I had planned to write off our very poor experience with Kaiser gardens as a costly mistake that I…read morewould eventually forget, but having received another $168 invoice from the company today, I feel I can not be silent as I would hate for others to have such a negative experience. Lisa has a good design eye, but it ends there. Working with her was very disappointing and I wish I had never hired her - we wasted thousands and lost months and months. After $3,000 of design services and a crazily expensive $5,000 yard clean up that was twice what she estimated it would cost, we ended up with poor plans and the need to completely start over. In short: good design eye, below average listening to client's needs and carrying them through to design, and very poor work management. Very basic design criteria were ignored (e.g. we wanted only CA native plants, Australian plants or edibles and she came back to us with a list of plants that largely ignored the criteria), very basic measurements weren't taken (e.g. the distance of a few key trees from the fence were off by 15-20 feet, rendering every plan she did except the last completely unusable - it took me less than 20 minutes to get the measurements to within a foot or two - why she and her assistant didn't do that at the beginning is beyond me), and she spent time with us briefing a subcontractor who was not licensed to work here, and then another contractor who required a topo map - something we could have had done with our lot survey but didn't do as she told us it wasn't needed. The cost to do it after the fact as a separate survey was significantly higher than if we had done it in the first place. Most disappointing was her inability to give us very basic guidelines - eg. XYZ type of stone wall will cost about 2-3 times the same in wood - so we didn't have any sense of what the installation of the project would have cost. We have since spoken to a couple of landscape design/build firms and the difference has been night and day. The company we will go with managed in 30 minutes to walk around and give us a good rule of thumb - "if you want a solid curved stone wall about 30" high from here to there, it'll run around $15-$20k, but you can cut that a bit by using stone facing on CMU or slash it in half by going with straight lines and wood..." sort of basic info that Lisa could never give us. I regret every calling Kaiser, and I get angry every time I look at how her crew butchered my weeping native chestnut that had made a lovely veil to the ground - they were supposed to trim up a little in two spots to make a path under its boughs and they slashed the whole thing. I cry when I think about the money we wasted and fume when I think about what an awful experience it was. I wish I had my $8,000 and months of back and forth back.

We chose Lisa Kaiser of Kaiser Gardens for a complex landscape project involving many moving parts…read more- basically, designing and creating multi-level garden patios out of a heavily forested and overgrown hillside. This work required an exceptionally skilled eye for design, as well as a highly skilled and hardworking crew that possessed expertise in stonework, berm-building, patio-building, planting and irrigation, all of which and more was needed to execute a landscape design this challenging. Besides being a brilliant designer and having a great deal of knowledge of plants and materials, Lisa is a very thoughtful person who is able to stay calm and organized no matter the circumstances. She also brings a great deal of personal integrity to her work, which is so important when issues arise between clients and contractors, as they invariably do over a months-long project that throws unexpected curves to even the most well- thought-out plan. As a result, our project proceeded harmoniously to conclusion, leaving us with a "Garden in the Forest" more beautiful and functional than we had ever imagined. Not only were we happy with the "grand design" but also with the dozens of custom stonework, plant, and other design features that make spending time in our new garden such a joy. We were so fortunate to have found Lisa as well as her talented crew.

Fiddlehead Gardens did excellent work. I needed a gardener and met Racheal Perry while she was…read moreworking in the garden at a friend's house in SF. She was doing a great job there so I asked her to come and give me an estimate at my house close by. She got in touch with me a few days later to set up an appointment. I hate to do gardening work and had gotten very lazy and needed a lot of help. I have a backyard deck with two very large planter boxes full of dying and out-of-control plant growth. I also have two planter boxes lining my driveway that needed a new irrigation system and a lot of clearing out done as well. Racheal arrived at the initial appointment on time. She is very pleasant and has a lot of experience and knowledge. She obviously loves what she does. I received a fairly priced written estimate by mail within a week. And Racheal came up with a smart way to do the irrigation system in the front of my house that solved a big watering headache. I was very pleased. A couple of weeks later Racheal and Cate came to my house and did a fantastic job. They were on time, hard working, polite and fun to talk to and did all the work as expected (which took a full 8 hours). There was a lot to do and afterwords my deck/yard and front planter boxes looked great. They hauled away a big truck full of plant debris - good riddance! I am very much looking forward to entertaining and hanging out on the deck during the summer. And knowing that Fiddlehead will be doing monthly maintenance, I know my deck will be in good shape. I am also looking forward to seeing the new plants grow. Thanks Racheal and Cate!

I can't say enough good things about Racheal and Fiddlehead Gardens. She took our modest-sized…read morefront planter beds (and our modest budget) and crafted a plan that turned them from an eyesore into a tidy and easily maintained space. She was also the only one (!) of the landscape architects or gardeners I called who assured me that she herself planned to work onsite throughout the entire job, supervising her staff and attending the fine pruning of our unruly apple tree personally. Her attention to detail also deserves a mention: the irrigation system she designed is a marvel, with miniature sprayers positioned perfectly for the various plantings. She even took it upon herself to tidy up our overgrown agapanthus, despite it technically not being part of the work order. A five-star experience from beginning to end.

I never thought our outdoor spaces could look so beautiful. Ingrid and team overhauled all of our…read moreoutdoor spaces after a remodel that killed much of our plants and dried out our soil. From the get-go, Ingrid was on top of everything and responsive to this major project. She was excellent at providing a vision, trouble shooting for unexpected problems and providing amazing results. I can't say there weren't unforeseen complications at times like with any other project but I found her reasonable and professional. My outdoor spaces speak for themselves from her late autumn work to seeing our first spring bloom.

Ingrid was great to work with. She has deep knowledge of plants, design, and how to combine it all…read moreto maintain a beautiful and interesting landscape year-round. I had a decent sketch of what I wanted to do when we connected. She picked it up seamlessly, provided a ton of great and creative ideas, and was very easy to work with, including providing clear options for different budget levels. She was flexible and was always ready to adapt if needed with creativity and expertise. Great communication, great crew, and great results.

We hired Wildwood Landscapes to completely redesign our front and back yards, and we couldn't be…read morehappier with the results. From the initial design consultation to the final walk-through, everything was handled professionally and with great care. Elliot was fantastic to work with. He truly listened to our ideas and incorporated them seamlessly into a plan that was even better than we had envisioned. The entire team from design to construction was skilled, friendly, and respectful of our property. We especially want to call out Gabe for his exceptional craftsmanship. He and another gentleman built a couple retaining walls in our front yard that are absolutely incredible. We have met several neighbors because they want to stop and talk about the wall.

Wildwood redesigned our front and back yards. They let us be as involved as we wanted to be:…read morewhatever we wanted to really get into detail on was great, and whatever we wanted to be hands-off on, they'd just handle for us. The plant selections were great, all the hardscaping was really cleanly done, great materials used all around, and overall the design was fantastic. We've worked with a number of people over the years, and no team has been as high quality, communicative, and proactive as Wildwood. The whole experience was fun and low stress and the result is beautiful and functional.

We had an amazing experience with Angela. She was extremely knowledgeable patient and worked with…read moreus to help us design the garden that worked for our family and our future. She has amazing knowledge of plants what grows locally in the East Bay and how to work within your budget; she also was really useful with setting us up with a contractor that worked well too. I would recommend Angela wholeheartedly for any design projects.

Angela was my Landscape Architecture student at the Merritt College Landscape Horticulture…read moreDepartment from 2018-2020. From the very beginning she exhibited advanced design skills, and after she completed my classes we hired her to be my Teaching Assistant for my year-long landscape design studio. She excelled at learning and teaching, and upon graduation went straight to a major landscape architecture firm. Angela now has her own practice and is doing wonderful work. She is creative, hardworking and responsible, and understands the practical and technical dimensions of her work. I happily recommend her to you. Chris Grampp Co-Chair, Merritt College Landscape Horticulture Department, and Landscape Architecture Program Director

It took her a week to call me back and tell me she was too busy to consider my project. Eileen…read moreapparently hasn't bothered to familiarize herself with her peers in the area, so she couldn't even give me a referral. Marin County hubris...

I worked with the wonderfully creative Eileen Kelly on the redesign of my front and backyards and…read moream absolutely thrilled with the results! Eileen's concepts perfectly match the mid-century look of my house, and feature a stunning array of low-water use plants. She was a joy to work with -- professional, responsive and incredibly knowledgeable about plant selection and landscaping materials. She oversaw the installation from start to finish; I couldn't have done it without her!

Mae consulted with us and worked through several different styles of garden for front and back…read moreyard. We had front and rear lawns resized and new irrigation. We chose an English style garden that has many pollinators. It's the focal point of our home an we regularly receive compliments. Mae has returned through the years to freshen it up and try new things. Mae planted fruit trees including an Apple, Apricot, and a Persimmon. We spend more time in the yard because of the design. One of the best choices we made after the remodel.

Mae and her crew are simply the best. She is a terrific problem solver, whip-smart and her crew are…read moreall very good at what they do. Thanks to Plenty Landscapes we now have a backyard with beautiful trails and plantings, and some wonderful extra details built from excess materials like a bench tucked into the hill with a perfect view of the hills around us and tree ties carved out wood in the shape of our two dogs. Our backyard was a large, very steep, muddy clay hill above an old cracking concrete patio that other landscapers didn't want to take on. Mae wasn't fazed at all. She spent quite a bit of time with me before coming up with plans, asking questions, listening, measuring and inspecting everything from the soil type, grade, and drainage patterns. She came up with a beautiful layout and gave us a few proposals with different materials to choose from, one of which was using as much recycled material as possible (yay!). For example: Instead of demolishing the patio and hauling the debris to the dump her crew cut the concrete into urbanite bricks to form a low retaining wall. It looks terrific, fits our aesthetics and budget. The project took most of last summer, and at each step Mae provided very clear documentation of the work completed and the work to be done. We always knew where the project stood and how much everything was going to cost. Communications were clear and consistent: We knew when the crew was going to arrive each day and what was going to be done that day. It's been several months and a few rainstorms since the project wrapped and the backyard is filling out nicely with all the plantings. Mae and her crew stop by every once in a while for maintenance and I know if anything garden issues pop up I can always count on her to help.

EXCEPTIONAL COUPLE, they transformed all of our extensive landscape over a double lot in 2000…read more Their dedication and expertise continues to enhance our IIves and many parties. Anne Raskin

Tamar is an incredible designer with a real eye for beauty not yet seen! She recommended gorgeous…read moreplantings in just the right spots that continue to surprise and delight me with each walk in my garden. She pays attention to detail and her communication throughout the 3month project was the best of any vendor in my 30 years of home ownership! Five Stars and 10 out of 10 to Tamar for design and Rogelio for execution!