Chris did an incredible job designing and landscaping our backyard, and I highly recommend his work. I interviewed four different landscaping companies before choosing him, and Chris stood out as the most knowledgeable, especially about the Outer Sunset area in San Francisco and what grows best in this climate. He really took the time to listen. We met several times before the work began to design the project, and I never felt rushed. He was flexible, collaborative, and easy to work with throughout the whole process. He stayed open to changes and new ideas as they came up, and he coordinated really well with my contractor. I also found his prices to be very reasonable for single-family homeowners. I don't have much gardening experience, and Chris was able to take the lead in creating a beautiful, low-maintenance backyard that fits my family's lifestyle and the overall design of our home. The backyard he created is a place we'll cherish for years. I'm very grateful to him. read more

Earthtones did a fantastic job on our backyard turf project. Chris was very responsive, easy to work with, and paid close attention to detail throughout the process. Chris has an eye for design, and made many positive recommendations to improve our overall project. He was an excellent communicator, and stuck to the timeline and pricing in the proposal. We are thrilled with the outcome, and would recommend Earthtones Landscaping to anyone considering a landscaping project. read more

Earthtones - Landscaping Near Me - Pacifica, California

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Highly recommend Chris for landscaping needs. He designed and installed a beautiful, modern-looking front yard for us which exceeded our expectations. He was great to work with. read more

Chris changed my backyard into my own retreat. Creative and practical. Open to integrating my ideas. I would use Chris again and again. These plants and design and placement withstands our strong coastal wind and weather. Especially with our recent winter. Thank you Earthtones! read more

We hired Earthtones to design and install a garden and could not be happier with the end result. We now have a garden that is low maintenance, drought tolerant, and SO beautiful. I cannot wait to watch it fill in and mature over time. Chris was very collaborative, helping to steer us in the direction of plants that will last and look good together. He takes his work seriously and is extremely professional. I highly recommend working with Chris and his crew! read more

For anyone in the drought tolerant landscape market, I highly recommend Chris and Earthtones Landscaping. They just finished a custom designed landscape for our backyard, and I couldn't be happier with the work or the overall experience. The project was done on time and within budget (despite my requests for a few out-of-scope additions, which he pleasantly accommodated). Not only is Chris easy to work with, but he's also an excellent designer, ethical, reliable, transparent, and in frequent communication about progress. And based on his work ethic, he really enjoys the work (he even took our bins out to the curb and brought them back one week when we forgot, and we didn't even ask him to!). 10 stars! read more

Earthtones - Our beautiful new xeriscape! - Landscaping Near Me - Pacifica, California

I can't say enough about Chris and his knowledge of plants as well as his artistic ability to design a very soulful space using materials such as concrete, stone, gravel and earth and all plants including succulents, which I put in for drought tolerance. I'm so happy to hang out in the yard now. It was trashed from years of neglect and now it's just amazing, magical and a place I can go for recharging the spirit. Chris is super nice and loves what he does. He'll go out of his way to make it right, which is to say, he's an artist. read more

Earthtones - Landscaping Near Me - Pacifica, California

Chris is amazing to work with and does wonderful work. We contacted Earthtones because we wanted to replace our traditional yard with something that was low/no maintenance, drought resistant and beautiful. Chris listened carefully and created a one of kind design that met all our needs. He is an expert on succulents and what works here in the Bay Area. He was on time and on budget- before we knew it our yard was transformed to a beautiful oasis and our water bill slashed in half. Highly recommend Earthtones! read more

Chris of Earthtones Landscaping just completed a marvelous transformation of our middle and front yards. The starting point was part bare earth and part overgrown existing garden and we gave Chris some general requirements (drought tolerant, low maintenance, aesthetic preferences etc). He was a great communicator during the design and budgeting process and presented us with many good options. The demolition and installation proceeded very efficiently and Chris was very flexible in modifying and updating the plan based on new insights and availability of materials. His experience in dealing and personal contacts with wholesalers of plants and landscaping materials were really impressive - the project involved some pretty big plants and boulders with tricky logistics. The final result is a work of great artistry and craftsmanship and we are very happy. read more

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Magical is the first word that comes to mind. Chris and his team, at Earthtones Landscaping, turned our weed and mud filled back area into a magical oasis for us to relax, spend time as a family, lay in the beautiful hammock space and sit around the fire pit area that Chris created for us. Each part of the garden has its own special feeling. Chris created a beautiful succulent garden on one end of the yard, followed by a path that Chris designed leading to the fire pit and hammock area. Chris planted an incredible mix of my favorite colors and shapes of flowers and plants. One of the greatest parts of working with Chris was his work ethic. Chris continued to under promise and over deliver. I was also impressed with his willingness to tell me that plants and flowers I loved would not do well and he always found a great option that was native and beautiful. I can't recommend Chris enough. We look forward to having him do our front yard soon! read more

I cannot say enough good things about Earthtones Landscaping. After seeing some of the work Chris had performed in the area I requested a quote and he came out as soon as he had an opening in his schedule. He was courteous and professional. We had a rough idea of what we wanted done with our front yard and relied heavily on Chris' design expertise. He was able to work around several obstacles and stayed on budget. We're extremely happy with the quality of his workmanship and especially the layout/design of the front yard which exceeded our expectations. read more

Chris did a great job coming up with a design for an area of our property that was quite difficult to work with. He stayed in constant communication the whole time so there were no misunderstandings. He is a perfectionist and made sure everything was 100% complete when he finished. We had a great experience working with him! read more

Chris really knows what he is doing. He is very creative. He helped me let go of the impossible ideas I had about my landscaping and created something even better than I thought. I just trusted him and everything was perfect. I am now waiting for it to grow!! read more

Chris from Earthtones did a wonderful job on our front yard. It's beautiful, especially now with things in full bloom. He is an artist and can see how things will come together, even when I wasn't too sure. He knows his plants and focuses on low-water, native drought tolerant. He was always very professional. Open, honest, and importantly delivered quality work on-time at a competitive price. I enjoy that he takes his work personally. He still drops by occasionally to see how things are looking and to give me pointers on how to keep things looking nice. I also highly recommend. read more

Chris Papada, with his small but efficient landscaping company Earthtones, created for me an esthetically pleasing, wind- and drought tolerant pleasure garden. Chris, who is prompt and very easy to work with, used most of the material that were there already and added to it with caution and always after much consultation. He went to great lengths to get exactly the right palms and pottery, some of which were not available locally. He has a very good eye, and will try to use the best plants for the area. He absolutely goes the extra mile! read more

Earthtones Landscaping, owner, Chris Pappada did a fantastic job on our front yard. He took a huge unsightly mess, and turned it into a truly delightful space. He added a french drain, planter beds with lovely rock borders, decomposed granite and stepping stones. He is creative, knowledgeable, and easy to work with. He offered excellent suggestions and options. In fact, the reality is even better than the vision we had. My husband and I are absolutely thrilled with the finished product, and Chris' professionalism. After the job was completed, he called AND stopped by to make sure that the french drain was working properly and to see if we were happy with his work. We cannot recommend Chris highly enough, and will be using him when we re-do our side yard and the path at the back of our house. Thank you Chris! read more

Earthtones did an amazing job on our front yard. After 15 years of trying to get it right on my own I finally gave in and called a professional. After seeing his work and reading reviews I called Chris at Earthtones. He was quick to follow up and set up a consultation to talk about what we wanted done. We met and discussed the scope and budget of the project . He had lots of suggestions and ideas. He made sure we knew all our options and was very flexible with some design changes that came up . Ultimately , He was able to develop a theme that we wanted into something awesome. Our yard is now both functional and practical( drought tolerant). Chris was extremely professional and respectful throughout the whole process. His communication is fantastic and very timely. His attention to details was refreshing as was his use of high quality materials and plants. Chris finished the project on the timeline he outlined on the budget that we agreed upon. In addition to all this , he has found time to follow up a few times since he finished the project to ensure everything is ok. He has even helped us with some aggressive deer that have caused some minor. problems. The entire experience has been exceptional read more

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Beautiful job by Earthtones! Chris is easy to work with, bids very competitively, yet does an amazing job. He has a great eye for what works great together and is knowledgeable to know what plants will/will not work. Always on time and reliable. There was really nothing bad in our experience working with him. I highly recommend. read more

Chris of Earthtones Landscaping came highly recommended by several neighbors on Nextdoor, as he focuses only on native, low-water plants that thrive on the California coast (Pacifica to Half Moon Bay region). Chris just finished this job for me and I was not only impressed by his knowledge of plants, but he is as professional as they come. Chris started the process by asking questions and showing me various plants on the computer to help him best understand what I wanted done, what types of plants and colors I liked, and a ballpark price tag I was looking to spend. From there I left it to Chris to apply his creative plant talents to pick plants that were appropriate and creatively place them depending on the anticipated growth of each plant. As options were presented, Chris would consult with me to get my input, and he also engaged me in the process to pick out any extras (fire pit, waterfall, boulders, patio flagstone, river rock/bark, etc.). If options were presented during the process that exceeded the initial price estimate (re-landscaping areas not originally discussed, purchasing plants larger than what were originally planned, adding potted plants around the perimeter, requiring more flagstone for the patio than the rockery estimated, etc.), Chris was very upfront about that so there were no added surprises when the final bill was presented. Chris takes great pride in his work, and continues to stop by and check on all the plants to make certain they continue to thrive in their environment. My neighbors are all very pleased with the outcome as well. All in all, I was incredibly impressed with the outcome of my yard, and his pricing I felt was amazingly fair. I would not hesitate to re-hire Chris if I had any future landscaping to do, and I give him the highest of recommendations for anyone seeking to have landscaping work done on the Coastside peninsula here in California. read more

This is my first review on Yelp, since I usually avoid this type of website. However, I am very pleased with the work done by Chris of Earthtones, which I believe justifies my writing this review. We live on the coast with challenges from very strong winds and salt air. Also, much of our yard is in shade. We have been promised successful plantings by more than one landscape planner over the years, only to be disappointed as the plant selections fail to survive the elements for more than 2-3 years (if that). Chris came with a different approach (to use mainly succulents) and, while the jury is still out on whether they will survive long term, I was impressed by Chris' knowledge of the Coastal environment (he lives here) and of the plants he recommended. He was also punctual and extremely neat. More importantly, he has a great eye for design, which is a significant part of his business. Although we didn't need a design (we were doing only a partial re-landscaping), his placement of the plants showed a design aspect which was as good as it gets. You might find a less expensive landscaper, but I doubt you can find a better one. read more

After a local recommendation, we contacted Chris to replace our front lawn with a more drought-tolerant, modern design. I am terribly picky, but was only able to give minimal input due to my schedule, and he nailed it for a fair and reasonable price! We have people pull over all the time and take pictures of his gorgeous design and implementation. We also use him for maintenance and appreciate his use of natural and organic methods around our kids and dog. He shows up as scheduled, and is very responsive to any requests. Highly recommend him. read more

We just had a bunch of landscaping done by someone who I would highly recommend : He was a pleasure to have around, was onetime and on budget Chris at Earthtones. 415-793-2274 is the easiest way to reach him. Knows his stuff! Creative and artistic. read more

I hired Chris based on the beautiful transformation he did on a neighbor's house. I had no ideas, except that I wanted draught tolerant landscaping. He found beautiful plants, indigenous to the area, and created a front yard concept with gravel, wood chips, stone pathways, retaining walls, flowering plants, succulents, palm trees, and boulders that looks beautiful. He has a modern design sense and will tell you honestly what will and won't work. He dealt with drainage issues, gophers, irrigation problems, old tree roots, crab grass, and pesky neighbors to create and build a beautiful front and back yard in a style I love. Very happy with his work; highly recommend if you are looking for something beautiful, different, modern, and draught-tolerant. read more

I contacted Chris based on a review of a friend who had worked with him. He did extensive design and installation work for me and I would highly recommend him. Chris knows how to communicate with clients, really listen to their needs and help provide creative design and plant solutions. He brought me ideas for things that met my maintenance requirements and were different than the ordinary plants. He was very diligent in looking for plants to find just what he wanted and was meticulous in his installation work. Equally impressive to me is how responsible he has been following the installation to check on how well things are getting established and if there is anything else he can do to ensure the quality of his work. read more