Monarch Landscaping and Garden Center

By Cindy Ladage

Monarch Landscaping and Garden Center is located North of Virden, and just south of Thayer on Route 4.  They are currently gearing up for spring and summer, their busy season.  Angi Davis, the owner of Monarch purchased the business from Eric Andrews who opened the business in 2007. Angi became the new owner in 2015, bringing a creative vibe into her busy life.

As a co-owner of Quorum Consulting Group, a third-party administrator of 401(k) plans and Quorum Consulting LLC, a CPA tax practice,  Angi said, “Our firm did Eric’s bookkeeping and when he said he was going to sell the business, I said to Don (Wienhoff, life and business partner) “We could buy that business and I can do that when I retire.”  Don agreed this would be a wonderful creative outlet for Angi who fell in love with plants, gardening, and landscaping at an early age.  “I grew up in the country and we always had a vegetable garden and did my own landscaping no matter where I’ve lived.”

While she did buy the business, she says she has not retired yet, however she considers all her hours at Monarch as a labor of love. Since opening, Angi has made changes.  “We added a front pergola and several shade cloth areas so that we can offer a greater variety of plants.  We recently took the greenhouse down as it was too hard to regulate the temperature in there.  I try to change or add something new and interesting every year.”  A couple years ago she added a cool butterfly silo using a grain bin that is now a fun area to visit and is a habitat for butterflies. 

Another grain bin has become the holiday gift area where Americana and Vintage pr and more were offered during the holiday season.  Angi said moving the bins onsite was quite an experience!

Looking around the beautiful store filled with gift items and gardening fun, then the outside selections it would be easy to spend hours here, and that is exactly what Angi wants.  “I want this to be a destination.  A place to get new ideas and just enjoy the beauty of plants and nature.”

Part of that creativity at Monarch for Angi comes through in the landscaping side of the business.  At Monarch, they offer both hardscape and softscape landscaping.  “Hardscaping includes patios, retaining walls, fireplaces, fire pits, pillars or columns for lights or mailboxes and more.”  They also offer seat walls, grilling stations and Koi Ponds and waterfalls as part of their landscape architecture.

The softscape side of landscaping is all about plants. Installing plant material, edging, rock and/or mulch.  At Monarch they offer landscaping to both commercial and residential clients. They have performed several landscape jobs in the Springfield vicinity for clients like Vancil-Murphy Funeral Home, M.J. Kellner, Springfield Supportive Living and more. 

“All designs are drawn in a computer-generated 3D design program” Angi said displaying exactly what an idea looks like on a huge screen. Using the computer program was a fun challenge.  She attended Millikin University and received a degree in Management Information Systems, which aided her in both the business computing world and this new endeavor. 

“We want customers to know exactly what they’ll be getting,” Angi explained about how the 3D computer program shows clearly around the home or building, where everything would be located with minute detail.

Angi said while everyone wants maintenance free landscaping, the only truly maintenance free  landscape is a rock.  She can tell the customer how much work plants will take, but the work is minimal compared to the beauty the landscape can add. “We try to incorporate  spring/summer/fall and winter interest plants, so the yard is pretty all year-round.”

“We work with homeowners.  We are not cookie cutter designers, we design creatively and don’t use the same six to seven plants that everyone else does,” Angi said. “Our designs are unique and made to last.  We make sure we use dwarf or moderate sized plants too.”  This helps keep monster bushes from appearing over time!

Angi learned about plants over the years and what she loves most about the business is, “I feel like we create something the homeowner will love and that we add beauty and value to their home.”

At Monarch, they have an extensive garden center with unique gifts and yard items.  They also carry bulk material like decorative rock, mulch and natural stone so that those who wish to can do their own landscaping.  “We like to encourage the do-it yourself homeowners too”.

Angi has a great team at Monarch. During the busy season there are up to 23 part-time and full-time employees combined. She has five full-time year-round managers.  “Mike Hartman and Dennis Kraus are general managers for all landscaping projects, and each does hardscaping and softscaping residential design work.  Jamie Allen is my visual merchandiser and orders all of our retail product lines. Kyra Hamilton is my personnel and plant material manager and orders all of the plant material and schedules staff on the retail side.  Annette Reichert is my customer service representative and schedules on-site homeowner appointments and provides homeowner follow up.  Angi is thinking of adding in some fun ladies’ events in the future, and Annette will help with that as well.”

Big on shopping locally, Angi is a dedicated supporter of Macoupin County Communities and other small neighboring communities.  Each year she says they complete and donate one landscaping project or support fundraisers like the Barn 2 Barn Classic.  “The first year, we donated landscaping to the Virden Municipal Water office building on the Virden square.  Last year we donated the perennial plants and planted the planters for the Girard town square, and one year we landscaped the Village Hall of Thayer.”

Angi has roots in Virden.  While she grew up in Sullivan IL, her father was an IL State Police Trooper and also owned the Red Fox restaurant, she remembers coming to Virden where her grandparents lived many times.”

Hours at Monarch vary depending on the time of year.  Open Monday – Friday from 8-5 during the winter hours, they add Saturday hours in March and then May through September they add Sundays as well.  For more details about Monarch Landscaping & Garden Center check out their website at www.monarchlgc.net, their Facebook page or call 217-965-3819. Head to Monarch Landscaping and Garden Center and find just what you need for your garden or landscaping project!