For more information about Watkins & Co. Inc., visit watkinscompany.net, call 434-823-4510, or email scott@watkinscompany.net. Public business address: P.O. Box 421, Ivy, VA 22945. Service area: Charlottesville / Ivy
Business & Innovation · Business feature
Watkins & Co. brings a horticulturist’s eye to Virginia landscapes
The Ivy-based company combines planting and construction with long-term landscape care, including meadows and habitat restoration.
A wildflower meadow asks different questions of a landscaper than a closely maintained lawn. At Watkins & Co., both are part of the work, alongside tree planting, drainage projects and the patient care that helps an outdoor space develop over time.
The Ivy-based landscape contractor has served the Charlottesville area since 1984. Its services range from planting and landscape construction to ongoing maintenance, with specialties that include native-grass meadow seeding, riparian buffers and wildlife habitat restoration.
Scott Watkins, a Charlottesville native, brings more than 40 years of horticultural experience to installation work. His focus includes new plantings, construction, drainage solutions and wildflower meadows. Bud Smith brings a similarly long background to maintenance, including turf care, ornamental gardening and pest and disease management.
Their specialties reflect two distinct stages in a landscape's life. Installation establishes the plants and physical structure. Maintenance responds as those plants grow, seasons change and the property begins to show how it performs. Watkins & Co. offers both, allowing a project to be considered beyond the day its last plant goes into the ground.
The planting work can range from small perennial plugs to substantial trees. The company also describes a growing role for native plants, whose use connects ornamental landscapes with the wider environment. Its buffer planting and habitat-restoration work extends that connection beyond the appearance of a garden.
On maintained lawns, the firm emphasizes practices such as varying mowing patterns and returning grass clippings to the turf. Seasonal renovation and year-round maintenance programs provide another part of its service. Specific work is planned around the property rather than treated as a single universal package.
The company also sponsors employee participation in seminars and certification programs. For an occupation built around living materials, continued learning fits naturally with the work: a landscape is never quite finished, and caring for it requires attention long after the initial installation.
