Sarah Herman designed the new landscaping in my front yard earlier this year. It consisted of…read moredouble rock walls, low-water plants, and irrigation. It was an excellent design whose expert installation was performed by Christian Ehrhorn of Misty Morning Gardens. As one neighbour put it, my new front yard is an asset to the community. It was indeed a job well done.

I just had a landscape design consultation with Sarah at my house in Berkeley. It was soooooo…read morehelpful. She's awesome. She just saved me thousands of dollars and greatly improved the design of my yard. I had such a limited way of seeing the space before Sarah brought her design ideas. I'm really excited about what my back yard can be. She came prepared with images, plant ideas, websites for me to order materials and design ideas. She listened to what I wanted and totally got my style. Then she made some great recommendations. She was incredibly knowledgeable about everything from the type of plants to use to drainage to what types of stone to use for hardscaping. She knew so much about plant varieties - what to grow where and in what conditions. So many possibilities that I hadn't thought of! She also gave me some functional ideas - like how to expand my driveway so that I could fit two cars in it! That is going to make a huge difference so I don't have to park one car on the street anymore. Thank you, Sarah!

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!

Tamar Carson is a gifted artist. She and her husband, Rogelio Giron, work beautifully together and…read moreare great problem solvers and complement one another's talents. Intuitively, Tamar came up with a beautiful design for redoing my front and back yards, after listening to what I wanted and sensing my environment. Her vision included creating a terraced garden with stone retaining walls and two serene patio areas. She and Rogelio really listened to what I like. I said I wanted blue grey patio stones and that I liked a few sprinkles of glitter. So they brought perfect blue stone and mica schist stones. I was delighted. I even thought the grout was beautiful. After requesting a list of plants I love, Tamar featured some of them along with those she knew would be especially good throughout the seasons. The plantings are beautifully balanced in terms of placement, color and height. To make my garden more manageable for me, they added irrigation, drainage and a few thoughtful safety features. For example, in the slightly sloping backyard, Tamar recommended a path of large, solid stepping stones, and on the deck a handrail and a serving shelf to easily move serving platters from the kitchen to the dining table on the deck. These things make my life easier and safer. Tamar and Rogelio provided good value with an estimate to which they adhered. If additional items were desired as we went along they discussed the cost with me and verified whether I would want them. I enjoy my new garden as a peaceful sanctuary to deeply enjoy nature and to share with friends. I highly recommend Tamar and Rogelio if you want inspired design and expert execution from true professionals. They are outstanding. They are a joy!

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.

Brian and his crew were doing work at our neighbors house and they were extremely pleased with the…read moreway their backyard project was progressing. We had become accustomed to their workers arriving in the morning and working through the day and that they were very cordial, friendly and considerate about parking responsibly. So, we asked Brain to come over to assess a drainage issue we had in our backyard where because of our clay soil, water would accumulate in our pathway (frustratingly at the the highest point on our property). He gave us a plan that involved removing our pavers (set in dirt), excavating some of the clay soil, digging a trench down the middle of the pathway and installing a perforated drain line to collect the water, connect the new pipe with proper grade into our existing patio drain line to carry the water to the curb at the street; backfilling with crushed drain rock (gravel/sand) to promote drainage and preserve the proper grade, and wrapping with filter fabric to minimize anything getting into the new pipe (other than water!). Then more fun -- putting the flagstone pavers back in place. These had been photographed prior to removal and numbered to ensure they went back into the right locations. There was considerable attention paid to spacing, and then settling them onto well compacted gravel one by one - some rather large and very heavy, and all are even with each other as you walk the path, amazing work. Finally the last several inches between the stones were filled with a complementary color decorative pea gravel (we had a choice from a generous selection). This was a great suggestion from Brian to eliminate planting between the stones which we previously had difficulty keeping weed free. We are very happy with all aspects of the work done. The crew was fantastic, hardworking and clearly talented individuals! Brian was super responsive when we had an occasional question. We were told it would take about 5 days, but it went to six -- no issue for us as we saw how the crew thoughtfully addressed unexpected hurdles that slowed things down (an underground electrical conduit right near the tie-in to the existing drain, existing drip irrigation that needed to be cut, then repaired to acommodate the project, etc). We look forward to talking with Brian and BWD for our future needs.

BWD gardens did an incredible job transforming our back yard into a beautiful and inviting outdoor…read moreliving space. Brian helped us completely reimagine the layout and make the best use of our space. He is a very thoughtful and creative designer, with a keen eye for details, and knowledgeable about his materials (plants, stone, mulch, lighting, etc.). He is also an excellent listener, and was great about balancing our ideas with his own - he incorporated our wants/needs while steering us gracefully to a plan that would be successful. It was really fun working with him. And then his team was efficient, professional, and friendly, and executed his plan beautifully, ahead of schedule! We ended up with a space that is exactly what we were hoping for, but not something that we could have dreamed up on our own. We're excited to watch our plants grow and enjoy spending time in our new garden!

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 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

We absolutely loved working with Garden Architecture to transform our yard! Robert, David, Edwin,…read moreand Freddy were our core four-some--along with periodic visits from the rest of the awesome team. Together, they provided a mix of expertise, passion and hard work that was a pleasure to witness. To a person, they take pride in what they are doing, and operate with the utmost care and attention to detail. Highpoints for us: Multi-talented. The first thing they did was build a new set of exterior stairs. I can't quite describe what makes these stairs so wonderful. They are beautiful cedar stairs, with an elegant but understated design--but there's something more. The angle of the rise, the generosity of the tread, the gracious bannister--something about walking up and down these stairs makes me feel happy every day! But that was just one of so many things Team Garden Architecture did, and each surpassed our expectations. Robert's team laid beautiful stonework, fabricated a wonderful metal fence and wire mesh trellises, built a spectacular gate, and more. Everything they built for us has the same aesthetic grace and functional brilliance as the stairs. We were continuously amazed at the result and at the breadth of expertise on the team. So talented! And that was all before the planting! Design-build approach. We really appreciated Garden Architecture's design-build approach. They don't just hand you a design on paper that will theoretically be beautiful--they work with you to actually build the design, making modifications along the way as things come up and to ensure that it will work in your situation. Because they use this approach and go on to maintain some of the gardens they build, their team possesses an extraordinary amount of experience of what actually works in which circumstances. The result is that they generate tried and true designs. Custom. We never felt like Garden Architecture was using a template. In fact, Robert talked about the need to spend time on our site over time to be able to fully come to know our yard, how it was positioned in relationship to the sun, sight lines, wind patterns, etc. Our particular situation has a certain amount of casual funkiness (which we like!) and they worked with that to create a design that featured this look and feel. Robert found salvaged objects and worked them into the plan. David helped us place some of what we already had and chose plants that fit the feel. The process of working with Garden Architecture felt like a rich, flexible collaboration. The result is something that is unique and feels like us. They love plants! What a pleasure it was to hear Robert and David talk passionately about the delicate blue flowers of the dianella plant, the incredible texture of a river birch's bark, the size of a viburnum's blooms, or the amazing cannemois grandis grass that grows over six feet tall. Their passion was contagious! Robert took us on more than one field trip on which we hunted for the perfect tree or shrub or boulder. David, in particular, has an encyclopedic knowledge of plants and the conditions under which they will be happy. He has been super helpful as we learn to tend the plants on our own and I continue to hear his voice as I do my daily walk through the yard. What a pleasure to benefit from such authentic enthusiasm and deep expertise. It's worth also saying that for us this was an enormous job--one for which we had to save up. I would guess, that in contrast, ours was likely a relatively small job for Garden Architecture. Yet, they always--always!-- treated our project as if it was super important to them, helped us find ways to save costs, were game to rebuild an existing fence (rather than start new), etc. Having now seen all that Robert, David and team did, we consider Garden Architecture work to have been extraordinarily high value. We are so grateful for what they did and enthusiastically give Garden Architecture our highest recommendation!

Great design process, outstanding, multi-talented team. Fun to work with. Our outdoor space is now…read morea place we want to be in, when we aren't admiring it from the window. Came in under budget.

Emailed and they suggested to schedule a time for phone conversation. They suggested two dates. I…read moreresponded with a preferred date. Never received a confirmation so I figured that was a no-go. The time came and they called but I didn't answer because I didn't think there was an appointment. I schedule and attend meetings as part of my career. That was not the best communication in setting an appointment. Seeing the other reviews, I see I'm not alone. I hope this company can work for others as their work looks nice.

We've had our garden in for three years. I cannot recommend them for design or upkeep. I was…read moreinitially happy, and we have elements that we are very happy with, but there were decisions made that, in hindsight, seem questionable. We have an edible garden with several spreaders (mint, red shiso) and vines (blackberry and grape). Why did Andrea insist on mint and red shiso as a wild plant in our edible garden? (Andrea laughed and said they'd keep it under control -- meaning their gardening services.) We also have a grape vine and a blackberry bramble in our edible garden. None of these are sunk plants. Want some mint? Also, I wanted one of our citrus trees in the front; I was told no. And, when we were choosing fruit trees, Andrea insisted on a plum even though we repeatedly asked for a pluot (which we finally got). The butterfly and pollinator side was mainly grasses. We asked for plans for our backyard, too, but when we said we didn't want two trees taken out, and two of the four plans removed those trees, I was done. Many of the team members are fantastic to work with. However, if the team makes choices about what's in your garden and either fails to plant with the expected results (pollinators, bird habitat) or plants what they want, it's not worth it.