When I traveled to Snowmass the first time, it was in the summer. After being awed by the incredible green landscape and the snow-tipped mountain-peak backdrop, I began to notice the number of amazing flowerbeds in Snowmass as I drove up the road.

Planting and maintaining many of those flowerbeds is the job of Jeff Sivess' Snowmass Lawn and Plant company.

Snowmass residents Jeff and Keri Sivess were college sweethearts at Rutgers University in the '70s. While Jeff grew up in a small town in New Jersey, Keri's father was a U.S. serviceman in Germany, and Keri grew up skiing in the Alps. After college, she wanted to go west. Since Jeff had high school friends and a brother here in Colorado, he agreed, and off they went, eventually settling in Evergreen.

In 1983, Jeff was hired as the golf-course superintendent at the Snowmass Golf Club. He held the position at the Snowmass Club for 10 years.

Along the way, Jeff and Keri were married and two daughters were born, Leandra and Nina. Keri has worked in the lab of Aspen Valley Hospital for 16 years.

“The location and Mother Nature are two of the best things about living in Snowmass,” Jeff Sivess said. “The friendships we've developed over the years. I don't see us going anywhere. People come here to vacation and pay thousands of dollars. We can go out our door and be away from everything in five minutes.”

In 1993, Jeff established Snowmass Lawn and Plant and then a winter business, Driftbusters, in 1994.

At Rutgers, Jeff graduated with a degree in turf management and a minor in horticulture. After college, he used that training to work with indoor plants and then the landscaping of a golf course on the Front Range.

“At the Snowmass Club, people saw what I could do,” he said. “Then I went out on my own. We started with two employees. Now we have 22 to 24 employees at the height of our summer. Many of them work year-round with me, summer and winter.”

In winter, Jeff operates Driftbusters with a team of nine drivers and two to 12 shovelers, depending upon the size of the snowfall.

During a storm, Jeff is usually up between midnight and 2 a.m. monitoring Internet weather sites. He uses four of them to track storms and possible snowfall. With employees living downvalley as far away as New Castle and Marble, he needs to alert them so that they can arrive in Snowmass and start plowing and shoveling between 3 and 4 a.m. Driftbusters' skid loaders, trucks and crews maintain more than 220 driveways in Snowmass.

Snowmass Lawn and Plant and Driftbusters are headquartered in the Offices at Snowmass. With a recent bank foreclosure on the building, the offices are being condominiumized, and Jeff is planning on buying the space.

What's the biggest challenge?

“Keeping employees and keeping customers,” he said. “I try and treat my employees well, and some of them have been with me 10, 15 years. And in terms of customers, we offer good service, respond to their needs, winter and summer, and don't overcharge them.”

Over the years, Jeff and his company have seen more competition move into town — some legitimate, some not. Some of them aren't licensed, and some of them do not have insurance (so ask the next time you do business with them!).

When he's not digging in the dirt or digging in the snow, Jeff can be found on the golf course or doing yoga. And he and Keri can often be found dancing in front of the stage at the Thursday night concerts in Snowmass or at Belly Up in Aspen.

Growing up on the East Coast, Jeff never imagined owning a business.

Now, he owns two.

You can reach Jeff or Keri Sivess at

970-923-5861.