web1_TTLXXXXXXpsychologist-1-bestofCMYK.jpg

Michele Mattie picked as region’s best psychologist

web1_TTLXXXXXXBestof-MLB-Advertising2.cmyk_.jpg

MLB Advertising of Wilkes-Barre wins Times Leader’s Readers’ Choice Award

<p>Edward&#8217;s Garden Center has the typical supplies needed for outdoor improvements. Grass seed, fertilizers, plants, mulch &#8212; the Forty Fort business has all of them .</p><p>So do those impersonal home improvement behemoths. But they don&#8217;t have tortoises, iguanas and goats. And certainly not the Home of the Gnomes.</p><p>The uniqueness of Edward&#8217;s is what sets it apart from the competition. Times Leader readers thought so as well, voting it the best landscaper in the annual Readers&#8217; Choice Awards.</p><p>&#8220;What we&#8217;ve done and what most garden centers need to do today to make themselves different from the big box stores is we really need to attract families and to provide better service,&#8221; said Ed Kopec, president and founder of Edward&#8217;s.</p><p>Edward&#8217;s provides grounds maintenance, a garden center, a bulk materials yard and a contractor division at its location at the end of River Street in Forty Fort.</p><p>Great stuff for the adults, boring stuff for the kids. That&#8217;s where those animals come in.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s almost like a scavenger hunt for kids,&#8221; Kopec said. &#8220;We have 29 animals here at different locations. We have a container that has Popsicle sticks numbered at each animal station. &#8230; As the kids walk through the garden center and collect all 10 Popsicle sticks, they come in the store, and we give them a bag of candy.</p><p>&#8220;We had 4,000 kids come through last year. We did 42 school tours. It really drives traffic.&#8221;</p><p>Edward&#8217;s added to its kids&#8217; attraction in the summer of 2015 with the Home of the Gnomes. The area has various activities from checkers to a model train that goes through the village.</p><p>Now back to the grown-ups.</p><p>Edward&#8217;s also offers a hands-on experience for green-thumb home owners with its &#8220;We Plan, You Plant&#8221; program. A customer brings in measurements and pictures of their property and a professional helps design a landscaping strategy and suggest plants that would best fit the desired look.</p><p>The roots of the company &#8212; no pun intended &#8212; started when Kopec was 8 years old and began helping a retired neighbor in his garden. Fast forward to 1978. Kopec and his business partner in Varsity Sodding Service parted ways, and Edward&#8217;s Landscaping Service was launched.</p><p>The company started out with a four-man crew, two trucks and a bobcat loader. Four acres, visible in the distance from the Forty Fort/Kingston exit of the Cross Valley Expressway, were purchased from a former gravel company in 1983 as Edward&#8217;s continued expanding. A bulk materials yard was added a few years later.</p><p>As Edward&#8217;s enters its 39th year of business, it will be adding more attractions.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re going to have a concession stand this year, which is kind of neat,&#8221; Kopec said. &#8220;We&#8217;ll have popcorn, slushies, ice cream, hot dogs, things like that. We also improved the appearances of what we call our outside stores, but they are actually greenhouses.</p><p>&#8220;We have some really unique products coming in in terms of pottery and statuary and things of that nature that you really don&#8217;t see too much in this area.&#8221;</p><style>
.neFileBlock {
	margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
	margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
	border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
	padding-bottom: 5px;
	padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
	font-size: 85%;
}
</style>
<div class='neFileBlock'>
<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_TTLXXXX17Bestof-Edwards1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Edward&#8217;s Garden Center owner Ed Kopec and Garden Center Manager Debi Jaskowiec in the Forty Fort business. The center won the Times Leader Readers&#8217; Choice Award for best landscaper. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_TTLXXXX17Bestof-Edwards1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Edward&#8217;s Garden Center owner Ed Kopec and Garden Center Manager Debi Jaskowiec in the Forty Fort business. The center won the Times Leader Readers&#8217; Choice Award for best landscaper. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_TTLXXXX17Bestof-Edwards2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Rawlyn Michaels talks to her favorite duck, Harold, at Edward&#8217;s Garden Center. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_TTLXXXX17Bestof-Edwards2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Rawlyn Michaels talks to her favorite duck, Harold, at Edward&#8217;s Garden Center. </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_TTLXXXX17Bestof-Edwards3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Edward&#8217;s Garden Center head landscaper Dennis Gentry and Tony St. George move shrubs. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_TTLXXXX17Bestof-Edwards3.jpg</photo2><caption2>Edward&#8217;s Garden Center head landscaper Dennis Gentry and Tony St. George move shrubs. </caption2><photoCredit2></photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By John Erzar</p><p>jerzar@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p>Edward&#8217;s Garden Center</p><p>525 River Street, Forty Fort</p><p>570-287-4329</p><p>Established 1978</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach John Erzar at 570-991-6394 or on Twitter @TLJohnErzar</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Uniqueness makes Edward’s blossom