Tammy Kovar is a biologist, certified arborist, and enviropreneur whose work blends scientific rigor with artistic vision. She is the founder and CEO of Biological Tree Services (BTS), a Florida-based company committed to tree preservation, conservation, and sustainable landscape restoration since 2004. For Tammy, every project begins—and ends—with the tree. She views trees as the true assets of any property: the roots are the brain and the shoots are the heart. Her mission is to ensure that landscapes are designed in harmony with these living anchors, resulting in environments that are both ecologically sound and visually refined.
Drawing on her dual identity as artist and scientist, Tammy rejects traditional nursery stock in favor of wild, native gardens that support birds, bees, and beneficial wildlife. Her “less is more” philosophy celebrates texture, movement, and habitat rather than ornamental excess, allowing each landscape to become its own living tapestry. To strengthen her gardens from the ground up, she employs advanced ecological techniques—including air knives, soil microbes, activated biochar, and beneficial fungi and bacteria—tools she has honed over decades of research and hands-on work. Her landscapes teem with invertebrates essential to bird populations, and her projects are certified Florida-Friendly, wildlife-friendly, and Monarch waystations. Known for her dedication, Tammy pursues any certification necessary to support a client’s ecological goals.
Tammy earned her undergraduate degree in Science and Math from the University of South Carolina, undertook graduate coursework in Education at Portland State University while simultaneously studying Crop Science at Oregon State in Corvallis, and later pursued postgraduate studies in Aquatic Plant Ecology at the University of Florida. A Florida-Friendly Landscaping Certified Professional, she brings a rare blend of biological expertise, artistry, and sustainable design principles to every environment she touches.
Early in her career, Tammy worked under Nobel Prize–winning scientist Dr. Donald Marx with the U.S. Forest Service and the University of Georgia, contributing to research that included large-scale reforestation of mined land. While raising her children in Florida, she launched BTS—an entrepreneurial journey sparked by saving a historic live oak she fondly named Fred. Word of her work spread quickly: a neighbor’s boss handed her a credit card to buy her first spray rig, she bartered tree-saving services in exchange for the trailer needed to haul it, and she recruited her Taekwondo black-belt classmates and their parents as her first weekend crew. Her business grew rapidly from that grassroots foundation into the respected, science-driven company it is today.
Tammy has shared her expertise internationally, including as a featured speaker at a symposium held under the umbrella of the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) in Évora, Portugal, where she presented her pioneering work with mycorrhizal fungi in urban landscapes.
Through Biological Tree Services, Tammy continues to redefine what it means to cultivate luxury outdoors—creating resilient, native environments that honor the intelligence of trees, the vitality of soil, and the quiet elegance of nature in balance.