Innovation has paid off for Kim Parker Plantscapes. Productivity is up, customer satisfaction is running high and employees have a degree of freedom generally unheard of in the green industry. As if that's not enough, Parker's crews are doing their work with a minimal amount of impact on the environment. Her approach to business may be a bit novel, but the end result is green, all the way from the lush interior plant life and the envy on her competitors' faces to the bottom line report at year end. As she puts it there's risk in innovation but there are also rewards.

This is enclosed pool/spa area combines rock-scapes with plants and flowers and is entirely irrigated with drip lines hidden inside the rocks.

Water first

Kim Parker Plantscapes used irrigation with interior-potted greenery long before the rest of the industry, or even before the technology was thoroughly tested. ''At the time, no one was using irrigation indoors," Parker remembers. "We believed in its value but our commitment to it involved risk and expense, especially during the learning curve staged."

Yet the technology gave her company an immediate leg up on the competition. As she explains, every customer in the early 1980s thought an interiorscape company visited properties weekly to maintain/water plants. Employing new irrigation technology reduced Plantscapes visits to once every two weeks.

The move toward interior-potted irrigation reduced Plantscapes' labor requirements and overhead, as well. It also translated into more freedom for the company's technical staff who now work four 10-hour days instead of the normal five days a week.

Parker changed the workweek after she saw one other technicians standing in a five-deep grocery line on Saturday. "She had two children hanging on her and a basket of groceries," Parker recalls. "That's how she was spending her day off. I had to fix that."

Irrigation gave the owner the opportunity to be creative with staff hours, so every employee has at least a Monday or a Friday off. Half the staff works from Monday through Thursday and the other half works from Tuesday through Friday. But for Parker, planter irrigation has tweaked more than labor requirements.

"One of the challenges in the landscaping industry, both in exterior and interior, is to reduce the environmental impact of taking care of properties," says Parker, She notes how ironic it is to work with air-cleaning plants and then pollute the air by driving to and from properties. By cutting maintenance time in half, Plantscapes has reduced the time its seven vehicles are on the road and their subsequent pollution by 50 percent. Working four 10-hour days further minimizes the company's environmental impact.

This is not only the responsible thing to do, Parker adds, but it also becomes a selling point to customers. "Protecting the environment is part of my marketing message. I remind customers they have a responsibility to work with a company that not only delivers quality work at a fair price but also works to reduce its environmental impact.

Still another benefit from irrigating is to be able to offer customers alternatives, Parker says. For example, her company can extend the time between visits from 14 to 18 days without jeopardizing plant life. In fact, 30 days between visits is possible. Increasing the time between visits voids the company's warranty on plant material, but it is especially helpful to struggling companies who otherwise would have to cancel their maintenance contracts. It's a win-win for both partners. Plantscapes gets to keep a contract and the customer keeps the plants.

"What sets us apart from the competition is not only the equipment, but the technical support we can offer since we're so familiar with the system," notes Parker. But, she emphasizes, there is more to her company than water.

Beyond irrigation Parker, who started her company with one technician, says her expertise is not in horticulture but rather in marketing. And she prides her self in her ability to sell interior plants. In her words, "If you can sell interior plants you can sell anything. Dandruff would be easier to sell."

Her corporate philosophy is as straight-forward as her marketing approach: "Work hard, do the right thing and give more than you get," she says. ''That's the formula for success in this industry and in any life situation for that matter.

By introducing customers to interior irrigation, Parker feels she is doing what's right for them, for her own employees and for the environment. It's a difficult argument for competitors to counter.

Also falling in the category of business-building ideas, Parker offers customers an innovative living art program. The company retained a sculptor to design architecturally appropriate interior fountains that are rented (fish and all) to properties. "The fountains are ideal for executive areas and lobbies" says Parker, "and we change them four times a year, just like you would a new piece of art."