Growing great gated greens

Story ran in the Sunday Local & State section of the daily. The story was an enterprise story I came up with for the section. I also shot my own pictures and created supplement boxes with more detailed information about each community mentioned in the story.


Reynaldo Pebroza, 20, is just one of the many gated community landscapers that spend countless hours cutting, replanting and maintaining the grounds at Bonita Bay in Bonita Springs.


The perfectly manicured lawns and immaculate flower beds at gated communities throughout the area are maintained by landscapers like Tony Aguiar, 20, at Bonita Bay in Bonita Springs.

It takes an army of landscaping professionals to design, grow, and maintain the lush green landscapes inside the gated communities along U.S. 41 in Bonita Springs and Estero and all over Lee County.

The perfectly manicured lawns and immaculate flower beds have become the signature of gated communities throughout Southwest Florida but this kind of beauty doesn’t literally grow on trees.

It takes years of planning, experience and countless hours of year-round work to grow plants as far as the eye can see.

And money, too.

WCI Communities, which owns six gated communities in Southwest Florida, spends approximately $4 million annually on their landscaping operations.

They spend another $250,000 a year on their flowering bedding program.

“Everything will look good by this afternoon,” said Hector Garcia, 39, a Bonita Bay annual crew member, while raking one of the many flowering beds that are replanted regularly.

Garcia’s shift started at 7 a.m. and much like other landscapers, the work is back-breaking but the results are beautiful.

“We change the plants because winter season has finished,” said Garcia, who works on the 2,400 acres at Bonita Bay. “We just keeping doing it.”

And they keep doing it despite watering restrictions and a severe drought affecting the area.

“We are going through a drought that we haven’t really experienced before to this severity so you just do what you can,” said Scott Conkle, the assistant grounds keeper at Bonita Bay.

“You hand-water when you can and we have to obey the law just the same as anybody else,” Conkle said.

And living by the law is coming at a price.

“There will be some plants that we will have to remove and replace, because some of them just aren't going to make it,” Conkle said. “... And that’s just a simple fact, and you have to realize that when these kind of restrictions go into effect.”

So, the work goes on.

The pace is constant but efficient. There are 47 landscapers on staff, not including the golf grounds crew at Bonita Bay.

Bonita Bay purchases and uses 30,000 annuals twice a year including qantas, coleus, and cassandra.

“It’s all a routine for us,” said Conkle, whose organizational skills are tested daily by the ongoing work. He has one crew doing annuals and one for landscaping. “It takes 38 hours of work every two weeks, or almost 1,000 man-hours to keep the flower beds fresh.”

Fresh flower beds and mowed lawns are big business for gated communities.

It’s why residents buy.

“It’s like living in a park. A lot of effort goes into landscaping here and they just do an outstanding job,” said Peter Ward, 65, a full-time resident of Bonita Bay in Bonita Springs.

Ward and his wife, Nancy, built their house at Bonita Bay in 1998 because of the care that goes into the grounds.

“It’s an idealistic setting. I look out my back door and there is a nature preserve ... out my front door you can’t see much but trees,” said Ward, who knows plants because he is a green thumb himself.

Planning

Bob Radunz, the general manager at The Colony Golf and Bay Club at Pelican Landing, has a staff of 30 that works on landscaping in the 809-acre community.
The crew keeps to a schedule, which was planned years ago.

“From start to finish, one of our communities takes years to build,” said Radunz, who keeps a horticulturalist on staff. “We think of a theme for each community and things you normally wouldn’t consider are taken into account.”

In planning, landscape architects take plant materials, fertilizers, watering needs, wildlife, preservation all into consideration for aesthetics.

“Whenever we do a development, we sit and plan what the theme will be, and then we get the plant material that fits that style,” said Jerry McPherson, the landscape implementation manager for the Bonita Bay Group.

He oversees the landscaping at all six Bonita Bay Group communities.

“Mediterra in Naples has an Italian theme, so we pick colors, textures and the look that matches that,” McPherson said.

Plant science

But it’s not only matching those plant products, it’s picking plants that can survive heat, hurricanes and floods during the rainy season.

“There is a real science to how it all gets done,” said Mary Briggs, spokesperson for the Bonita Bay Group, which owns Bonita Bay. “We use all our resources as best as we can to make sure it all looks great.”

The Colony at Pelican Landing has the same concerns, especially in its 18-hole championship golf course.

“We have turf unique to us that allows us to deal with salt run off if there is a hurricane that brings the ocean in,” said Radunz. “We have more control over it and we can use less fertilizer and the golf course is always emerald green.”

The lush greens is part of the reason Mary Alice Knowles is a resident at Bonita Bay.
“We moved here partly because it was so superior to the other places in town ... it’s just fun and it sparks your eye,” said Knowles, 83, who’s been living in Bonita Bay for seven years. “It’s just kept up and it shows.”

Awards

Gated community landscapers like to show off their skills and not only do they do environmentally friendly work but they are nationally recognized as well.

“We are certified in the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program, and we work to keep everything very aesthetically pleasing without having to add too much,” said Radunz, about the certification that only five other gated communities in Florida and 38 in the world share.

The Colony and its developer, WCI communities, have also been awarded the 2003 NAHB Pillars Award for Best Site Plan in the U.S. and the 2003 Aurora Award for Best Residential Community Over 500 acres.

And with these recognitions come reputations that landscaping architects work hard to protect.

“There is no secret Bonita Bay mix,” said McPherson about the complexity of his work. “It’s just a recognition that our company has that when we do a project, we make it look good.”

Ward and his wife, Nancy, said they feel lucky to live in such a picturesque place.

“At nights it’s just beautiful ... it’s just a spectacular place to live and the landscaping effort has a lot to do with that,” said Ward, who often gets comments about the landscaping from his visitors. “We take it for granted because we live here.”

Hearts N’ Parks Fun Fit Festival a great time for kids

Kristie Vega with the Wa-ke Hatchee Recreation Center leads a group of campers including Stephanie Chalkos, 8, of Estero, through a dance workout at the Hearts N' Parks Fun Fit Festival at the Estero Community Park and Recreation Center.


The Miracles mascot shakes hands with Jack Norman, 4, of Estero, at the Hearts N' Parks Fun Fit Festival at the Estero Community Park and Recreation Center. Norman visited the park with his father Keith, 41, his sister Anna Rose, 3, and brother Benjamin, 1.

Showing children how to stay active, eat right and be heart healthy is important to Doreen Baranski at Estero Community Park.

Baranski organized the fourth annual Hearts N’ Parks Fun Fit Festival in Estero to make sure kids got the message that a healthy heart is no laughing matter.

“It’s basically for them to learn to eat healthy and exercise and spend less time indoors,” said Baranski, who spent four months organizing the event. “It’s mainly to give kids different ideas for what to do for activities.”

And kids got the message during the day’s event that included 25 fitness stations including dancing aerobics, tennis, baseball, laser tag and a jumbo slide.

“It feels good,” said Drew Coarke, 9, of Fort Myers. He is one of the almost 1,300 Lee County summer camp kids invited to the event.

Feeling good was the goal of the day and it kept kids active and gave campers something different.

“It’s a great thing for kids of Lee County. It’s a chance to play with friends and do some instructive, constructive and productive activity,” said Keith Norman, 41, of Estero.

He visited the park with his three children Jack, 4, Anna Rose, 3, and Benjamin, 1. “... it gets them out of the routine of the summer.”

Breaking that routine is why Baranski also asked local businesses to donate supplies and help pay for some of the event.

Summer campers paid about $3 of their weekly fee to attend the event.

“This was an effort of the teens camp along with other corporations to help put this together,” she said.

Children throughout the day rotated through activities along with their camp counselors.

“It’s awesome. I don’t know if they directly pick up anything but they might pick up some stuff ... some may want to pick up tennis ... ,” said camp counselor Tony Restino, 19, of Estero. “...some may want to pick up soccer.”

Creating that interest is what Baranski was hoping for.

“It’s a great, great day,” Norman said. “It’s nice for the kids.”

Oo-La-La Salon making people beautiful

Carmen Rodriguez, owner of the new Oo-La-La Salon and Spa, prepares to beautify Claudia Lopez, 29, of Cape Coral. Lopez has been visiting the shop for two years.


Services: haircuts, styling, conditioning, color and perms. The shops spa offers facials, hot rocks, massages and relaxation treatments.

Carmen Rodriguez wants everyone to walk out of her new salon saying three words: Oo-La-La.

And, that’s why she named the shop, which was once The Strand Hair by Ronda, after the phrase.

The Oo-La-La Salon and Spa had its grand opening on July 4 in a hopes to bring new business to the Old 41 area.

“It’s a very special place to all the girls that work there and the building has a nice history,” said Rodriguez, 34.

The shop was also named Oo-La-La because it was something Rodriguez said to her church sisters when answering the phone.

She bought the salon from previous owner Rhonda Lawthorn who sold the location to pursue other interests.

“She just decided that she had other things going on in her life and she wanted to close the doors,” said Rodriguez, of Fort Myers. “I’ve always had plans to own a salon. ... I know that’s my gift.”

The gift is one that she hopes to share with locals and visitors in Bonita Springs.

“We want it to be a comfortable place for people to come, let loose, share a story, cry and come out looking beautiful,” said Rodriguez who worked as a hair dresser at the shop for 10 years before purchasing it.

Rodriguez's staff will continue keeping customers happy, with 27-year veteran Jan Cook on staff.

“It was a perfect opportunity because we all get along so good and none of the girls wanted to leave but they didn’t want to just stay with anybody,” Rodriguez said.

Jan Cook’s history keeps her from wanting to work elsewhere because her grandparents once owned the building that was a grocery store.

“I’ve been with the Strand for 16 years,” Cook said.

“She is my longest living friend,” said Rob Stone, 43, of Bonita Springs, who has known Cook for 20 years. He was at the shop recently getting a haircut before moving to Chicago for good.

The Oo-La-La Salon and Spa will soon offer a nail technician and possibly a barber.

But the summer months will be pushing until seasonal residents return.

“It will be hard but we are by far the most reasonably priced and we are there to cater to the working, not working and the retired,” said Rodriguez about the reality of a season business. “It will be difficult because we are trying to build up clientele.”

But Rodriguez said that it’s what the shop will offer that will keep people coming back and talking about the salon.

“For all of us, hair is our gift ... it’s just about what we can give our customers,” Rodriguez said. “We are here not to only beautify people but to help as well. We are counselors as well and we know that.”

The 2,000-square -oot store is in the process of getting permits for a new sign.

“We are very good at what we do and eventually that will bring everybody,” she said.

Chamber collecting supplies for students

School isn’t in session for another couple months but the Bonita Springs Area Chamber of Commerce wants all teachers and students to be ready.

They are hosting their second annual school supply drive and asking local businesses and residents to help.

“So many kids in Bonita are on free or reduced lunch and the parents can’t afford to get them everything,” said Karen Brown, the training and development director for the chamber. “We come behind and make sure those students get what they need.”

Last year’s supply drive helped the chamber collect almost $3,000 that was used to buy supplies including pens, pencils, notebooks, markers and highlighters.

The chamber started the drive for elementary and middle schools not only to address the student need, but to help teachers who pay for most of the supplies themselves.

Brown said the high school need is already addressed with the scholarships the chamber offers.

“We talked to principals in the area about how we could help and supplies was a common theme,” said Brown, who has already had some donations including $500 from the Rotary. “Teachers, we know their salaries probably aren’t what they should be anyway, so for them to have to buy the supplies is a burden.”

And that’s a burden the chamber hopes to alleviate by handing out its list and using its building as a drop off site.

“We got the supply list from each of the schools and we found the common items and picked the 25 or 30 most popular,” Brown said. “It’s a pretty big burden for teachers.”

Students feelings are also a concern.

“We come from behind and make sure those students don’t feel bad and are on equal footing with a child whose parent could afford what they need,” she said.