She had it landscaped in an "English" style, hiring landscapers and horticulturalists from the United Kingdom.

Thomas Leporati, a 40-year-old broker, wants the property surrounding his Ridgefield, Conn., home to be attractive and plans to spend about $20,000 to hire landscapers and have them install shrubs and other plants.

They often work, especially in combination; and except for grading the ground around the foundation, which generally involves hiring professional landscapers with earth-moving equipment, these measures cost relatively little.

Ironically, the strong economy has presented another challenge, enabling more homeowners to hire landscapers instead of tending to their own yards, says Greg Pierson.

Mr. Costello said his company has hired union truck drivers, landscapers, sanitation workers and well diggers from the area.

The unions apparently thought the system was flush enough last year that they fought a bill that would have saved schools $300 million annually by letting them hire non-union landscapers and bus drivers.

Envious that our neighbor's grass was greener, we hired professional landscapers and abandoned the lawnmower, hedge clippers and weed whacker in the garage, spider webs confirming years of dormancy.

After finding out what it cost to hire landscapers, she decided to design her new property herself - even though she had little experience with plants.

They hire landscapers.

"Most of the people who call, they're not people with a ton of money to hire landscapers," he said.