I got to do one of my favorite things as editor at L&L today.

When we run surveys, we typically offer an incentive – we’ve given away iPads, digital cameras and a trip to Hawaii. But we run a lot of surveys,  so we often use gift cards. So every few weeks I walk down to the bank near our office and pick up a few Visa gift cards.

We just finished up another research project, this one about lawn care product use, and I got to pick up cards at $75 a pop for 10 random respondents.

They are:

• Michael Rush, Rush Lawn Care, Searcy, Ark.
• Ricki Linyard, Lawn Doctor, Olive Branch, Miss.
• Mark Landa, Boulevard Flower Gardens, South Chesterfield, Va.
• Erv Denig, Lawn & Turf Landscaping, Ft. Wayne, Ind.
• Robb Bashaw, Rancho del Escudo, Waller, Texas
• Chris Senske, Senske Lawn & Tree Care, Kennewick,Wash.
• Rick Lisanti, Growing Concern, Monroe Township, N.J.
• Craig Pickett, J.H. Plantscapes, Cypress, Texas
• Rafael Rico, Hometown Pest Control, Delray Beach, Fla.
• Mark Ruppert, Ruppert & Company Property Services, Bloomfield, Conn.

So, congratulations to our winners. Your cards are on their way. And to everyone else out there, thank you for taking the time to fill out our surveys. We know you’re busy, and your responses really help us as we put together the magazine each month.

Frank Fistner, president at ArtisTree, has a good list of language you should never include in your contracts. It’s a good thing to pass this along to your sales team for distribution to property managers and HOA boards during bid time.

Fistner’s list includes these vague gems:

• “Custom-blended” fertilizer (details, please?)
• “If deemed necessary” (by whose definition?)
• “occasionally inspected”

At L&L, we support any effort to eliminate fuzzy language. You can read the full list at the ArtisTree blog.

A few weeks ago, landscapers across the country pitched in around their communities as part of PLANET’s annual Day of Service. It’s a way for companies to give back to the areas where they operate, and help out local organizations.

The Day of Service is just one of many examples of landscapers giving back and participating in community service projects. (In fact, we’ve got an entire department in the magazine dedicated to just these types of projects.)

Last month, Dan Moreland, my former boss and publisher of our sister publication PCT, wrote about Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz and the correlation between compassion and business success.

For any company operating today, profitability cannot be the sole measure of success,” Schultz said. “Delivering long-term shareholder value is essential. But today’s increasingly complex world requires companies — including Starbucks — to hold ourselves to higher standards. Amidst continued worldwide economic uncertainty, Starbucks has demonstrated that it will continue to build shareholder value, but never before has that value been more closely aligned to our values. Simply put, the value of your company is driven by your company’s values.”

…

Capitalism, in and of itself, is not bad. It’s what has enabled the United States to become the largest economy in the world. I’ve benefited personally from the fruits of capitalism. Thirty-one years ago, when I joined GIE Media, we were a modest, start-up business employing four people working out of a single-room loft above a local restaurant. Today, we publish more than a dozen magazines and employ more than 80 people, supporting scores of families. Watching those families grow and prosper and contribute to their respective communities has been the single most gratifying professional experience of my life, and it’s all due to the gift — and power — of capitalism.

It’s when we lose our moral compass as companies, or as individuals, when we put profits and personal aggrandizement above all else, that we suffer collectively. The pest management industry understands this basic contract with society, perhaps because pest control companies have such an intimate relationship with their customers and the communities they serve. Paul Jackson, a staff writer for The Northwestern Chronicle, puts it best: “There are good CEOs and good companies, moral corporations; there is moral capitalism because as moral beings even our self-interest is moral in itself, but only if we see ourselves as humans reflecting humanity, one to another. How we function as a society, economy and polity has to do with Us: the market reveals Us and shows what kind of people we are. Indeed, the market is a test, a proving ground for your heart in search of the question — just how moral are you?”

If you’re in business just to make money, you’ll probably do OK. But if you make your goal the improvement of those around you and your community, you’ll do great.

Here’s our weekly digest of interesting stuff from the internet. Have a great weekend. (And call your mom.)

• A history of the sunflower.
• Top 2012 outdoor living trends.
• The best times to post to Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr.
• Massive stormwater park opens in Los Angeles. (via @ValleyCrest)
• Chris Heiler on practical uses of Pinterest.
• Above: Transplanting a tree in Australia with ArborCo.

Lawn Doctor and Scott Frith get a shout-out in this Entrepreneur article about how franchises are using social media.

The nature of franchising — systems, consistency and control — can run counter to the spontaneous spirit of social media. “A franchisor wants to closely manage the brand, but that takes away the point of social media, which is the personal interaction,” says Rich Stark, CEO of Stark Logic, an online marketing agency in Oceanside, Calif.

That attitude is changing, however. Franchise companies are “starting to pay attention because they now realize that social media does impact sales,” Powills says.

It’s got some solid tips for any company considering a jump into social, especially when it comes to letting your employees post and interact on these platforms. You can read the full piece here.

Jason Cupp, jet-setter and long-time friend of L&L, traveled to Longwood Gardens recently to speak at the 2nd Annual Interior Symposium, hosted by PLANET and OFA.

You can read more about the event on his blog, and check out a slideshow of more of his photos here.

Here’s our weekly collection of fun stuff from the internet. Enjoy!

• The longest-serving employee at the Morton Arboretum also lives there. (via @ChicagoTreeMD)
• Rutgers launches rain barrels designed by local artists.
• Roanne Miller on why local green industry businesses are better for their communities.
• A great round-up of landscaper-friendly apps from @JShilan.
• Eye candy: 55 photos of Frank Mariani’s personal gardens.
• Above: A new video from the ASLA on how urban agriculture can be adapted to small spaces in cities.

I consider myself a connoisseur of frozen foods. Lean Pockets, Healthy Choice, Lean Cuisine (I need to stay slim), I can pick out the best tasting ones from each company, as well as give a stinky face to the ones they should have never brought to market. And within the frozen food market, I am really invested into the frozen pizza market.

In the past few years, I’ve noticed the makers of these gems have really stepped up their game. No longer are there only three variations of the same item under each brand. Nope, now there’s thin, thick and cheese-filled crusts, combos with wings, cookies, and one of my favorites, a dipping sticks pizza. They cut the pizza so it can be dipped in marinara sauce they provide And recently, I tried a Diginoro chicken parmesan pizza that was the probably one of the greatest frozen pizzas I’ve ever had. I’m smiling just writing about it.

So why am I clogging the L&L blog with unhealthy, fattening (although they now have fat free pizzas too!) frozen goods? Because the frozen food, especially pizza, market is very similar to landscaping. Some would probably say, “it’s just frozen pizza” like someone could say that you just mow lawns. And yes, that’s true, but it’s all in the presentation and the ideas to make what seems like a simple product or service into something dynamic. So, if you are a company that considers yourself just a mow and blow operation, you are missing out on a great opportunity. I remember when getting a Stouffer’s French bread pizza was like a mini-vacation for me. Now, I don’t even buy those because there are so many other better brands out there. Take a look at your competition and see what you can do better than them. Somewhere along the line, a wise person noticed no one was standing out in the market, and took advantage.

And try that chicken parm pizza. I swear, it was fantastic.

We’ve all had a bad day at work. Sometimes it’s so bad that you may want to punch something. Next time this thought crosses your mind, remember New York Knicks Amare Stoudemire. The power forward was so angry about something, possibly losing game 2 of the NBA Playoffs to the Miami Heat, he punched glass surrounding a fire extinguisher, lacerating his hand. The move not only hurt Stoudemire, but also his team. He most likely won’t play the rest of the series, and as the team’s second best player, he is needed.

So just remember, your actions can have a huge affect on the people around you. If a client is giving you a hard time or a foreman is making mistakes, take a deep breath, collect your thoughts, listen to some Yanni and address the situation calmly.

Here’s our digest of fun, interesting and important links from the week. Dig in and enjoy!

• SoCal water fight heats up.
• Plans underway to create world’s largest online plant database.
• Many small businesses are avoiding loans. (via @genemarks)
• Top green building trends for 2012. (via @ValleyCrest) 
• An oldie but a goodie: Email checklist.
• Above: Mark Ciccarelli from the Neave Group and his famous bourbon bacon chicken wings. (via @chris_heiler)