Baltimore's Best Winners 2026 6.28.26 - Flipbook - Page 23
Baltimore's Best | Sunday, June 28, 2026 23
Home &
garden
BEST LANDSCAPER
AKEHURST LANDSCAPE SERVICE
712 Philadelphia Road, Joppa. 410-538-4018. akehurst.com
Few landscapers have deeper roots.
Family-owned for five generations, Akehurst marks its 150th anniversary with 600
commercial clients and a $20 million annual business.
That’s a lot of green.
“We have name recognition, we don’t
cut corners and we stand behind our
work,“ said John Akehurst, president of
the Joppa-based company. There are two
branch offices, in Pikesville and Halethorpe, to help maintain the grounds of its
Central Maryland customers, which range
from single office buildings to shopping
malls.
Akehurst’s staff of 176 mow, mulch,
prune and plant the landscapes at such
high-traffic sites as Annapolis Town Center and The Avenue at White Marsh. Aberdeen Proving Ground is, in effect, Akehurst’s ground to care for. Challenges are
met: Once, the company once called in a
crane to help tend a rooftop garden on
Pratt Street, in Baltimore.
This year, John Akehurst said, 96% of
clients renewed their contracts — a number that has held steady for a decade.
“We’re not perfect, but when there’s a
problem, we fix it,” he said. Office complexes, industrial parks and homeowners
associations seek out Akehurst, which
ended its residential service in 2015.
“It was a good move for the company,“
the president said. “We’ve grown a lot, doing bigger jobs.”
Seasonal, the work is not. In 1992, Akehurst tacked snow removal to its agenda.
With more than 400 winter accounts and
150 plows, it’s now among the 50 largest
snow contractors in North America, albeit
below the Mason-Dixon Line.
Throughout the company, Akehurst
said, prosperity is met with piety:
“We answer to a higher calling; we do
believe in God. When we serve clients, we
do it for His glory. Of course, at times, we
pray for rain.”
— Mike Klingaman
Jacob Gabler, left, is the foreman of Akehurst Landscape Service. The company was voted Baltimore’s Best Landscaper.
KIM HAIRSTON/STAFF
