Landscape and Lawn Care Apps and Resources: 10 to Check Out

“Organization isn’t about perfection. It’s about efficiency, reducing stress and clutter, saving time and money and improving your overall quality of life.” – Christina Scalise 

As the saying goes, information is power and for service professionals, who many times are scrambling for extra time each day, information that is readily available is a big benefit. For landscape and lawn care pros, information to help with plant and pest identification, calculations and lawn care and equipment problems, can not only be a huge aid, but a timesaver. Here are the landscape and lawn care apps and resources for pros that stood out from the pack.

1. Landscaper’s Companion App
   Available via an online web app or mobile (iOS only) the Landscaper’s Companion is touted as the plant reference guide for landscape designers and contractors and gardeners. Landscape professionals can search the comprehensive database, which contains over 26,000 plants, and instantly obtain photos of plants and various information, like its sun and water requirements, bloom times, mature sizes and even information like if it’s deer resistant or not.
   
2. Landscape & Garden Calculators App
   With over 40 calculators and estimators that help landscape pros and contractors estimate their projects, the Landscape & Garden Calculators App, available in the Google Play store, is a useful tool. Pros can use the app, for example, to determine the amount of lawn fertilizer, sod and grass seed they need or business calculations like square footage cost. 
3. National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP) 
   Formerly the Professional Landcare Network, this national association was built to help landscape and lawn care companies, both large and small, be more profitable and successful. In addition to access to business strategies and insights, through NALP’s conferences, webinars and other training resources, pros will like membership benefits like the ability to network with other pros, the access to NALP’s top advisors who can provide advice on employee, legal or safety issues, and the opportunity to save on industry event registrations, certification testing and publications. For pros who want to be “Landscape Industry Certified”, NALP has also built a great certification program. 
4. Lawn Mower Forum
   Lawn Mower Forum gathers 20,000 members to share and swap knowledge and information about lawn care and lawn care equipment. There are various forums, from general forums and forums by equipment brand to specific forums for small engine and mower repair and commercial and residential lawn mowing. Registration to the forum is free.
5. Leafsnap App
   With this app, landscape and lawn care pros and technicians are able to take a photo of any leaf and learn what tree species it comes from. Developed by researchers from Columbia University, the University of Maryland and the Smithsonian Institution, Leafsnap uses visual recognition software to help identify tree species. The app also features browsable high-quality images of flowers, fruits, petioles, seeds and bark. It currently only includes trees found in the Northeastern United States and Canad, but eventually will include the trees of the entire continental U.S. Unlike the other apps we’ve mentioned, it won’t cost pros anything. It’s currently only available on iOS, but there are plans to launch it for Android devices.
6. TurfMagazine.com
   Turf Magazine is a great resource for turf and landscape pros to stay up-to-date on the latest industry trends and insights, business best practices, operational efficiencies and technical challenges. Pros will find helpful content like product round-ups, case studies, tips and news coverage. Subscription to the magazine and Turf’s newsletter are both free. Also part of Turf’s offering is its forum, LawnSite.com,and Green Industry Guide.
7. Turfpath App
   For landscape pros dealing with turfgrass pest problems, this is the app to download. Available for Apple users, Turfpath was built to connect turfgrass pros together and learn about pest problems around the country. On the app, pros can report issues they’re seeing, get notifications of pest problems in their area, ask questions and share advice. Turfpath is also a comprehensive resource, complete with images and descriptions of pests and how to solve for pest problems.
8. Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD)
   Landscape designers will want to check out this association, which is centered around the landscape design industry and helping to advance and recognize the profession. One of the main benefits of becoming an APLD member is the association’s certification program, which provides pros a chance to get national recognition. APLD also hosts various conferences, tradeshows and events for pros to attend. Memberships are available for students, associates and pros, with dues varying among each.
9. Home Advisor Pro & App
   Landscape and lawn care pros who want more business should check out HomeAdvisor, the site over 30 million homeowners turn to, to find quality pros. Pros can specify the types of homeowners they’re looking for and their location preferences and HomeAdvisor will do the work. By getting an HomeAdvisor account, pros also have access to HomeAdvisor’s content library of marketing insights from industry experts. Check out success stories from service pros here.
10. GreenIndustryPros.com
    Here is another publication geared towards lawn care and landscape design pros. It provides news and updates on the latest products, trends and solutions to help professionals grow their business. Pros should register on the site (it’s free!) in order to receive premium content and connect with pros around the country.

To manage job information, create and send estimates and invoices and take customer payments in real-time, landscape professionals turn to mHelpDesk.

Last Updated By: Rochelle Sanchirico

Last modified: May 11, 2018