Kamloops landscape company digging Vernon

Mar 31, 2023 | 7:00 AM

One of the larger landscaping operations in the Southern Interior is setting up shop in Vernon.

Lyons Landscaping employs around 100 personnel and has done several projects in the area.

The company does design, installation, maintenance and snow removal. Lyons also operates a garden centre and fruit market in Kamloops.

Founder and CEO Colin Lyons learned the business the hard way, though hard work.

“I started off mowing lawns at 11 years old for the summer job to make some extra money. That turned into work at Art Knapps and that eventually turned into doing evening and weekend contract work. Eventually I had to trade my mountain bike for my first pickup truck so products could be hauled around to client’s projects. Education came with the school of hard knocks and many, many mistakes,” Lyons told Vernon Matters.

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Lyons said they worked with Predator Ridge for a number of years building the landscapes at the Commonage, Lavender Fields and yoga platform and then completed the new tennis and pickleball courts.

“Last year we spent the summer in a design build project for the District of Smithers in a civil landscape project doing the downtown core landscaping for six city blocks. The furthest we have worked is Whitehorse for two years, landscaping large commercial projects,” he said.

Predator Ridge Project (submitted image)

The company has its roots in projects for homeowners.

“Creating beautiful residential landscapes if still our team’s favorite. Taking someone’s vision to completion is the most rewarding,” Lyons said. “We really want to add value to the community and the projects we’re hired to complete. We have been called by many residential clients to come to Vernon as this service is really needed here. We will build a team and work to employ them year round through winter services and additional services we plan to implement.”

Residential pond and stream project (submitted image)

The company first started working in the Vernon area in 2017 when contracted to do work at Predator Ridge.

“The main construction projects kept us busy for three years while finishing off some residential projects at the same time. We became really busy for a couple of years until one of our senior supervisors wanted to move his family to the Okanagan, and at the same time, get us really planted in the North Okanagan,” Lyons explained.

Brent Peters will manage local operations, and the company is currently hiring for several positions.

“Vernon and the North Okanagan is a beautiful place to play, but also work. Everyone has been very welcoming and we want to thank them all. We look forward to making many long term relationships and adding value in the community each step of the way. We have a team of really talented people who care, and want to build beautiful projects that are proud of what we do,” Lyons added.

The company has also been very involved in the Kamloops community and will look to carry that over to the Vernon operation.

“Our strength as a company comes from our team members that live and thrive in healthy communities. We believe in supporting this so much, it is one of our core values: “Pride in Everything You Do.” We support large and small causes that all need a helping hand when we can. Hospice, Heart and Stroke, the food banks and the children’s Starfish Back Pack program,” Lyons stated.

A food security project called Grow-A-Row turned into a big success for the Kamloops food bank.

“We grow rows of food for the food bank by having many businesses come together to work for a common cause. These businesses are then introduced to like minded businesses who then network together,” Lyons explained. For more information on the Grow A Row initiative click here.

For further details on Lyons Landscaping click here.

by Kevin Rothwell

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