Stay Green Inc. has made a major pledge to support academic excellence in the green landscape industry by becoming an ambassador for the Professional Landcare Network Academic Excellence Foundation (PLANET AEF).

Stay Green President and CEO Chris Angelo said the PLANET AEF affiliation, in which Stay Green pledged $25,000 to support scholarships for university students studying landscaping and horticulture, is a significant step toward ensuring a quality talent pool for the industry’s future.

“We strongly believe in the general importance of quality education, and our industry is no exception,” Angelo said. “It’s vital to Stay Green and our clients that we are able to continually recruit new team members who have studied landscaping, horticulture and related topics, to ensure that we remain on the cutting edge of our industry.”

Chris Angelo

PLANET is a national trade association representing more than 100,000 landscape industry professionals. Its members are committed to the highest standards in education, best practices and business professionalism. PLANET AEF was created in 1998 to provide academic assistance to promising students pursuing green industry careers. The organization has given more than $650,000 in scholarships to 649 students.

Stay Green is one of three landscape companies to become new PLANET AEF ambassadors in 2013. The other two are Farmside Landscape & Design of Wantage, New Jersey, and the Wilson-Oyler Group of Santa Rosa.

PLANET AEF President Jim McCutcheon says the new ambassadors’ support is a significant step as the organization seeks to achieve its 2011 “5-by-5” initiative, seeking to raise its scholarship fund balance from $2 million to $5 million in five years. The fund has now reached $3.1 million.

“On behalf of PLANET AEF, I want to thank our newest ambassador companies for their generous support of the next generation of green industry leaders and for helping us to reach further milestones to achieve our ‘5-by-5’ initiative,” McCutcheon said.

Angelo added that Stay Green is proud to support the scholarship foundation and to promote a bright future for the green landscape industry.

“We’re helping the next generation of potential Stay Green experts who are gaining expertise in important subject areas, such as sustainability, drought-tolerant landscape design and water use efficiency,” Angelo said. “Their education and expertise will be vital as these key areas of our industry continue to advance and evolve in the years ahead.”

About Stay Green Inc.

Stay Green Inc. delivers the quality, expertise and resources only an industry leader can provide, combining exceptional client service with an unsurpassed reputation for excellence that spans four decades. Headquartered in Santa Clarita, the company now has more than 300 employees working in five divisions – Landscape Maintenance, Plant Health Care, Tree Care, Water Management Services and Landscape Design/Build Services. Stay Green serves clients throughout Southern California, and exercises positive environmental stewardship through its Sustainability Practices, which are applied across all service lines to help customers protect the environment as well as the bottom line. Stay Green Inc. is recognized as a leading provider of high-quality landscape services, having achieved a 95 percent customer retention rate, along with receiving the industry’s most prestigious awards. Learn more at www.StayGreen.com.