When Chris Combs was just 12 years old, he had already begun his first business mowing lawns. His dad, Keith Combs, a teacher at Harrison High School, helped Chris with the trimming of shrubs and trees. In just a few years time, at age 15, Chris hired his first employee to drive him around to job sites. His lawn care business was thriving, with Chris mowing over 40 lawns a week. Chris soon branched out to offer planting services, and he did so well that by age 18, he decided to go into landscaping as a full-time career. He started with a Datsun pickup truck, a 4’x5’ trailer and a small shade building in his parents’ backyard, which sheltered the plants from the sun. At age 19, Chris began offering design services and hired his first staff landscape architect.
In 1983, after several successful years serving the landscape needs of the community, Chris built a new 3.5-acre nursery facility on Calf Lane, from which he operated his landscape design and installation company for the next 15 years.
His business continued to grow, and eventually in 1998, after recognizing the need for a local retail garden center, Chris built a brand new facility at the corner of Burkhardt and Lynch Road, which continues to serve as the home of Combs Landscape today. In addition to landscape design and installation services, the facility is also a retail nursery and garden center, which has been voted the "Best Garden Center" (Platinum Award) for the last 5 consecutive years by the Evansville Courier & Press Reader’s Choice Awards.
Combs also raises shade and flowering trees on a 45-acre tree farm located in northwestern Warrick County. Trees are planted as small saplings and are grown to their desired size, up to 7 years, before they are ready to be installed in the landscape. These homegrown trees have the advantage of being cultivated in local soil and are acclimated to local conditions.
Through vision, hard work and determination, Chris has built his business from the ground up. Today Combs Landscape serves the needs of the Tri-State Area and beyond, having completed thousands of projects in the Evansville area, as well as installations as far away as Seattle, WA, Chicago, IL and Columbus, OH. The staff at Combs Landscape has grown to include over 50 employees, with 4 Landscape Architects and Designers, 9 installation crews and over 15 nursery and support staff. Chris Combs takes pride in running a family-owned business whose staff members are known and respected throughout the community. His commitment to quality, selection, customer service and hard work remains the driving force behind this successful company.
Monday - Friday 8-4
Closed Dec. 31 - Jan. 2
