Caring For Your Lawn

This story begins in 1965 with a man and a lawnmower.

Erv Denig started his post-college career as an industrial arts teacher, but after four years he left education to pursue his landscaping dream. “He started out mowing lawns when he was 12, and worked at Broadview Florist watering lilies,” says wife Kathy Moses-Denig. Until his passing, he sold Christmas trees every December from the farm property. 

Today, the seed of the story has grown to be Lawn & Turf Landscaping, Inc., one of the leading landscape design and maintenance firms in the region.

There have been some twists in the 54-year story, but the man with the mower has left a legacy that continues to make beautiful things happen from the green farmhouse on Winchester Road. 

After a 30-year career in commercial real estate, Moses-Denig stepped away to keep the business humming when her husband Erv died in October 2015.

“I thought I could do both jobs, but I decided to focus on Lawn & Turf,” Moses-Denig says. 

Her decision means the 25 to 30 employees of Lawn & Turf are out doing their work in the Fort Wayne area, designing, maintaining, fertilizing, aerating, mulching, mowing and clearing snow.

Headquartered on the last 20 acres of the 150-acre Denig family farm, Lawn & Turf has become a pillar in the green industry around the area. The company does residential landscaping and full-service lawn care, but also serves neighborhood associations and property management companies, larger retail malls, institutional facilities and corporate offices. “What sets us apart is the high quality of our work. So much so, that people will see a property and say, ‘this must be a Lawn & Turf lawn’,” Moses-Denig says.

In addition to landscape maintenance, the company designs and builds outdoor features like patios, terraces, fireplaces, outdoor kitchens, retaining walls, decorative stone steps and artful displays.

Its seasonal services include spring and fall cleanup, mulching, pruning as well as annual design planting and care.

Moses-Denig adds that the company is fully insured and licensed, and offers training programs for its employees. “Our friendly on-site employees wear uniforms so they are easily recognizable and work with a trained foreman.” 

Stepping into her role as owner and president of Lawn & Turf Landscaping was a natural process. “I was always involved with the business,” Moses-Denig says. During their 27 years together, she often attended trade shows with him and helped with the company’s marketing. 

“Erv left a really good company,” she continued. “We all work as a team.”

A number of its employees have a long history working for Lawn & Turf. “Some of our on-site and management people have been with the company 10 to 15 years.” 

The couple enjoyed networking jointly in the Fort Wayne business community and were involved in a variety of civic and social activities. 

Before her work in commercial real estate, Moses-Denig, a graduate of South Side High School, earned a Master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from Ball State University and was the assistant director of the City of Fort Wayne’s Department of Economic Development.

She is a member of the Greater Fort Wayne Chamber of Commerce, Leadership Fort Wayne alumnus, the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors, The Women Business Leaders Council of Northeast Indiana, The Saturday Club and Sycamore Hills Golf Club.

“Our motto is ‘going green since 1965’ and we plan to keep going for years to come,” Moses-Denig says. 

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