P
Greenstreak Landscaping:
From Black Belt
to Green Belt
Written and Photographed
By Craig Lore
54
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
ete Gluhaich, president and founder of Greenstreak
Landscaping, is tall, broad-shouldered, and lanky,
with close-cropped grayish hair and a friendly smile.
He is friendly and easygoing by nature. And when
he’s not creating award-winning landscapes, he’s perfecting
his technique as a 4th-Degree Black Belt in Taekwondo.
In 1989, Pete took the skills he learned from working
on his family’s farm and turned them into Greenstreak
Landscaping. In the beginning, his company focused on
planting and irrigation installations, but he said people soon
began asking whether he could build arbors, patios, and
walkways.
So, Pete went out and earned the contractor’s licenses
that allowed him to be a full-service landscape design and
contracting company; including his B-1 Contractor’s, C-8
Concrete, and C-27 Landscape Construction licenses. Today,
Greenstreak provides hardscaping such as patios, walkways,
and retaining walls; as well as garden fixtures like ponds,
waterfalls, streams, arbors, pergolas, bocce ball courts, out-
door BBQ and entertainment setups, fire pits, gazebos, and
raised beds. Of course, they still plant plants and install
irrigation and lighting. From plants to paving to garden
fixtures, Greenstreak creates your dream yard and garden.
When people buy a home with a yard they naturally
want to enjoy their leisure time outdoors, so they turn
to companies like Greenstreak to enrich their homes by
planting a lawn, putting up a picket fence, and building
flower beds. “What’s most important to me,” Pete said, “is
to find out exactly what they want. Some people want a
calming, peaceful setting, while others prefer a space to eat
and play, a venue for entertaining, a place to fire up the BBQ,
and, sometimes a little bit of everything.”
“We are a lifestyle company,” Pete said. Greenstreak
wants to transform clients’ ideas into landscapes they’ll truly
enjoy. “We ask questions to refine their ideas and then make
suggestions. Once we know their basic idea, we take it and
tweak it.” For example, Pete explained he might suggest that
a client consider a separate play area for the kids, or locate
the BBQ setup for the most efficient workflow, or add a
shade cover to block the afternoon sun.
In addition, the softscaping—trees, shrubs, flowers, and
other greenery—needs careful planning. At each project
site, Pete and his crew note the soil types, drainage flow,
and areas of full sun, shade, and partial shade; knowing that
different microclimates will support different types of plants.
“When adding plants, we suggest a five-layer system that
includes trees, shrubs, plants, flowers, and ground covers,”
Pete said. “And a drip-irrigation and timer system insures that
everything stays green.” He added that outdoor lighting is
another great touch to create a soothing nighttime ambience.
A beautifully landscaped yard brings nature into view and
makes a house into a home, creating a place of recreation,
refuge, relaxation, and contemplation. Pete Gluhaich and
Greenstreak Landscaping can turn your dreamscape into a
landscape that will bring pleasure for years to come.
april/may 2019
gmhtoday.com