MITCHELL, SD (Mitchell Now) — On Thursday night, the bloom finally came off the rose at James Valley Landscape Solutions for founders Jeff Heppler and John Bush.
After over 45 years, the two held their official retirement party at the business’ summer solstice event. The pair began the business in 1980, after meeting in college at South Dakota State University in the landscape design program. Bush loaded up his electives with horticulture while Heppler added in a mix of business classes. It was a real grassroots operation to start. The two leaned on their parents and were based out of their rental home, which was located on the property where James Valley still stands today.
Heppler tells Mitchell Now, “We did landscaping. Back then, it was basically foundation planting. Carrying out little plants and then just re-redoing landscaping around houses, that’s kind of how we started.”
They hauled their materials in the back of a flat-bed pickup truck. They had to manually clean it out every night, and then do it all over again the next day. As Heppler and Bush planted more seeds, their company bloomed in the form of new equipment and new services offered. James Valley began “tree planting, shrubs, perennials, sprinkler systems, and eventually it turned into more construction…today James Valley does all of those things, but we’re also a construction company doing paver patios and outdoor kitchen areas.”
Heppler and Bush sold the business to new owners, who began as employees of the company and worked their way up, back in 2022. They continued to work part-time, but now even that season of their career is past.
Heppler said Thursday’s retirement party was a good time. They got to have family by their side, received some gifts for what they helped build, and are anxious to enjoy a summer with some free time.
Heppler notes, “It’s kind of nice to have a little bit more time, especially in that May, June, July timeframe, where we were always…in the middle of business.” Heppler now teaches landscaping at Southeast Tech in Sioux Falls.
Heppler believes the secret to the two’s success was the fact that he and Bush “stayed in our lane pretty well…We weren’t stepping on each other’s toes.” Bush, the horticulturist, was responsible for the maintenance side of things. Lawn care and tree care. Early on, he grew all the annuals James Valley sold from seed.
Heppler was the landscaper, including design, and the concrete end of things. The current owners of James Valley Landscape Solutions are Andy Jerke and Jon Mentele.