Going for the long green. (consolidation in the lawn mowing industry)

National lawncare giant buys local competitor

The consolidation trend is cutting into the lawn mowing industry. The drive in many industries to roll up regional companies under a single national brand hit the world of commercial lawn care and landscape maintenance when TruGreen-ChemLawn bought Portland's Northwest Landscape Industries last month for an undisclosed sum. The deal was the first in a rapid series of acquisitions that positioned TruGreen in the landscape market in three portions of the country.

For TruGreen, the Portland transaction provides a solid presence in the Northwest market and an avenue for further acquisitions. For the founders of the …