Sandy & StoneWolf Gardens

Sandy’s love of working the soil started early in life. Growing up in Denver, Colorado, her job was to tend her dad’s roses and her grandmother’s quarter-acre vegetable garden. She learned a lot about gardening from her grandmother and enjoyed the hard work of outside chores.

When she was 12 years old, she became a hand on a cousin’s dairy farm one summer, driving tractors, laying irrigation pipe, herding cattle, milking cows and tending the fields. Other summers were spent camping, fishing and exploring the Colorado Rockies. 

As she grew older, Sandy attended Regis University in Denver on a volleyball scholarship and graduated with double degrees in English and Sociology. For four years after college, she worked as a nanny for a wonderful family who nurtured her love of gardening by helping her attend the Denver Botanic Gardens’ Master Gardening program.

Seeking a financially secure and professional career, Sandy moved on from being a nanny and earned her real estate license. Selling homes for two years helped her develop a keen eye for helping buyers (and sellers) cultivate true curb appeal.

Though successful in real estate, looking at the creative potential of her client’s yards rekindled her love of gardening.

In 1999, Sandy signed on as a crew member at Covillo and Associates. Within 6 weeks her leadership and skills were so evident, she was promoted to Foreman Crew Leader. She was an avid advocate for quality maintenance and encouraged her crew members to take pride in their work.

Working outside and maintaining beautiful landscapes satisfied her. Over the years, she continued to fine tune her skills and learn the landscape business inside out.

First, she signed up with TruGreen Landscapes. In addition to being Foreman Crew Leader there, she also became a landscape maintenance trainer.

From the beginning, Sandy’s focus on high quality workmanship and personalized design was evident. She next joined Gardeners Touch where she learned installation and design, as a direct assistant to the owners of the company.

Soon after, she took over management of the maintenance division of Lifescape Associates (Lifescape Care Company). She brought the company out of the red and into the black, within 3 months. Offered an opportunity to become a co-owner of the company, Sandy had bigger ideas.

The time was right to apply her knowledge and expertise to launch her own business. She saw a need in the industry for a landscape company that listened to its clients’ needs, designed beautiful gardens and maintained them to their fullest magnificence.

In 2002, she started the award-winning Stonegate Gardens, which she co-owned until she sold her interest 10 years later. She started her new company, StoneWolf Gardens, Inc, in Fall of 2012. Stonewolf Garden was born from a strong desire to emphasize personalized, high quality garden design, installation and maintenance.

As a testament to her leadership and commitment to building a company where employees are fully-valued, Sandy’s crews include two team leaders who have worked with her for more than a decade. And Sandy continues her quest for expanding her knowledge and skills. She and a crew leader are both now certified pond installers.

In addition to handling the day-to-day details of running a successful business, Sandy loves creating StoneWolf Gardens’ Signature Planters and garden ideas. She also enjoys yoga, spending time with her Irish Wolfhound, hiking, dancing, puttering in her own garden, and most important, being a wife and mom to her son Cooper.