NEWS FROM THE GARDEN

As the Fockele Garden Company celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, we are focusing on the future while taking time to remember how the company has grown.

The most significant company change as we move forward is the retirement of founder Mark Fockele and co-owner Julie Evans taking over as president and owner.

Julie, who has been with Fockele Garden Company since 2000 and co-owner and vice president since 2005, has been a large part of the company’s growth from a local company to one that serves all of North Georgia.

It all began in 1990 with Mark

and two employees working out of an office on Green Street and a shed at the old Chambers Lumber Company property. Over 30 years, the company has grown to more than 30 employees and is nationally recognized for its outstanding design, installation and maintenance work.

At first focusing exclusively on residential design and installation, FGC soon began to grow. The company expanded into commercial design and installation with its first significant commercial project for

City Plumbing in Gainesville in 1995, then began working with other local and regional businesses. We have always worked directly with business owners who had a keen interest in having interesting gardens, rather than the standard landscape.

In 2000, Julie joined the company as a designer. Mark and Julie met while working on different aspects of a project in Atlanta. Both are University of the South graduates but were not classmates. When they met, Julie owned EcoCentric, a landscape company that designed and installed ecological

Jason Sparks, left, serves as vice-president and CFO and Julie Evans is president and owner.

Continued on p. 4

Our client has owned and loved her home in beautiful north Atlanta for 40 years. She recently renovated the interior of her home in an ultra-modern style and then asked us to follow suit with the garden that she had dreamed of for so long.

Her vision for the garden was of a place to remind her of the rocky coast of Monterey, California. Since north Atlanta and southern coastal California are not remotely similar, we compromised, somewhat.

We were excited about the challenges of her request and the opportunity to use a wider and non-traditional plant palette - and to consider some fun and unusual outdoor features. Not to mention her preferred color palette of fuchsia, lime green, and orange... with a few purple and blues thrown in... then add some grayish foliage.

Although we started with a design for the back garden, as conversation and installation proceeded, we began to expand the scope and make changes as it developed. Eventually, the entire property was redone. It was a fun and rewarding collaboration with the customer providing ideas and excitement, every step of the way.

The house has a long driveway. We installed rock gardens that flank the long driveway and that are full of groundcovers and specimen plants for interesting structure.

Creating the rock gardens on the front hillside and driveway transitioned into replacing her masonry retaining wall with a boulder wall where plants tumble out of the spaces between the stones.

A new stepping-stone path was installed once extensive drainage work had been completed in the area.

Top-right: The street frontage and driveway

were the perfect setting to develop the look of stone outcrops as well as preserve an existing

boulder wall. They also served to stabilize the slopes and develop

planting pockets.

Middle: The recirculating waterfall is the centerpiece of the backyard rock garden.

Bottom: Landscape lighting lights the path and draws

attention to the waterfall.Continued on p. 4

As we celebrate our 30th year in business and our continued growth, the Fockele Garden Company has moved into our new headquarters in Talmo, Ga., less than 10 miles east of Gainesville.

We had simply outgrown our previous location. The new one gives us room to expand and it also streamlines operations.

“We were landlocked in our old site,” Julie Evans, Fockele Garden Company owner said. “We have more office and conference room space. With everyone under one roof, we are more efficient.”

The new headquarters covers seven acres, which give us ample space to house equipment. It features a design studio, maintenance and installation departments, administration and production office space, tool and equipment barn, shop, staff meeting rooms and plenty of room to grow.

“Logistically, the new headquarters allows Fockele to serve customers in Hall County and metro Atlanta, while meeting the needs of our expanding customer base in Jackson and Clarke counties,” Evans said. The Fockele team has moved into its new headquarters.

After building the Fockele Garden Company into a nationally recognized residential and commercial landscape design, install and maintenance company, co-owner and creator of the company Mark Fockele has retired.

Julie Evans, who has been with Fockele Garden Company since 2000 and co-owner and vice president since 2005, has become president and owner of the company.

“It has been an honor to work alongside Mark for the past 20 years and he will be greatly missed. We will continue to focus on the qualities that have made the company successful for three decades,” Julie says. “We work on projects of all sizes and budgets and provide all services with our own staff. We listen to what our clients want then work hard to make it happen. We spend a lot of time working out the

details, so our customers will have a satisfying experience and result.”

We are committed to focusing on the details that will produce a beautiful result and a satisfying experience for our customers.

Mark began the company in 1990 after working as an attorney for 10 years.

Julie Evans, who has been co-owner and vice president of Fockele since 2005, takes over

leadership of the company.Continued on p. 4

The Fockele Garden Company recently received Best Of Hall 2020 from the Gainesville Times for residential gardens and custom water features.

At FGC, we are known for our naturalistic plantings and water features.

Our residential gardens grow into lush, inviting spaces that can be enjoyed for generations. Each is designed and built to perfectly suit the setting and to be ultimately

manageable. We always pay close attention to the adaptability of garden plants, both native and introduced, that easily survive drought, heat and cold.

Creating water features of all sizes and levels of complexity is a specialty of ours, whether they are fountains, streams, waterfalls or ponds. Found in the corner of an intimate residential backyard garden or in large public spaces like the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, Northeast Georgia Medical Center,

schools, public parks, or places of worship, we design and craft water features that complement your garden setting in both scale and character.

The dramatic slope of the backyard garden provided the perfect setting for a recirculating waterfall. We also repeated the theme of rock gardens, conifers and specimen miniature trees, while preserving an existing boulder wall.

Landscape lighting provides subtle wayfinding for evening visitors as well as accenting the waterfall.

Our client knows and loves her plants and after just two years, her TLC is evident. By providing proper drainage, irrigation, soil building, and carefully selected and expertly planted trees, shrubs, flowering perennials and groundcover, we gave our customer’s garden the structure and diversity required to make the garden exactly what she wanted. She loves it!

restoration projects. “We decided to join forces as we each brought different skills that could make our projects better overall,” said Julie.

Over the years, FGC has developed an expertise in healthcare gardens. It has installed six gardens at the Northeast Georgia Medical Center campus and at assisted living, nursing care and physical rehabilitation centers

throughout Georgia.While the company has grown and changed over the past 30 years, working with residential and commercial customers to make their garden dreams a reality is our focus.

As we start the next phase of our history, we will always work hard to remain “the company you keep.”

“I always enjoyed working on projects and in the garden,” he says. “And at that at point in my life, I wanted to find work that incorporated the pleasure I experienced in doing landscape projects. I’ve enjoyed developing relationships with clients and helping each one build a garden and landscape they desired. I can step into retirement knowing Julie

will keep the company moving forward and growing.”

The company will continue to grow and serve clients throughout North Georgia, providing high quality design, installation and maintenance of residential gardens and commercial landscapes. In addition to regular landscape services, Fockele

Garden Company provides irrigation systems, outdoor lighting, custom water features, and stonework.

“We have an experienced and talented team in place,” Julie says. “We will continue to give our customers they highest quality service. Nothing will change.”