Not a cooler. A bar. Tiki umbrella, full setup, built right into the back of an EHS truck. Bourbon, mixers, the works. If you were there and you found us, you know exactly what I mean. If you didn’t find us, I’m sorry. You missed Thomas Arthur’s smoked burnt ends, and I truly cannot overstate what a loss that was.
The Willowdale Steeplechase is one of those days that reminds you why you do what you do in this part of the world. The horses run, the flags are green, the Brandywine Valley rolls out behind everything, and people who love this place end up in the same field, under the same grey sky, not going anywhere. Our friends from The Bourbon Assault joined us, which meant the Colonel E.H. Taylor was flowing and the conversation was good.
At some point in the afternoon, someone asked me about a tree. Which is how it usually goes. We started talking about wet root zones, which species actually tolerate standing water, and which ones people plant thinking they will, only to lose them in a few seasons. I could have talked about it for another hour. I probably did.
That is the thing about being in this community for as long as we have. The people who own these properties, who love this land, who show up every year at Willowdale in the rain because they wouldn’t miss it — these are the same people we work alongside all season. They know their gardens. They ask real questions. And sometimes they just want to know which tree is going to give their grandchildren shade in thirty years.
We are not just a landscaping company that works in Chester County. We are part of it. That distinction matters to us, and days like Willowdale are the proof.
See you next year. We’ll bring the bar.
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