Michael Sidlowski - Founder

After starting the firm in 1989 to help pay for college the recent graduate from Rutgers's Landscape Architecture Program decide to follow his passion for plants and the living environment and create one of the area's finest purveyors of gardens and ground maintenance. Michael's understanding of our client needs is a large focus in design process and has permeated down through all aspects of our business. The client first approach has allowed Michael to work on projects ranging in size to the very small to over a million dollars in scale and our client roster clients dates back to the founding years.

Michael's 25 plus years of experience, in a practice he loves and contributes, is ideally suited to facilitate, create and implement your next project.

Alan E. Milstein

It was always Alan's goal to have a career that focused around working closely with people to develop strong business partnerships and building lasting relationships. After graduating college in the early 90's, he set out in what was a tough economy to find a start in a career utilizing his Business Communications/Corporate Management Training degree.

Landscaping work was no stranger to Alan; from trailing around his dad's 3.5 hoarse powered lawnmower on the back of his BMX bicycle at the age of 12, through many hot summers during his high school years working for a small family owned business, and then working with some of the larger firms through college, choosing to continue working in the landscape field was a decision he made out of passion.

Since becoming a partner in 1993, his number one focus has always been to provide ongoing information to educate clients enabling them to make informed and educated decisions. Alan has personally worked with hundreds of clients and as a hands-on owner continues to be the primary contact for their entire client base. His ability to understand each client's needs and expectations makes him one of the state's most sought-after landscape providers.

Now armed with almost twenty years of field experience and practical knowledge, the key to Alan's success is his broad range of understanding people, understanding the economy, and understanding his competition. Today, Alan guides a talented team who specializes in Corporate, Commercial, Hotel, Residential Communities, and High-end Residential maintenance services.

John Baranello

John Baranello attended Rutgers University and graduated in their Landscape Architecture program. Since that time he has been learning, working and growing within the Live Oak family and couldn't be happier about it! He has seen an endless amount of projects installed and has been fortunate enough to be involved with each of them through Sales, Design and Construction. Along with enjoying the company of his clients, he loves watching the project go from the drawing board into the ground!

Ethan Petro

Originally hailing from Ohio, Ethan Petro heads up April Showers, a full service irrigation and landscape lighting service provider. With 13 years in the industry, there isn't a whole lot that he hasn't seen. Ethan brings a wealth of information and experience to April Showers, including his CIC and CLIA national certifications. Continuing to develop the most well respected irrigation company in the state is his main goal--in turn providing the best staff to service all of your irrigation/landscape lighting needs. Ethan is also proud husband and father and leads an active life. Active outdoor pursuits (scuba diving, flying, skiing ) make him come alive and he also loves to travel to experience different cultures and customs. He can be reached at: epetro@irrigation-lighting.com