Family Trees
WRITTEN BY: LAURA GUTSCHKE
PHOTOS BY: JOEY HERNANDEZ
Obvious metaphors
ARE HARD TO AVOID IN DESCRIBING THE BUSINESS
SUCCESS OF TOM SCARBOROUGH (BS, HORTICULTURE,
1950), FOUNDER OF TOM’S TREE PLACE IN LUBBOCK.
BUT, THE METAPHORS ARE SO ACCURATE.
Tom’s Tree Place opened in 1950 on a then bare patch of land
at 34th Street and Slide Road. The company today owns additional
growing grounds and facilities outside Lubbock, but headquarters
remains like a mature oak at the same location.
Three generations of Scarboroughs—most of them Texas
Tech University alumni—now work together in the multifaceted
business. The younger members continue to cultivate the
company by combining new visions with their patriarch’s cando work ethic, allowing the business to grow and branch out,
bending but never breaking under changing market forces.
Early roots
During World War II, Tom served in the Navy. After the
war, the native of southern Mississippi started hitchhiking
to Albuquerque to attend forestry school. He met up with
service buddies in Lubbock who instead enrolled him
at Texas Tech. He supported himself by spraying and
pruning trees.
“During the war, you couldn’t find people to take care
of trees. People with big houses needed trees pruned, so
I knocked on doors to get business,” said Tom.
He frequented a popular drug store on College
Avenue—now University Avenue—where he met Jeanne
Bullard (BA, Speech, 1949). Her father, Mitt Bullard,
owned College Avenue drug store, and she was a waitress
at its 16-booth café while attending classes.
Shortly after Tom and Jeanne were married in 1947, he
went into partnership with Joe Rankin and his twin brother
Dr. J.M. Rankin to start Tech Landscape and Tree Surgery.
He later opened Tom’s Tree Place on land that was then two
miles past the edge of town and built a small house where
the couple lived. They later bought adjacent land for a total
of five acres (some of which was later claimed by the State
of Texas under eminent domain to make way for Brownfield
Highway on the north side).
Meet the Family
FIRST GENERATION:
Tom (TTU BS 1950) and Jeanne
Scarborough (TTU BS 1949)
NEXT GENERATION:
Janoma (TTU BSE 1972 and MED
1992) and Dale Rowin
Children:
Sasha Bennett (married to Frank
Bennett IV)
Toby Rowin (married Jennie Crump
RN, TTU BSN 2000)
Ty Rowin (TTU BS Biology 2004)
Josh Rowin (South Plains
College Student)
Tom M. (TTU BLA 1975) and Sheryl
Scarborough (TTU BS 1976)
Children:
Cody Scarborough Ensign, US
Navy (married Jennifer
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Oliphint BS Human
Development 2001)
B.J. Scarborough
Alex (TTU BLA 1983) and
Shellie Scarborough
Children:
Lexie Scarborough (Lubbock
Christian University Student)
Abigail Scarborough
Bailey Scarborough
Scott (TTU BLA 1988) and Tina
Scarborough (TTU BSE 1990)
Children:
Renni Scarborough
Emma Scarborough
Caleb Scarborough
THIRD GENERATION:
Alyx Jean Bennett
Business Highlights
• Weed control for Southwestern Public Service
From the late 1950s to the 1980s, a major company
endeavor was weed control services around all
Southwestern Public Service transmission lines
throughout West Texas and Eastern New Mexico. The
job covered about 55,000 poles, with 10 poles to a mile.
Initially, Tom deployed a three-man crew that drove
a jeep to each pole, many located on rural, rugged
farmland, to spray a water-based weed controller. A
nurse truck hauled water to mix with the herbicide. The
process was time-consuming and labor- and resourceintensive, and Tom’s Tree Place barely broke even on
the first three-year contract. The challenge led to the
herbicide Stakill.
• Stakill Herbicide The SPS weed control contract
prompted Tom to develop in the early 1960s a weed
control herbicide that was granular and time-released.
Called Stakill, it was designed to not migrate in the
wind from the transmission poles to nearby farmers’
fields. Its slow-release formula is specifically designed
for Texas soils and weather, allowing one application
to be effective for up to two years. Tom worked with
a chemist in Houston and a chemical production
company in Tennessee for the manufacturing of Stakill.
Crews on the SPS contact could apply one pound of
the Stakill, which looked like gravel, to treat 100 square
feet of weeds, eliminating the need for water. Tom said
Stakill was safe around animals and people—being 24
times less poisonous than simple table salt.
New restrictive EPA regulations have greatly reduced
Stakill’s retail and commercial financial viability in
recent years.
• Patterned Concrete Concrete pavement that can be
textured and shaped to look like brickwork, tile or
cobblestones was introduced to the Lubbock area by a
division of Tom’s Tree Place called Patterned Concrete
of Lubbock. Smooth and stained concrete also are
available. Both tile and European cobblestone fanpatterns were showcased at the entrance to Lubbock’s
Teysha Cellars that opened in 1988. The project was
awarded first place in the commercial division in the
1990 North American Concrete Paving Awards.
• Landscaping Trends As newer styles of landscaping
became popular, Tom’s Tree Place responded—and
even at times educated consumers on what trees and
plants were best for the West Texas climate. Waterconscious designs that incorporated drought-tolerant
plants and trees became more of the norm.
One tree that has grown in popularity in recent years is
the cedar elm, said Alex.
“In 1983 we sold only 10 cedar elms. It’s got a bad
name because people associate it with cedar, but it’s a
great tree for this part of the country,” said Alex. “Now
it’s our best seller, but we had to educate people about
its value.”
• Fireworks Stand In 1988 Tom Mitt had the idea to
operate a fireworks stand for Fourth of July. It’s an
intense 10-day family endeavor. Even the youngsters
willingly hawk items, help bag specialty packs and design
and distribute flyers. The first year they netted about
$100, but today the venture is an ideal business practices
laboratory on the issues of location, distribution,
inventory, security and marketing, Alex said.
“We learned about the importance of finding your
voice, such as buy-one-get-one-free specials,” said Scotty.
Initial inventory included $750 of trees and an old truck worth $200 and
outfitted with an $800 spraying rig. “We sometimes had to push it to get it
started,” said Tom with a chuckle.
Jeanne taught high school in Wilson for two years and then handled
bookkeeping duties for the business. Children soon came along: Janoma
in 1951, Tom Mitt in 1953, Alex in 1961 and Scotty in 1966.
Several Tree Rings Later
Early business consisted mainly of spraying and pruning trees.
Smaller slivers of the income pie were retail sales of trees and plants and
landscaping services.
“Dad brought the first live oaks to the Lubbock area, and many of them
are still alive today,” said Alex.
Tom sketched landscape designs on 3-by-5-inch index cards that even
today are a permanent fixture of his shirt pocket.
“What constituted landscaping then was one shade tree in the front
yard, a shade tree in the back and two junipers at the corners,” said Tom.
Through five decades, services evolved because of changing consumer
behavior, landscaping trends, Environmental Protection Agency
regulations and commercial contracts. Family members who joined the
company added new skill sets and specialties. Today, Tom’s Tree Place
encompasses many products and services, marketing itself as a designbuild landscape architecture company.
Customers are diverse. They range from do-it-yourselfers to
homeowners with about a $1,000 budget for plants, design and
installation to developers and commercial customers contracting for
designs and builds worth in the six-figure dollar range.
The second and third generations of Scarboroughs who work in the
business today include:
• Tom Mitt (BLA, 1975) is head of operations.
• Alex (BLA, 1983) is a landscape architect who handles sales.
• Scotty (BLA, 1988) also is a landscape architect involved in sales as
well as maintaining the computer systems.
• Dale Rowin, Janoma’s husband, maintains the company’s fleet of
vehicles and other mechanical equipment and also oversees one
of the growing grounds west of Lubbock. Janoma (B.S.E. in
secondary education, 1971; M.Ed. in educational psychology, 1992) is
a retired teacher.
• Shellie Scarborough, Alex’s wife, is a Lubbock Christian University
business graduate who now does the bookkeeping.
• Toby Rowin (BLA, 2001) is a landscape architect. He is the son of
Janoma and Dale.
• Frank Bennett, IV, grandson-in-law, is a business graduate of
Wayland Baptist University who oversees concrete construction
projects, including decorative pattern concrete designs. He is
married to Dale and Janoma’s daughter, Sasha.
The company employs about 24 people, including a fourth landscape
architect who also is a Texas Tech graduate. All four landscape architects
are registered as well. Now semi-retired, Tom and Jeanne serve
respectively as CEO and president, working in an advisory capacity.
Swaying with the
winds of change
Tom’s Tree Place specializes in trees, many from its two growing
grounds totaling 160 acres. There’s also a pecan orchard with 800 trees
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and a plant nursery. To expedite the moving of trees, the
company operates four tree spade trucks. The smallest spade
opens 44 inches wide to work around a tree, another opens
72 inches wide and the two largest trucks have spades that
widen 90 inches and can dig five feet deep.
“A tree digger can replace 10 men. It can move eight trees
in one day,” said Jeanne.
Tom’s Tree Place in 1986 launched the division Patterned
Concrete of Lubbock, and its first job was an innovative build
at Teysha Cellars that later won a national industry award.
Custom landscape lighting design and installation is now
offered as well.
A living portfolio of the company’s handiwork is scattered
throughout a 150-mile radius of Lubbock. Many of the live
oaks Tom first brought to Lubbock are alive and well in
the Tanglewood residential addition. Clients have included
Southwestern Public Service, the Four Sixes Ranch, Lubbock
hospitals, Texas Tech and McDougal Corporation, the
latter for landscaping services in its Overton Park projects.
Facilities of Baptist St. Anthony’s Health System in Amarillo
are adorned with mature elms that have been moved twice
since the 1980s because of remodeling projects.
“Being contracted to move trees speaks to two things: first,
the value of a mature tree, and two, our skill. Ninety to 95
percent of the time the trees live even after being moved with
the tree spade,” said Scotty.
Many of Texas Tech’s campus beautification projects in the
last 10 years were designed and/ or carried out by Tom’s Tree
Place. The locations of those landscaping projects include:
• United Spirit Arena;
• Southwest Collection;
• School of Law Parking Lot;
• Carpenter/Wells, Stangel/ Murdough, and Horn/Knapp
housing complexes;
• North side of Administration Building;
• New Student Union;
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• English-Philosophy/Education Quadrangle;
• Frazier Alumni Pavilion;
• Football team practice fields;
• Threes holes of the Jerry S. Rawls Golf Course; and
• Relics Garden at the Visitors Center.
Other universities likewise have hired Tom’s Tree Place for
services, including Lubbock Christian University, Sul Ross
University in Alpine and Eastern New Mexico University in
Portales, New Mexico.
“They have learned that the way their campus looks is the
first or second reason kids pick that school,” said Alex.
Apples Did Not Fall
Far from the Tree
Tom defined his business by both what he knew and what
he was willing to learn and do for new projects.
“Dad’s just extremely capable. He may not always have
the expertise, but he was tenacious and would figure it out,”
said Alex.
When customers asked Tom if he could take on a job, he
often said yes, even if he had never tackled such a project
before. Over the years, he has designed and built tools and
formulated a commercial weed killer called Stakill. He piloted
a small airplane to survey by air the success of the herbicide in
controlling weeds around rural transmission
lines for Southwestern Public Service. To
speed up the loading of stone slabs along the
steep slopes of the United Spirit Arena, Tom
developed and patented a mechanical device he
calls the Gravity Grip.
Following in his footsteps seemed natural,
said Alex and Scotty. The hands-on training
they received around their father was
complemented with technical studies at
Texas Tech.
“From dad we didn’t know why we did
things. We didn’t get the big picture. When
we went to Texas Tech, we got the technical
skills for putting stuff together,” said Alex.
“What was most important for me was the
construction classes. That’s where we learned
to make our ideas come to life,” said Scotty.
As members of the Scarborough family
discuss the history and success of the
business, comments are equally interspersed
that indicate dedication to raising children.
Tom and Jeanne have 12 grandchildren and one greatgrandchild. Tom and Jeanne’s children arrange work
schedules around their own children’s activities and are
involved in their churches. Those with school-aged children
have them enrolled in Lubbock Christian School and support
school functions.
It’s evident that Tom’s Tree Place is a family business with
an emphasis on family. The Scarboroughs believe such a
philosophy makes good business sense.
“I think the reason this works is because family comes
first,” said Alex.
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