Living Green

There’s nothing quite like the peacefulness of the tropics. Jason and Linda Spangler love the climate so much — plants, animals and temperature — that they’ve brought bits and pieces of tropical locales to Joplin. Their business, Living Green Interior Landscaping Inc., has been growing steadily since its inception in September 2006 — so much so that there are almost a dozen different businesses in Joplin that have tropical plants and features provided by the Spanglers.

“It’s just a wonderful, peaceful thing,” Jason Spangler said of the services he and his wife provide. “For my wife it’s almost therapeutic.”

It’s also therapeutic for the residents of Spring River Christian Village, where Living Green just finished an aviary and keeps up two other tropical plant features. The aviary has been such a welcome addition, said facility administrator Nicole Strother, that the assisted living center has requested birds from Living Green — a new service of the business — to add to the effect.

“They’ve done such a great service on the plant side of things that we asked them if they could provide us some birds and fish, as well,” Strother said. “We’ve always had an aviary here, but it used to be fake plants. The senior population can’t get out to nature, and this brings it to them. It’s calming for them.”

Jason Spangler said producing that calming, peaceful effect is part of the satisfaction he and his wife get from the job. He said he also greatly enjoys the entrepreneurial spirit and the “running of the business.” It was his wife, however, who first came up with the idea.

“She’s going to school right now for horticultural science and a couple of years ago brought up the idea of starting a business that had to do with plants,” Jason Spangler said. “If you go around town you see a lot of silks in businesses because tropical plants are hard to maintain.”

Part of the upkeep, he explained, includes creating the appropriate amount of lighting for specific plants, finding the right kind of planter, and the weekly feeding and pruning needed for optimum growth and color.

“It’s plant therapy,” he said. “If you want your plants to succeed, you have to realize they’re not going to be happy in a place where they can’t survive. That’s our job: to figure out how the plants you want will fit in with the facility. We do whatever we can to put the customer at ease.”

Some of those customers include the Holiday Inn, Café Del Rio and a contract with McCune Brooks Hospital is in the works. The plants have been such a success for the new business, in fact, that Jason Spangler has branched out into aviary and aquatic services as well.

“According to the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council, I’m the only certified avian specialist in the area,” he said. “We’re trying to do more and more with our aviary services and fresh and saltwater aquariums.”

The plants, he said, are usually obtained from Florida and California, and the business is affiliated with a nationwide company called Mr. Plant, based out of San Diego. The animals, including the koi fish that swim in Spring River’s aviary pond, come from a dealer in Illinois, as well as places in Florida and Hawaii. Jason Spangler said customers can request any kind of plant, bird or fish and Living Green will do its best to make them work in the facility. Spring River, for instance, has plants that include a bird of paradise, an Amstel King ficus tree, and an African plant called a ZNZ (zee-zee). The aviary also just received some koi fish, singing canaries, zebra finches, and lady gouldians.

“The aviary has become such a nice feature that we’re going to add some nice furniture to broaden the area,” Strother said. “(Living Green) provides great customer service and they’re very easy to work with. We’ve received a lot of compliments about the aviary.”

Living Green Interior Landscaping Inc. has a Web site at www.livinggreeninc.com, and those seeking more information can contact Jason Spangler at (417) 206-7568.[[In-content Ad]]