Photo courtesy of Growing Green Landscapes.
Members of the Growing Green Landscapes team pause for a photo following a Christmas lights installation project.
At age 15, homeschooled student Jeremiah Jennings began weed eating for a friend who owned a lawn-care business. When the friend graduated college and moved on, Jennings took over the small company, which then served about 20 customers.
Jennings attended Jefferson State Community College for a year while running the business full time. Realizing he was learning more in operating the company than he was in the classroom, he chose to focus on growing the business. Eight years later, Growing Green Landscapes employs five people and serves customers throughout the Trussville area.
Since then, Jennings has developed a leadership philosophy centered on his people.
“As I have learned leadership philosophy and been blessed to be in circles that I should never even be worthy of being in, learning from people who’ve led $100 million organizations, that if you build the people first,” Jennings said, “then the business will build itself.”
When Jennings started his business, the only service he offered was mowing. Now it is a full-service design-build company, ranging from hardscapes and irrigation to landscape lighting and holiday displays.
Of the jobs completed by Growing Green Landscapes, Jennings is most proud of one of his most recent jobs: a huge landscaping job at First Baptist Church Trussville.
“Very high visibility, a lot of stress, a lot of deadlines,” Jennings said. “It put a strain on our guys, and we pushed through and did it. It’ll be cool to look back on it in 20 years when all of [the greenery] is mature and say, ‘We installed that.’”
“My next big one,” Jennings continued, “will be when my first employee buys their house.”
Jennings is exploring a partnership with Hewitt-Trussville High School that would allow students to complete a summer apprenticeship and earn industry certifications.
“We have apprenticeship programs built this summer, and I hope to get those dialed in so in summer ’27 we can work with high school students to go through a 10-week program for certification in landscaping,” Jennings said.
“We don’t really look for talent much anymore,” Jennings said. “We look for a growth mindset, teachability, somebody that wants to come in and learn. Somebody that will just be a sponge and soak it up,” Jennings said.
For Jennings, success is measured by more than completed projects or company revenue. He hopes to create opportunities for others to build careers in the skilled trades and provide for their families through meaningful work.
