As someone who knows almost nothing about gardening, I went looking for a gardener after purchasing…read morea house with preexisting gardens. I knew I needed more than a landscaper, I knew the sumac and poison ivy weren't supposed to be there, and I knew I needed an expert to help me out from there. Ruth walked with me through the grounds and gave me her ideas about how to make the space flourish and prosper. She clearly cares about the health of plants and the environment. She was respectful of my perspective and desires despite my lack of knowledge, and also respectful of the amount of time, money, energy that I could put toward the garden in the near future. She laid out a plan for both the immediate future and some long-term ideas about the best options for my property, including moving some plants to places that are better suited to them. Within a week of our first meeting, her assistant Kree was at our place to take out the sumac and other weeds. Kree was similarly friendly and knowledgeable, even ringing my doorbell at one point to educate me about a particularly unruly invasive on my property (black swallow-wort). If I knew someone else in a similar situation, I would absolutely recommend Ruth.

Ruth is great! extremely knowledgeable about all plants, weeds, etc. She has transformed my garden…read morewhich was in extremely poor shape with something that I am now feeling tranquil in. And she is just getting started with planting. She is a delight to work with as well. Suzanne--Winthrop

Karen has worked for us over the past 3 years from designing and executing a full scale makeover of…read morebackyard (which was a mud pit when we moved in) to 3x/year cleanup and maintenance. Her designs are beautiful and the prep-work has allowed our garden to flourish even in the absence of green thumbs. She has worked within our budget. Communication can be slow at times but given the results we have recommended KC to several friends and will continue to work work with her.

We use KC as a mentor, as we learn how to care for a garden we inherited when our downstairs…read moreneighbor moved. KC has been super helpful in teaching us how to care for our flowers and how to properly treat common plant health issues like infections and pests. Just today KC spent over an hour teaching me to how to properly prune rhododendrons and yews in part of our garden. My partner and I really like working with her as a mentor and always learn how to do more of the garden maintenance ourselves every time KC visits. I highly recommend working with KC (even if you don't want mentoring but just need garden care, but especially if you want to learn more about gardening!)

After several failed attempt to fix up our pudding-stone-filled garden with mixed elevation, my…read morewife and I were introduced to Noah and the Restoring Roots crew. We have seen their previous project at the Old Oak Dojo and really liked the idea of a functional landscape that meet aesthetic purpose, yield edibles as well as fitting in the native eco system. Noah is very knowledgeable of different plants and flowers so conversation with him has always been very educational for us amateur gardeners. He has also been very accommodating from the consultation. He listened to our needs and concerns before coming up with a customized plan that fits our property and budget. The project includes a low dry-stack retaining wall, plants that would help stabilizing the soils since we live on a hill, perennial flowers/plants that support each other and blooms at different time, and irrigation etc. The installation was under a short deadline so that we can have our wish of throwing a post-wedding party in our yard. Noah, Cheryl, and Karen moved very efficiently and accomplished the project before the deadline and within budget. The project also includes post-installation maintenance as the first year is crucial for the garden to survive. We are very happy to find Restoring Roots and will definitely consider using them for future projects.

We bought a condo in the Woodburne neigborhood of Jamaica Plain a year ago. One of our first…read morepriorties after we moved in was to deal with the backyard landscape, which consisted of some scraggly grass patches and a few hostas. There wasn't a lot of space to work with but I was sure that a little patio would fit between the house and the garage. I started contacting landscape design and build firms in March 2015. Most larger firms were already booked for spring, and when a couple of firms came out in June, they indicated that our job was too small for them to consider. Our realtor recommended Restoring Roots. From the first visit Karen was enthusiastic about the possibilities for our little space. She listened to our concerns and needs--one of the biggest concerns being that as new home owners facing a lot of projects, we wanted to consider a design plan that we could implement in stages. Karen came back to us with a detailed and comprehensive plan for our little space. After multiple negotiations with our condo association, we decided to move ahead with the patio construction in the fall and put the planting and construction of a sitting wall on hold until Spring. The bluestone patio was completed right before Thanksgiving. We are very impressed with the quality of the work and we think the patio looks great! We hope to have Restoring Roots back in the Spring for the next phase of the project.

Christie Dustman and Company helped with the design of a friends garden and did an incredible job…read more I was so impressed that I hired her to consult with me for my established garden that has been written up in 8 magazines. I gave her my thoughts and right away she came back with some suggestions that made total sense to me. I got right to work implementing her suggestions and I'm completely happy with the new design features. Christie is super easy to work with, listened to what I wanted to achieve, and delivered wonderful suggestions. I'm very lucky to have had her help and now my gardening friends all use her.

I would highly recommend Christie Dustman & Company. The initial one-hour consultation was fabulous…read more- we brainstormed various ideas and then I was provided with a sketch showing proposed planting areas with specific plants/tree types. The idea of building a 2-section funky fence near my patio served two purposes, one to screen my patio area from my neighbor's backyard, and the other to save me money from having a higher, longer fence along the property line separating me from my neighbor. I also loved the concept of adding some bluestone stepping stones into the existing patio (made of pavers) and extending the stepping stones into the yard to lead someone from the patio into the backyard. The trees, shrubs, and plants continue to thrive years later. The variety of textures and shapes is lovely.

Love the Terrascapes! I had the Terrascapes team help me with my tired looking property that…read morelikely looked great 30 years ago when the prior owners moved in, but was really never maintained until I bought the house last year. The shrubs were huge and no longer fit. Ugly. Terrascapes took the existing "design" and suggested some great-but-affordable changes. I had them make the changes, and now I have their crew do garden maintenance. I gotta say that I'm thankful my property was ugly when I bought it, because now it looks like a million bucks nicer.

The one poor review here is clearly from someone who got frustrated because a phone call was not…read morereturned. I can't say enough good things about Terrascapes after having worked with them for over five years. Susan designed a total transformation our large and challenging yard/garden in 2015, with an emphasis on creating 'spaces', not just putting in plants. Her gardening team have worked closely with us on maintenance ever since. The garden is magnificent and brings my whole family joy every day. Susan and Mike only hire knowledgeable and trustworthy people, and we feel they are our 'team', keeping our garden thriving and beautiful. This is a top notch operation, run by committed people who believe in what they do, and in positive client relationships.

Ben came for a consult and we made plans, discussing my priorities and vision. Then, I never saw…read morehim again. His employees had no idea the plan we made. They were delays in sourcing evergreens. They put in the ugliest Yews, which were total ineffective as a hedge or for privacy, which was my priority. The made stone walkway below grade. It's is under water and covered in mud every time it rains. He put in Asain pear trees when local pears would have been better. Paw-paw trees which serve no purpose, and they look bad. Most of the planting they did is dead and gone. It was a waste of time and money (+$30k). He seemed nice, but did an awful job, had no professional courtesy, never followed up, never thanked the person that referred me. Don't waste your time.

We are amazed by Ben's knowledge and vision for edible landscaping. His installations are…read morebeautiful, creative and highly productive. More magical foodscape moments to come thanks to Home Harvest!

Wisteria & Rose is a Boston-based business, based on its own website. On the Yelp page, it shows…read morethat Boston is a coverage area. When you visit the website, it has a Jamaica Plain zip code and a JP phone number. However, when I called I was told they serve only the northern parts of the city, Charlestown, Beacon Hill, Back Bay, South End, Newton, Wellesley. Last time I checked, those last two places are not Boston neighborhoods.... and South End/Back Bay aren't necessarily northern neighborhoods. I live in Mattapan and it's apparently too costly for a JP business to serve this neighborhood. When I pushed the representative on this point, I was told "I appreciate your feedback." "We will have to work on our website because I don't know why it says that or doesn't explain our coverage area." "It would be too expensive for you...etc". Draw your own conclusions from this one. I certainly have and will be going elsewhere to have my window boxes filled, where what I can afford hasn't already been determined for me based on my zip code.

Wonderful in every way. Great with the communications, prompt service. Very much recommended. They…read moredesigned and planted a new garden for us and the results are beautiful. Highly recommended.

Our yard had become mostly dirt with a few struggling patches of grass, and Neighborhood…read moreLandscaping put an incredible amount of work into giving it a fresh start. We live several flights of stairs above the street, on ledge, with rocky soil. Everything had to be done by hand, including carrying countless barrels of old soil down the stairs and bringing fresh loam back up. Mario and his crew were amazingly friendly and treated all of it as just part of the job. Not one complaint, even when the conditions added several days to the work. I feel bad living so high up off the street and deal with a lot of guilt and grief about it with workers that come to the house. It is a lot easier on us when that is taken out of the equation. At one point, they were working so hard to remove a giant boulder that I came out and told them it wasn't worth the trouble. I honestly think they would have kept at it until they got it out. That says a lot about their commitment. Jeff coordinated perfectly with Fred at Designer Sprinkler Service, who installed our new irrigation system, so everything happened in the right order. The yard is now prepped and seeded, and it already looks so much better. We're excited to see the grass come in and very grateful to the whole crew. Highly recommend.

Jeff's team is totally first rate. I've hired them for Spring and Fall clean outs, removed of trees…read moreand bushes. They are very efficient, and do excellent work. Fabulous value for the work that they do on your property. If you are in the Melrose/Wakefield/Winchester area, reach out to Jeff and his team.