Christine Figley has the perfect background to be the owner of a landscape design company.

A certified public accountant, Figley also grew up on a cattle farm surrounded by pines in rural Louisiana.

“The landscape business is just something I’m passionate about,” she says, sitting in the dining room of her Colonial home, doors open to the lush backyard landscape she designed after she and her husband bought the home 10 years ago. “I did all this before I owned” a landscape design company.

A road warrior for years who worked in Chicago, Memphis and, finally, Fort Worth, Figley quit her job to have a baby. After giving birth, she started a tennis shop in Memphis.

“That kept me busy,” she says.

After moving to Fort Worth, the couple learned an acquaintance was selling his landscape company on the city’s Westside. Figley bought it six years ago, and today, West Fork Landscaping has 50 employees during high season. In addition to traditional landscape designs, Figley also offers a retail experience — West Fork Garden Market — that opened in September 2022 on the company’s premises at 2932 Marquita Drive. It stocks everything from dishware to tabletop accessories, wreaths and garden vessels.

In August, Figley expanded into selling plastic streamers used to decorate for parties and other events. Her business is rapidly gaining visibility; earlier this year, she provided trees for the Fort Worth Garden Club’s annual spring floral show.

“Fort Worth is used to driving to Dallas for everything,” says Figley, who wants to build a local clientele for her retail shop. She is positioning herself somewhere “between Home Depot and really expensive” on the price spectrum.

“I want to try to grow the Garden Market side. I don’t necessarily want to get any bigger on the landscaping side.”