About Us
Our Story
Like many companies, Urban Thickets Landscapes was started in a garage by a person who thought the landscape industry needed a change, a change from the ordinary, structured garden. This person was Landscape Architect Warren Klink. Warren felt that landscapes should be a place to relax, not work. Trimming shrubs in tight “balls” or “boxes” multiple times a year seemed too rigorous and boring. Therefore, Warren wanted to create a soft, colorful, low maintenance garden that people could enjoy without having to worry about when they were going to have to get the hedge trimmers out again. These gardens began to include ornamental grasses and perennials that needed trimmed back once a year, ideally in the spring, allowing foliage for winter interest. By including many native plants in the landscape, this decreased the need for constant watering.
That was a quarter of a century ago. Skip forward to today and you see many of these same ideas all over the Greater Cincinnati area. During Warrens endeavor of change came along an employee who was supposed to be just another seasonal employee, working his way through school. This employee was a mowing foreman named Brian Benson. During Brian’s first years with the company, he began to adapt to Warren’s philosophy of “Low Maintenance” gardens. Therefore, Brian moved from running the mowing crews to joining the installation crew, slowly learning about the design elements involved in the landscape industry. Next, Brian began running day-to-day operations, then began doing some of the design work. Finally, in 2006 Brian purchased the company from Warren promising to keep the original philosophy of the company intact: Low maintenance gardening.
Today, Brian is still creating outdoor living spaces where people can take a break from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. These are continuations of their family rooms where children can run and play while the rest of the family sits around the fire pit or cooks dinner on the outdoor barbecue, or maybe a husband and wife are nestled in the middle of the garden relaxing on a garden swing under an arbor covered in beautiful vines and fragrant plants. Either way, your garden should be representative of your way of life. If it is not, allow us to design your own “oasis” in your yard! Get away from the “norm” and create a change in your garden! Just remember Urban Thickets Landscapes is “Big on Beauty, Low on Maintenance”