Aptos Landscape Supply

Also Your Source when Preparing for El Niño

By Edita McQuary

Third generation Santa Cruzan, Erik Santee, attended local schools and graduated with a Business Administration degree from UC Santa Barbara. His family is the well-known landscape and building supply company owners. As he readily admits, he was “born into the business.” He says he had the biggest sandboxes to play in of any kid he knew.

Married to a beautiful Brazilian woman, Ana, they are raising three young children. Their kids are now the fourth generation “coming up into the business,” as Erik’s dad Rick Santee of Central Home Supply proudly says. In fact, his son Ryan, age 10, has his own mini rock outlet in the store, and younger brother Luke, age 6, and sister Sophia, age 5, are the assistants. All three kids enjoy riding their little kiddie tractor outside the front door, and in fact, any kid that comes into the store can ride on it.

Erik has been running the store for nine years and has 14 employees. He looks upon it as fun — making sure everything runs smoothly — and looks at troubling situations as challenges, not problems. To help him with this “fun,” he has recently hired Kasey Milligan as his store manager.

Kasey, also a local family man, is known to many from Antolini Rockery where he worked for a long time. He has over 25 years of experience in the landscape construction business and worked himself “from the ground up” as one of the yard guys learning to drive forklifts and loaders at Antolini’s.

Aptos Landscape Supply is located on the site of the former Cabrillo Sand & Gravel Quarry, which was in operation from 1966 to 1990. Erik has recently installed a new sign on Freedom Boulevard that represents the new company logo. The massive sign is hard to miss and is sure to be a new landmark.

Weather forecasters are predicting a very severe winter this year. Erik urges everyone to look around their property and see what they may need to protect their homes in the event the weather forecasters are correct. In order to be prepared, Aptos Landscape Supply is stocked up on everything needed to get through the winter safely. They have two different types of pre-filled sand bags: the conventional gunnysack style and the “snake bag” style. The snake bag is a tube 4” in diameter and 3’ in length. Both styles are used to divert water away from unwanted places.

They also have erosion control mats, erosion control seeds, French drains, jute netting, straw wattles, wood stakes, ground staples, drain pipe, gabion rock, silt fencing, waterproofing mortar, hydraulic water stop, and more materials to help get through the rainy season. Erik and the staff at Aptos Landscape Supply can advise you on how best to control the erosion on your property. If necessary, they can refer clients to professionals in the field to solve their landscaping and erosion control issues.

The store also has the largest supply of topsoil, amendments, mulches and top dressings, sand, gravel, flagstone, fieldstone, boulders, wall rock, thin veneer, slate, interlocking pavers, retaining wall systems, brick, block, synthetic lawns, concrete, mortar, tools and many more items. Check out their website, www.aptoslandscapesupply.com for a complete list of what they carry.

Their large fleet of trucks can promptly deliver to anywhere in the entire bay area. Want to place some large boulders throughout the landscape on your property? No problem. Aptos Landscape Supply can deliver them with a truck and forklift them right to the spot where you want them!

This is a local, family owned company that prides itself on excellent customer service. Getting the right materials for the job, on time, and with the lowest prices around is their standard operating practice.

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Aptos Landscape Supply is located at 5035 Freedom Blvd. in Aptos. Telephone number is 831-688-6211. Summer hours (until daylight savings time changes) are Monday – Saturday, 7:30am to 5:00pm. Winter hours (after daylight savings time changes) are Monday – Saturday, 7:30am to 4:30 pm.