HLS Enterprises of Texas Inc.

While most teenagers were preoccupied with college plans, Stephanie Christison-Marx, now president of HLS Enterprises of Texas Inc. (HLS), was busy launching her own business. “Coming from a family with six children, my mother had always taught us to be fiercely independent,” Stephanie explains.

Stephanie and her partner established HLS as a landscape maintenance and construction service business in 1973. With determination and a high standard for quality workmanship, HLS has since maintained a leadership position in the landscape industry.

“My experience over the past 40 years includes the development of top management personnel and teams that have met the most rigorous assignments,” Stephanie details. Stephanie’s on-site field experience, coupled with the commitment to provide clients with the best products and services possible, has enabled HLS to execute landscape construction projects ranging from $5,000 to $25 million.

Shaping Houston’s Landscape Industry

HLS has one of many firsts the world-over. In 1978 the company was awarded a contract from a local real estate investor to irrigate, landscape and maintain the first large-scale planned community, which is now First Colony. Additionally, HLS installed the first LEED-certified project for Fluor Daniel, which was a rooftop landscaped building in Texas.

In the early 1980s, Houston’s oil and gas market crashed. During this time, HLS was selected as one out of 12 businesses in the world to do the very first landscape project for Disney World in Florida. “It was this project that HLS changed the standards of the landscape industry as a response to a prevalent demand for quality horticulture in all types of development that had not existed before,” Stephanie elaborates. “Our client list includes more than 1,000 businesses from all over the world.”

According to Stephanie, she has a dedicated team at HLS. “Our team members, some with over 25 years of service, are dedicated to delivering personal care to each and every one of our customers,” she shares. “These team members are family, so safety is always our top priority.”

Reinventing the Company

Stephanie had a desire to create better products for the industry. “I wanted to create products that not only improved the growth of the plant, but also help protect the world’s greatest commodity: water,” she explains. Therefore, Stephanie became a founding member of a newly created company, Reusable Energy LLC (RELLC).

“One of the patent-pending products was considered for the Patent for Humanity award,” Stephanie continues. “Only 50 nominees were considered that year. The patent-pending product can be produced as an organic compound, bridge product, chemical fertilizer and absorption product, which can be manufactured in granule, pelletized or liquid format mediums.”

Products developed to-date are Agri ProBlend, Turf ProBlend, Tree ProBlend, Hydro ProBlend and Chem ProBlend. “Each product is developed with one goal in mind, and that is to save the Earth’s main commodity: water,” Stephanie says.

Acting as a soil remediation tool, these products will reduce water usage significantly. “The products will act as a catalyst in the retention of water for the reduction of leeching into subsurface soil, thereby creating root zone insulation,” Stephanie continues. “Therefore, as the result of multiple applications, related costs will reduce while increasing harvest yield and quality.”

Stephanie goes on to note that companies and municipalities from Texas DOT, Lady Bird Johnson Foundation, the cities of Stafford and Sugar Land, as well as Middle Eastern countries, Haiti and Africa are captivated with the results of the new products.

“This is a product like none other,” she elaborates. “It has the ability to last for 100 years and is very cost-effective.”

With the combination of HLS and RELLC, Stephanie feels that once again she can change the landscape of the landscape industry. HLS Enterprises of Texas Inc. continues to support the environment and communities, through conscious landscaping and maintenance in all facets of the green industry.