Osmanbey Nursery & Landscape: "A Solution Not Tested in the Field is No Solution at All"

We sat down with Ayşe Nur Sarıkaya Bulan and Bülent Kurtuluş Bulan, the husband-and-wife owners of Osmanbey Nursery & Landscaping, to talk about the realities of the field, never-ending maintenance headaches and choosing the right materials. What they told me made for the kind of story that anyone in the profession will read while nodding along.

Osmanbey Nursery & Landscaping has been carrying out plant production, plant supply and site installation from its bases in Narlıdere and Bayındır since 1999, and its quarter-century of hands-on experience makes it clear that the success of a landscape project is not limited to how it looks on the day of handover. Real performance is measured by how well the site retains its aesthetic and functional qualities over time, how maintenance costs are optimised, and how the materials contribute to its life cycle.

They opened with precisely the basic misconception we all know: “A project may look wonderful on the day you hand it over; but what really matters is being able to make it last.”

According to them, the true quality of the work becomes clearer when you look at the same site again months, or even years, after installation is complete. Details that were buried beneath the surface or not given enough attention during installation would come back to haunt them over time as repeated weeding, damaged drainage lines and subsiding ground.

The field experience they have gained over the years has shown them how important it is not only to analyse a site correctly and develop suitable solutions to the problems encountered, but also to select the right products and materials. Over time, they came to realise more clearly that achieving long-lasting, durable installations depends not only on design but also on the right details and on using products fit for purpose.

They saw that the weed control fabrics they had used for years would break down and fray, and that within a few seasons weeds would be running rampant again. They grew fed up with constantly spending labour on the same areas and burdening clients with maintenance. “We didn’t need a quick fix; we needed something that would solve the problem at its root before it even appeared,” they said.

 During their search, they came across the DuPont™️ Plantex® range. They first tried it on their own installations and found that, without using any chemicals at all, it genuinely suppressed weeds from coming up through decorative stone, bark or slag for years. What’s more, laying it, cutting it and shaping it around the base of plants makes things much easier for the installers on site. Having seen this convenience in their own work, in 2024 they took on the dealership for DuPont Landscape Products, saying, “We’ve tried it and seen the benefits; we can offer it to our colleagues with complete peace of mind.”

“Roots Shouldn’t Be Treated as the Enemy, but Guided.”

 Of course, the issue isn’t just weeds. During our conversation, they touched on the hidden power of plants below ground. We all love using vigorous species such as bamboo, willow or fig in our projects; but those roots cracking footpaths, dislodging kerbs or clogging drainage pipes can become our nightmare.

 This is exactly where they turned to Plantex®️ RootBarrier for a solution. I really liked their approach: not killing the plant’s root growth, but protecting the infrastructure by setting boundaries for it and making the roots part of the design. In other words, when planting a sapling, they work out where that root will head in the years to come and put the barrier in place from the start.

“Invisible Ground Layers and the Power of Geotextiles”

Then there is the soil mechanics side of the job. “What we love most in landscaping are the aesthetic details on the surface, but it’s the underlying layers that carry the real load,” they reminded us. When the layers mix together over time, the ground settles, leading to subsidence and blocked drainage lines.

 Here, they explained, they brought in the DuPont™️ TYPAR®️ SF geotextile range. They say that when they separate the layers from one another using different strength classes and ensure filtration and stabilisation, they can be much freer and bolder in the designs built on top. They even noted that its applications extend beyond parks and gardens to golf courses, equestrian arenas and breakwaters.

“A Solution Not Tested in the Field Is No Solution.”

The philosophy most emphasised by Osmanbey Nursery & Landscaping, based in Narlıdere and Bayındır, was this: “We never wanted to be just a dealer selling materials. We don’t recommend any product to our colleagues that we haven’t used ourselves on site and can’t stand behind. Before the technical data sheets, we want to talk about the real problem on the construction site.”