Jeff Pack is beginning his fifth year at English Gardens. 

As a crew leader, Jeff oversees one of the teams that’s responsible for project installation. “We’re the ones who take what the designer has put together on paper and make it happen,” he explains. “Once we’re assigned a job, I’ll talk to the designer to understand their vision and get their ideas of what they see. We’ll put the plants in the ground, add hardscapes and any water features to make the design come to life.”

The interaction with designers is Jeff’s favorite part of the job. He also enjoys trouble shooting.

He recalls a recent project where the crew had to re-design a dry steam bed. “We needed to figure out why it wasn’t draining like it should,” he explained. “We removed all the stones and plants, cleaned it out, and added more plants. We thought there was one problem, but it turned out to be a different reason.

“Sometimes there are questions at the job site and problems that we couldn’t foresee. We have to call on a lot of different skills to solve problems and make decisions.”

Jeff has a long history of working outdoors and related industries. He’s been a golf course superintendent at two different country clubs, and also worked at a John Deere dealership. He has a bachelor of science from Michigan State University in turf grass science, where he also studied horticulture.

This year, Jeff is looking forward to an early spring, and working on larger projects and new challenges.

“Our sales have been growing steadily,” he says. “Our design team has sold many more jobs than this time last year, and we’re bringing on new employees to handle the load.

“This is my third season. I understand the design team, I have the confidence of the landscape superintendents and the managers. I’ll be helping to get the new crew members acclimated, so we can hit the ground running.”