I can't say enough about Nature's Perspective, the crew and our rep Mark Watson. We've used a few of the other big landscape services on the north side of Chicago but have always been let down by the quality and service they provide. We're not a huge account, a 16 home townhouse HOA, but they treat us no differently. For us some of the key call outs are: * They are not out to sell you more than you need. A good case is point is our bushes in front were looking ragged so I asked for a quote to replace them. Marked recommended that they just do a detailed hard pruning, which we did at a fraction of the cost. Two or three years later they look fantastic. * They can get grass to grow where others couldn't. We have large maple trees and lots of shade. There was one section that always looked bad. The last landscaper even resodded it but the sod was gone in probably 2 years. Nature Perspective continually reseeds areas that need it. That section of grass has never looked better in the 10 years we've been here. * With Fall season lasting longer than normal, our previous company would disband their crews long before all the leaves have fallen. Nature Perspective keeps their crews on into late Fall doing the last clean ups after nearly all leaves have fallen. * They are environmentally conscious where possible and making efforts to be so even more so. A good example is during the 4 or 5 years we've used them they always shredded up the Fall leaves and spread them around as mulch, versus hauling them off to landfills. If you're looking for a new landscape service, there's no one I could recommend more highly than Mark and his crew at Nature's Perspective. read more

I would strongly recommend choosing a different company that is more upfront, detailed, and communicative about scope, pricing, and expectations. Also, contract terms were shady read more

We've used Nature's Perspective for 3 rounds of landscaping, and this year for regular maintenance. The landscaping work has been pretty good, although on the expensive side. The maintenance work has been a nightmare since day one. Despite a hefty weekly price tag, their crews zip across our 0.6 acre property and are sometimes in and out in 40 minutes flat, leaving grass, sticks, leaves, and other debris on site, and leaving gates open. We've had multiple plants die, and our grass is brown despite repeated calls to address. We've had to prompt their crews to do all the things they promised in the contract -- weeding, pruning, cleanup. The few times we have managed to get the maintenance manager Ben onsite to see the mess, he always apologizes and says he's going to make things better, but then the next week we get the same messy, rushed service. read more

Don't appreciate blowers and riding mower noise before 7:30 am - woken to you all again this AM

We have used Nature's Perspective twice over the last 5 years: first for a major accessible ramp plus patio, sidewalk, and new garden bed installation and this week, for a smaller job to remove aged yew shrubs and install a new garden bed. We worked with Mark both times to do the design. We really appreciate the friendly and collaborative way that NP does its work--we find it very easy to design together and the jobs have been first rate. Great service and great outcomes. read more

The owner came to my new home in the Evanston area. we discussed future plans along the property. during our conversation a landscape crew a few houses down began working removing the leaves and Thomas lost his patience and left me here as he went on a rant to photograph these people. never in my life. read more

2023 was the best our yard has ever looked and it was all due to Nature's Perspective! We have been so pleased with the service and especially Ben Klitzkie's very informative updates and extremely fast response to any questions. We are looking forward to working with the team again in 2024. read more

An update to my update! 6/8/2021: Last summer, we took care of the back yard, and holy cow, were we happy! So, this summer, we decided that we were going to do something with the front yard. It was a mess. We're a corner lot, and people cut a path across the corner. It was more weeds and chaos than calmness and greenery. Enter the Nature's Perspective team! We came back to Tim Benz and we talked about what we wanted to do with our front yard. Plants, new sod, greenery, and a SMOKIN' new serpentine walkway to the front door were in order. Oh, right! We also added some trees and other cool things in the backyard to make it look even better. Tim came up with the plan, and when the time came, the whole team showed up. Victor the foreman, Raul the supervisor, and the team of Adrian and Enrique. Let's be frank: these guys all worked their brains out in the first heat wave of the year to put together an amazing front yard! Next up: some more lighting, upgraded bluestone, and who knows what else we might come up with! Tim's become a family friend, and a trusted advisor! He and the team are why we keep coming back and coming back and keep coming back. UPDATE: MORE AWESOMENESS THAN EVER! (September 2020) I'm doing two reviews for Nature's Perspective because they are just that awesome. Here's what happened: we planned for the first phase of our project this summer, and you see the photo. Oasis, step 1 was rocking. We were so happy with it that we decided to do Oasis, step 2 this summer as well. Spoiler alert: it's absolutely brilliant. We're even happier than we were before. The award for best director, or landscape architect, goes to Tim Benz again, for listening to our North Shore waffling and our thoughts, then rolling out a really cool step 2, which is the first step of the "greens". Patience and fortitude should be Tim's middle names. Roberto, the foreman, and Jonny and Anselmo--remember them--rolled in and worked their butts off to put together some amazing greens around the patio and fireplace. It looks amazing! Do exactly what they tell you to do, and it'll all be great! Next we're on to step three, the decorative stuff. Poor Tim. He has no idea what he's in for, but he will do something amazing as he always does. Original review for step one: I cannot begin to say how fantastic it's been working with Nature's Perspective. It's COVID, and we're not going on vacation, so we decided we'd turn our small and dated Evanston backyard into a place we could love and enjoy. We looked all over the place, and finally came to Nature's Perspective. They'd been recommended to us by numerous people, so we gave it a shot. Enter Tim Benz, the mystery man in the mask. He showed up, we talked from a proper social distance, we told him what we wanted to do and gave him a general budget. He came back with something wonderful: a firepit, a seating/dining area, new sod, and the beginnings of phase II, the greenery. OK, at this point everything was literally on paper. We waited for the three weeks until, finally, it was our turn. The crew showed up, and they were masters of their craft. They were fast, professional, and paid extreme attention to detail. First they did the dirt work, then the hardscape, and then the sod, all during a crazy heat wave. These guys showed up like the Ghostbusters, ready to kick some butt and take names: Ray, Victor, Anthony, and (argh, I forgot his first name but his first initial and last name rock), J. Cruz; Luis, Roberto, Gabriel, Raul, and Carlos. Every day they cleaned up the work area. Every morning they showed up and made it even better. Would I use these guys again? Absolutely. No doubt about it. Thanks to all of them for helping us make a family space. read more

I live in South Evanston and bought my house from an owner whose goal was to "bring back native plant life" which resulted in an abundance of overgrown, WIDE array of grasses, bushes, shrubs, weeds/grasses/insects. While this may have looked nice in a prairie field, in Evanston it looked like the wildlife was consuming my property. I needed my landscaping redesigned, streamlined and low maintenance. Design Director, Mark Watson, was incredible coming to our home discussing ideas, giving suggestions, showing examples, educating us, giving options reflecting various budgets and more. He was professional, warm, kind and most importantly, knowledgeable. I also had the pleasure of working with Paul Klitzkie, son of founders Tom and Barbara. Paul and his family work with integrity, honesty and truly care about their customers satisfaction. Paul, Mark and the lawn crew were all equally professional and they worked noticeably fast AND efficient. Communication and email with staff was also timely and first class as my wife and I changed designs and plant options countless times; Mark was so patient and never bothered by it. The job: They did several transplants of existing shrubs and even a birch tree and everything survived. Not easy in the first place, let alone during the July drought we were in, literally the week they did the job. I had them replace the parkway section of the lawn, which was ivy ground cover, with grass/seed (which grew the same week). No exaggeration, I had several neighbors approach me asking how I got that patch of grass to grow so well and fast. They seeded some areas as well as turf in others, redesigned flower beds, planted various flowers and plant life. I had them tear out an old large vegetable garden bed that was weeded out, leveled it and wood chipped the whole area for a play area for the kids. Lastly, I'll add that their service continued on over a year, giving us plant life care material, seasonal recommendations and maintenance and best of all, an annual check up on their entire job to stick by their installation guarantee. Clearly I had a great experience with Nature's Perspective and would highly recommend them for full design/landscape jobs. read more

This was our first year with NPL and we have been very satisfied! Their attentiveness and client communications are great. We'd shut down our watering system around Halloween but turned it back on after receiving their informative newsletter telling clients to water until Thanksgiving to encourage root formation.In January our 25 year old landscape lighting shut down. We called NPL. Tom stopped by on a very cold day and was able to get most of the system back on (we'll need more work when the ground thaws). He went the extra mile for us. We appreciate their timely responses and, once the snow melts, we know our yard will look great! read more

I rarely work from home, but today I came home early was able to see the hard work of the folks from Nature's Perspective. They are fast, clean and very nice. My lawnmower is broken and I am not sure that I want to get it fixed because I love the job they do. In full disclosure, I also rent from Nature's Perspective for my work and they are equally wonderful as landlords and people. I would recommend this company, the family that own it and everyone who works at this fine company. My relationship with them has been since 2009 - so I have a long term view of this relationship. They know their craft and are decent people. I am a very satisfied customer. read more

We worked with Mark at Nature's Perspective on our recent patio project, and we could not have been more pleased! Our project involved rebuilding a current retaining wall, installing a new floor to the patio, and replacing the wooden steps with stone steps. We also had an idea to install a large chess board in the floor - as soon as Mark heard the idea, he loved it and ran with it! The design was better than we could have imagined, and it was executed perfectly! The project came in within budget and ahead of time - we were thrilled! We plan to do some planting this year and will definitely be calling Nature's Perspective! read more

My husband and I have been customers of Nature's Perspective for 20 years. We have made changes over the years, replacing some things and adding new plantings. About two years ago, we began redoing the landscaping in both the front and back of our house, and last fall, decided to make my husband's dream of a water fall come true. Mark Watson, our designer, has been such a joy to work with. Mark designed a three-tier pondless waterfall for us. It was installed quickly--within about 5 days. It's gorgeous, and my husband is so happy. We started spending so much time on our patio, we decided the ugly cement we had needed to go, so Mark designed an expanded flagstone patio for us. Again, the installation was relatively quick given how much work went into cutting up each and every flagstone. After the patio was finished, we completed it with more plantings around the waterfall. Our yard is gorgeous! I cannot wait for spring to see how it all looks fresh! It's our haven, and having people over to hang out on the patio is a pleasure for both our guests and us. The company is reliable, the crews incredibly hard-working and pleasant. They always clean up, and once they start working, they don't stop until they're done. I'm a bit sad that we've finished up most of the project now....I'll miss working with Mark. I guess we'll have to save up so we can do something else! read more

We are very happy with their landscaping work. Tim Benz designed a beautiful solution that met our primary goal--getting rid of the grass and making the front of the house more interesting. The crew that did the work showed up on time, did everything very efficiently, and cleaned up before they left. We've had other landscaping companies in the past, but Nature's Perspective clearly beats them all. read more

Great experience with Nature's Perspective and designer Nick Woboril. I had one of those horrible overgrown evergreens and snaggly bush situations all around the front of my house. Nick and I had a great talk about what I cared about, he sent me a terrific first design, we worked together to get it exactly the way I wanted it, and they took away all the horrible plants and planted the new garden (and seeded the lawn) in one day. We were especially particular about how one tree would look and Nick made sure that we got exactly what we we wanted. Couldn't be happier with the whole experience! read more

I have had Nature's Perspective handle my home and they are excellent. The staff knows plant material and has advised me on what to add and remove to complainant the design of my house. Their weekly maintenance is good. They show up on time, do what is required and leave the place looking neat. They are not the least expensive; however I have learned you pay for what you get. My prior landscaper was cheaper, but they left the place overgrown and created ruts in the grass. read more

The landscaping around our home is fabulous - thanks to Nature's Perspective. Our designer Mark is creative, thoughtful and super nice with whom to work. We recently installed a new patio that we are thoroughly enjoying and our backyard garden looks the best it ever has. We also employ their services for lawn/tree/bush maintenance - professional, timely and really good guys. My rating: A+ read more

My corner lot desperately needed some curb appeal, and NP provided that. The design by Tim, the planning, and the execution was superb. Tim is incredibly knowledgable and addressed all my concerns, especially plantings to withstand 3 dogs. We did hardscaping in the fall (excellent results) and then attacked the landscaping this June. 5 men and 2 1/2 days of hard work. Done! Plus really happy to use an Evanston local business. NP has great reputation and it is well deserved. read more

Unfortunately I am changing my review on this company. Although I was happy with my prior dealings with them, I have since made a request for an estimate on their landscaping services. That was back in February, I never received a response. If they weren't interested in further business with me they could have at least told me they were not able to provide landscaping service for me. Instead they simply did not respond and took me off their email list (I was getting monthly blogs). For this reason my rating has changed. I feel not responding to a question I had and removing me from the blog messages to communicate with me that they could not provide landscaping service was a unprofessional way to deal with it. (not really interested in their blog anyway) read more

I have worked with Tim at Nature's Perspective twice now to complete landscaping at two of my rental properties and he and they are top notch. Tim is a great listener and very knowledgeable regarding both design and practicalities of planning a garden in Chicago. All staff members I have communicated with have been very professional and pleasant. Nature's Perspective also handles twice per month landscaping at a number of buildings I own and manage and they always do a great job with great attention to detail. I highly recommend them! read more

We had Nature's Perspective design the landscaping for our yard and have gotten so many compliments on it! We enjoyed working with them through the design and implementation process. In addition, they have maintained our beds and trees since we had the work done a couple of years ago and they are great! I would highly recommend them to anyone. read more

Even though I had a fairly small job, I received expert recommendations about trees and ground cover, and was very happy with the beautiful results. read more

We've used Nature's Perspective twice, for two design projects. The first involved both landscape and hardscape. The second was just landscape. We had great experiences both times. We met multiple times, over the course of both projects, with staff from NP and found everyone to be helpful and informative. We're very happy with the outcome of the work and would readily use them again. read more

Nature's Perspective Landscaping did tremendous work installing a beautiful space at our school. They were easy to work with, offered terrific design ideas and input, and the installation and helping us learn how to care for and maintain the space" was first rate. I highly recommend them for any design and landscaping work. read more

I have used this company on several occasions for the last twenty five years and found them to be honest,fair,responsive and experts in the landscaping field.theyare an excellent resource for any type of landscaping work and you will not find a more trustworthy group of people. read more

The company would not complete a punch list after a major landscaping job. Moreover, one of their signature installations - a cedar lattice - has rotted after about 5 years. read more

1. Two years ago when they planted a tree in my back yard, their installer literally walked into my yard without even letting me know that he was there to put in the tree. Who does that? 2. This year when I called in May to get some work done on my yard, I was told that the earliest that they could help me is August, because I am not a regular customer. I do my yard myself. 3. Today, their installers placed a lot of heavy equipment and tools on my yard that had new grass and sod. I asked them to remove the equipment and they yelled at me. You are better off using someone else. I usually do not write reviews when I receive bad service, but I feel like homeowners need to know about this company's customer service. read more