Juniper Landscaping Enters Aquatic Maintenance, Acquiring Aquatic Weeds

What happened

Juniper Landscaping announced on July 9, 2026, that it had acquired Aquatic Weeds Inc., a lake and pond weed removal company headquartered in St. Cloud, Florida. The same announcement covered Juniper's acquisition of Central Florida Lake Management, Inc., which does business as Compass Environmental, a Clermont, Florida, company that dredges, restores shorelines, and maintains ponds, lakes, and waterways. Private Equity Professional reported that the two deals mark Juniper's entry into aquatic maintenance as a new service line, and that both companies were privately held before the sale. Financial terms were not disclosed, and the sellers were not named.

The seller

Aquatic Weeds was incorporated in Florida in May 2019, with Brett R. Collins as its president, and is based in St. Cloud, about 25 miles southeast of Orlando. Its core service is mechanical harvesting: crews on specialized work boats with underwater cutters clear overgrown vegetation, pond weeds, and sediment from lakes, canals, and ponds without chemicals. It is also licensed to apply EPA-registered herbicides, installs fountains and aeration systems, and takes on dock, seawall, and storm-debris work, sold as one-time cleanups or recurring maintenance plans.

The company serves residential associations, businesses, homeowners, and government agencies across Central Florida, in Orange, Seminole, Polk, Lake, and Osceola counties.

The buyer

Juniper is headquartered in Fort Myers and provides commercial landscape installation and maintenance to homeowners' associations, commercial, and government clients. Private Equity Professional puts the company at more than 30 branches and over 3,000 employees. Chief executive Brandon Duke bought the business from his father in 2016, having worked in it since 2008. Three of Juniper's Florida branches are in the Orlando area.

Bregal Partners, a New York private equity firm, made a platform investment in Juniper alongside co-investor L Capital in January 2022. Add-ons since then include two landscaping companies in 2024 and Hilton Head Landscapes in South Carolina in 2026.

"These businesses add meaningful depth in aquatic maintenance, mechanical weed removal and shoreline restoration – areas where we see strong demand from our customer base," Duke said in the announcement. The release adds that Juniper, "along with its financial partner Bregal Partners, is actively seeking acquisition targets in Florida and all Sunbelt states."

What this means for aquatic maintenance owners

The buyer here is not a lake management company. It is a commercial landscaper whose clients (associations, commercial properties, and government) are the same kinds of customers Aquatic Weeds already served. For aquatic maintenance owners, the buyer set now includes landscaping platforms that already serve associations and commercial properties, not only other pond and lake firms. Owners weighing that kind of buyer can read our guide to selling a landscaping business to private equity.

Juniper assembled its new service line from two specialists announced together: Aquatic Weeds' mechanical harvesting and Compass's dredging and shoreline work. A specialist with its own equipment does not need the full aquatic menu or a long operating history to be bought into a landscaping platform: Aquatic Weeds was acquired seven years after it was incorporated.

OffDeal is an advisory firm that helps lower-middle-market business owners sell with confidence. Reach out to learn more about our expertise with aquatic maintenance businesses in Florida.

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Source: Business Wire - https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260709968275/en/Juniper-Landscaping-Expands-into-Aquatic-Maintenance-with-Acquisitions-of-Compass-Environmental-and-Aquatic-Weeds