘Easy’. Both cut 60cm via twin counter-rotating blades spinning at between 3000 and 5000 rpm. There are six cutting heights, ranging from 25mm to 75mm, which can be set manually or automatically, depending on the model. An automatic unblocking feature prevents the mower from stopping the drive while cutting. Groundspeeds of 2, 3, 4, and 5 km/h can be set. Pellenc touts long battery life, great manoeuvrability, and ergonomics for the Rasion 2 machines. They’re designed, built, and priced at the professional level; they’re not destined for the specials board at a big-box store.

As expected, the Pellenc battery tool system has also expanded to include hedge trimmers, pruners, chainsaw-pruners (11in bar, 2.55kg), blowers, and sweepers (from leaves to snow!). Given the pro-standard capacity of the battery, certain models lighten the load in the hands by providing a backpack harness, with power delivered to the tool via a cable and quick-attach fitting.

How many times have landscapers or greenlife growers needed a trenching tool for irrigation, drainage lines or power cables – something more than a pick and shovel, but less than an expensive self-propelled or tractor-mounted machine? Well, that ‘slot’ has been filled by the Geotrencher.

This is essentially a hand-held trencher attachment based on a 400, 500 or 700mm bar added to familiar Milwaukee, Echo, Stihl, Makita or Husqvarna powerheads (*depending on compatible models and Geotrencher kit). An overhead protection bar also allows trench extensions or side off-takes to be easily and safely created under fences in situ. There’s also an electric/battery model and an easily attached ‘cart’ option to reduce fatigue on longer runs.

A New Zealand innovation, the idea began as a chainsaw accessory but has evolved into a cutting saw attachment that offers more power, with the added advantage of a safety clutch, which is particularly handy in the event of obstructions. It’s one of those ‘tools you never knew you needed’ for underground installations (especially on remote or confined sites), allowing you to work in minutes without effort or major machinery.

Beyond the very physical equipment, exhibitors like FX Luminaire focused on landscape and architectural lighting solutions utilising LED technology and digital lighting control with smart home integration and zoning, dimming and colour generation capabilities. This includes uplights and downlights, path and area lighting, as well as in-ground, wall-mounted, step-mounted, and underwater lighting for both functionality and effect.

Spanning the gap between green life and service provision, Regen Nurseries focuses on native and indigenous species, acting as a wholesale B2B nursery and plant broker, and offering local provenance seed collection, cleaning, and storage, as well as contract planting.

At Sandown this year, they featured the Regen 550cc Speed Tray, which provides three times the media volume of tubestock and healthy plants at a lower cost than 140mm pots. The concept, based on extensive experience in forestry and conservation projects, is said to be well-suited to large-scale projects, delivering high planting productivity, reduced manual handling, and improved OH&S standards. Speed Trays are reusable and recyclable.

Following that vein of thought was Remarkable Trees, offering specialist services in tree establishment, horticulture, arboriculture, and urban forest consulting, as well as property management advice and formative pruning. The company aims to “look after plants and landscapes from a whole lifecycle perspective, from planning to maintenance”.

Queensland-based Timberwolf travelled south to the Landscape Show, presenting as a unique contract planting company with extensive experience in natural areas and bush regeneration planting. Timberwolf uses a specialised technique adapted from the Canadian reforestation sector, combining the skill and agility of this approach with a commitment to extraordinary project outcomes. A big focus is on efficient project management using highly skilled and motivated planters.

Obviously, many specialist service niches are emerging in our greenlife industry. We must all remember that we should aim for a viable business if we are to earn our remuneration tomorrow and beyond.

One of the first steps is to get our business recognised, especially in the increasingly crowded and competitive landscaping sector. How? Enter Kate Soulsby and Terra Digital marketing for landscapers – ‘bringing the tech to your muscle’.

Terra starts by already understanding the unique needs and challenges of landscapers and works to simplify their business projection and growth. Terra builds marketing systems that attract the right kind of leads, automate follow-up, and ‘keep your pipeline moving’. When you’re a landscaper and not a tech nerd or marketing oriented, Terra is a partner that can look after all that website, SEO, CRM and digital advertising side leaving landscapers space to get on with, well, landscaping, and a more consistent reliable flow of work and new clients.

Through many of our regular contributors (e.g. John Corban, myself and others), Hort Journal Australia has long supported the greenlife industry’s enterprises with business information and perspectives. Often, this involves the basics, which can be boring but are vital matters related to accounting, legal, and other business services. Many industry bodies have also long recognised this and formed partnerships for specialist support with, say, insurance brokers and legal practitioners.

So, it was notable to see more such professional service providers fronting the landscape industry at Sandown.   

The Business Benchmark Group might help you find the path and stay on course. They offer business coaching, mentoring, and strategic planning to help the trades and construction industry, including landscapers, maintain a steady stream of work, achieve better returns for the hours worked, gain improved financial security, and reduce stress.

Sharrock Pitman Legal was at Sandown to discuss the issues that matter to the industry, including commercial, employment, and construction law, leases, and commercial disputes, among others. Their stand provided a very handy ‘legal ready reckoner’ summarising just some of the many legal aspects landscapers (and other small businesses) should be aware of and could be obligated to. It is a compact document that could open your eyes wide!

Insurance is always in the business services mix and Aviso Specialty provides horticulture professionals with HortProtect, a specialist public liability and professional indemnity insurance for everyone in landscape, from construction contractors or workers to landscape designers and landscape architects. It was yet another sign of the increasing specialisation available to our industry.

The production side of the greenlife industry is most familiar with greenhouses, but at the Landscape Show, landscapers were reminded they could transform their clients’ landscapes with a glasshouse by New Zealand-based WinterGardenz. Their structures play more to the lifestyle side of garden facilities and design – think English-style conservatories, or year-round weather-protected outdoor living and entertaining spaces than production facilities. The greenhouse option in landscape design was also presented as a potential new add-on revenue stream. A new twist on an old established idea. Last, but not least – a book! Noted horticulturists and garden designers Teena Crawford and Lisa Ellis were at Sandown promoting their book Plantology, a 664-page compilation of ornamental plant information and garden design inspiration referencing 180 species. It’s for professionals and enthusiastic amateurs, whether established or just starting on a garden design journey, and a beautifully produced reference.