Len S: Len Szymanski

Len Szymanski is an Advanced Master Gardener

who was assigned in 1993 to answering the lawn questions that came to the Midland County Michigan State University Extension office because he had an interest where other volunteers in that Master Gardener corps said "No, not me, I don't do lawns!"

19 years later, Len's put in hundreds of hours studying those lawn topics he hadn't seen in his own lawns, because, "People asked and I wanted to know and to help." He's learned from books, Extension bulletins, MSU classes and conferences, field trips to check out both turfgrass study sites and individual "real" problem situations.

He has taught lawn care classes in mid-Michigan for the past 10 years. "I feel like I can answer lawn questions even though  I know that I don't know it all. What I do know is during my pre master gardener days I made many lawn mistakes and have learned from them. Experience is a great teacher, and I have learned the valuable lesson that my lawn care goal is to make my lawn presentable, not perfect!"

More than lawn

Len's not only a lawn guy. He's a retired mechanical engineer who worked for the Dow Chemical Company for 32 years. He and his wife Dee, live in Midland where they were awarded a certificate of beautification from the city for their home landscape. Len stays in constant contact with turf by visiting local golf courses on a frequent basis.