I was referred to Elaine by a friend of mine when I started asking around about landscaping. She immediately picked up the phone and after an initial meeting, she scheduled time to visit my house. I had an idea of what I wanted. I intended on redoing both my front and backyard into a modern and minimalist aesthetic that really highlighted our space. Elaine was not afraid to push back on ideas of mine that she found to be counterintuitive with her design philosophy and since the work has been completed, I have to say that I'm thoroughly convinced as well. Having just built an ADU in the backyard, I wanted to make sure that the main house and ADU had completely separate spaces. Elaine designed several aspects of the backyard with feng shui in mind. I have a large, but triangular lot. Her design package allowed for the main house to experience more uniform and square shapes, while beautifying the ADU space with circular design elements to hide the weird triangular shape. I have shown friends, family, and even potential tenants for the ADU and they all have commented more about the landscaping than the ADU itself. Elaine referred us to a landscaping company that executed on her vision with great care and customer service. We gave Elaine a vague idea of what we wanted and even forced her to compromise some of her design elements for the sake of things that we were non-negotiable about, but the end result looks absolutely beautiful. I will continue to refer Elaine to anyone I know who needs landscaping services. My house's landscaping is now the envy of the neighborhood! read more

We really enjoyed working with Elaine. She gave really good/practical input based off of our desired way of using our backyard. Her expertise was invaluable in the resulting elevated look yet also a function backyard. read more

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I had what I thought was a good meeting with Elaine. I told her we didn't have a solid design yet and wanted her professional feedback to help us iterate until we settled on a design. She quickly gave us a design doc that generally had what we discussed in that first hour meeting but didn't have the detailed design stuff I expected we'd work out together. I told her there were things I wasn't sure about and asked for a quick Zoom call to talk it over, but she wanted me to just send a drawing with notes on it. That's when I realized she was just going to draw what I told her with minimal design feedback from her. So, I figured I'd try to do the research myself and then have her draw it. But I wasn't quick enough for her. She said the project was dragging on and that she only signed up for one round of changes according to her contract. She felt she'd done everything she'd promised and wanted full payment. I had a drawing that didn't have any of the design input I thought she'd agreed to give me. If you know exactly what you want or are willing to take whatever Elaine comes up with after a short meeting, she might be fine. If you want design input beyond a brief initial visit, I'd get someone else or make things very clear and in writing. read more

Elaine is amazing to work with. She is very talented and knowledgeable in her craft. Her clear and clean vision to the layout of the home and applying her creative way to the landscape design made this project easy. She was flexible to making changes to the initial design and plant choices with our input. She scope the design to help with our budget, like reusing existing rocks and plants. She was helpful to provide alternative plants when the ones we wanted weren't readily available. We are very happy with her design and are very pleased to be able to see her design come to life. read more

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Elaine did an amazing job on our front/backyard design. She was very responsive in the middle of the remodel project. She was able to work with the contract closely to make necessary adjustments based on our input and budget limitation. We do love the final outcome! read more

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Elaine was so refreshing to work with. I never thought to hire a designer to handle my vision for our backyard. We had really good chemistry and she listened to my wants and needs by reflecting professional feedback. I can't wait to see our new yard. read more

Summit Landscape - Sample of one of her drawings for my backyard. Great attention to detail with client in mind. - Landscaping Near Me

Elaine did a great job on our design asks. She immediately understood what kind of design we want and provided a lot of suggestion and inputs, which we took. She is extremely knowable about the "design for usability" , for example what are the right low maintenance plants and trees for pool area. She also helped us to choose the right materials for our project and provided a full BOM for it, in addition to plants. She also introduced us to a landscaper, we chosen for the project. Bottom line, great experience from all perspectives. read more

I had very unpleasant experience with Elaine Tong of Summit Landscaping. For my case, after she received initial $200 deposit, she was like totally disappeared for quite a few days, until I finally reconnected with her. After she delivered first draft of the design, I was very disappointed. But she won't allow me to make any changes, instead demanding me to make full payment. She threatened me that she will report me to collection agency if I don't pay within the time that she desired. She also threatened that she won't let the current contractor wh referred to me to work on my project. So I ended up paying the full amount with no changes to the original draft. She was very unprofessional on the phone with me, yelling, screaming non-stop and won't let me explain what I request for the change. She is fully aware that I am a cancer patient, but still talking very rude. She mentioned she didn't really care because she had many cases of dispute with other customers, so I am not the only one that was deceived by her. In the end, I wasted $1200 with an unusable design. Be careful, if you are looking for landscaping designer, look for somebody more professional. read more

Elaine and her hardworking crew did an incredible job transforming my front and back yard to beautiful places where I now wanted to spend more time there. Endowed with oriental background with years of working experience in the west, Elaine has a very unique and artistic eye that I can rarely find in other designs's. Infused with her great taste, my yard turned into a piece of art work. Elaine kept the process clear and stayed communicative and responsive throughout the project. Before the project started, she collected my preference and listened patiently to my requests, and also shared her ideas and visions to me. With a deep understanding of her client's requests and a rich professional knowledge , she soon turned our discussion to a solid proposal, followed by high-quality and efficient labor work monitored by herself. I'm completely satisfied with the work. read more

I had gone through 3 landscape architects for my country living home. Those 3 seemed to be great if I lived in suburbia or a city. Nothing they suggested, and I had planted was successful after spending thousands of dollars. I was lucky to have Elaine recommended to me, because she immediately understood quite clearly what the focus of our property had to be. She understood the topography, water flow, plants, hard scape, sun movement and overall vision what our property would look like This was clear to me on our first visit and subsequent visits. Nothing she has suggested has failed. It was a big project and she was very successful. It has been almost 2 years and everything has matured the way it should have and all my plants have flourished. The color combinations now that they have matured is absolutely gorgeous. I would highly recommend Elaine whether you have a small project or a large one such as mine. read more

Summit Landscape - A successfully designed front yard by Elaine Tong - Landscaping Near Me

I was looking for a landscape designer to help me with my front and back yard design, and I'm so happy I found Elaine Tong from Summit Landscaping who helped us with all our needs on a timely manner and great attitude! She is highly recommend by me! read more

This review is long overdue. We embarked on a house remodel and noticed that even with a new house, the non-landscaped dirt in the front, side, and backyard still made our house look terrible so we searched and interviewed many different designers, builders, and landscapers. I can tell you that some designers charged way too much and it was out of our budget. Not knowing who to hire, we eventually found Elaine. She came to our house and was extremely easy to work with. A tip is to be prepared with some photos of what you like as it was easier to show and talk through ideas. She also let us know how she works and showed us an example design package that she delivers. Her documentation is VERY thorough and has all of the details for when you work with an installer. After we locked in her services, she came back to our house to measure and then went off and did her magic for the initial plan. After she showed us the plan, we reviewed and provided feedback on the document. We went through a few rounds of edits and discussions about plants/trees over email and then finally landed on our final product. From hardscaping to trees to plants to outdoor structures, she gave us an amazing plan and space! I highly recommend Elaine and her design services. We will definitely refer her to anyone that needs help beautifying their outdoor space. read more

Working with Elaine was more like 5+ stars! From start to finish, we loved the process and everything she designed. She listened to us, had excellent suggestions to make our space work for us, and put together something we never could have imagined. Elaine is incredibly responsive and dependable. She delivered all of the designs right on time and took in all of our comments and feedback. Not to mention, she worked fast! She was able to come for the initial consultation quickly and did the design and subsequent updates almost immediately, We would absolutely hire Elaine for any future projects, and highly recommend her to anyone looking for help with a landscaping project. read more

Elaine was very easy to work with. She designed a beautiful plan for our backyard, creating space for our various needs for our family. She is very knowledgeable with plants and is thoughtful about what works for the space. She is extremely reliable and responsive through email and text messages. I couldn't be happier with the design and throughly enjoyed working with Elaine. read more

We hired Elaine to do a complete refresh of our landscaping - and we are so glad we did! Elaine had so many wonderful ideas. She picked beautiful plants that were both deer-resistant and drought-tolerant. Her crew did extremely high quality work for a very fair cost. Elaine was on site daily to make sure everything was done perfectly. We highly recommend Elaine and will 100% hire her again for any future landscaping that we do. read more

We loved working with Elaine for our backyard project, so much so that we have asked her to help with our front yard. She was so patient and listened to what we really wanted. She is so knowable and has taught me so much on how to take care of our plants & trees. I had many concerns about different kinds of plants being kid and pet safe and she went above and beyond helping us to get what we wanted without having to sacrifice on design. We wouldn't have our dream backyard if it wasn't for her! read more

I highly recommend Elaine for landscape design services. Her work is outstanding, and she is the consummate professional. My husband and I were seeking a comprehensive plan for our front and back yards that updated and enhanced the existing landscaping. Her hardscape suggestions were perfect, as were her recommendations for plantings and design features. We are absolutely thrilled with Elaine's work, and absolutely loved working with her. She's a joy to partner with, is practical and efficient, and her fees are extremely reasonable. Thank you for everything, Elaine! read more

Elaine Tong and her hardworkinf crew did an excellent job transforming our front yard from a chronic eyesore into a beautiful, inviting area which now also showcases our house's architecture. She understands plants, colors, root issues, and also practical issues such as punctuality for busy working people. Before she started the job, after consultation with me regarding my interests ( I wanted easy care landscaping requiring little water) she drew up several different options to scale on a computer so I had a good idea of how things would look with each. Every time I come home now my mood gets better when I see the work she has done. I hope to hire her for our back yard too in the near future. read more

Elaine was referred to me by a friend. She is very easy to work with, very responsive and gets the work done quickly. She did a design plan for our backyard and we love it. We can't wait to get started on the project. I highly recommend her if you are thinking of doing landscaping work. read more

Elaine provided a landscape design for our home. There were many considerations and more than the typical amount of issues, including odd shaped yard, privacy concerns, drainage issues, overgrown trees, and even gophers. Working through those challenges, she was methodical in her approach, weighed various options, and eventually came up with a design that addressed all concerns. She is easy to work with and knowledgeable about plants, trees, hardscape materials, and how to combine them into a cohesive design. I appreciated the fact that her approach is to provide landscaping solutions that will last many years, not just look good at the beginning, and she was able to balance our preferences with the practical needs of the property. read more

Elaine Tong and her hard working, dependable crew did a complicated, big job replacing 2 rotten decks plus adding retaining walls. The carport redwood deck was replaced first. Then the back deck and courtyard demolished and completely redone with a drought and deer resistant garden with forest paths. The creative design, good communication with all, great follow through, and decent cost for wonderful results was beyond our expectations. Elaine is a joy to work with and will hire them again. Thanks again, Loretta S. read more

Awesome, wonderful so pleased. My designer listened, brought her expertise and delivered a front yard design that makes me happy everyday. I get a lot of compliments as well. Don't go it alone , use them! read more

I found Elaine after almost six months of trying to get someone to come help with the small backyard of our townhouse. I contacted gardener after gardener, and almost no one bothered to respond to my requests for information. Those who did weren't accepting new clients. So, from the start, Elaine was a blessing. She was ready to work immediately and developed a comprehensive plan that made sense for the space and took into account our desire to have low-maintenance, drought-resistant plantings. As we moved forward, our HOA got involved and made the process something of a nightmare, but Elaine stuck to it and worked with them to make sure we were able to finish the project. She always communicated with us, took care of all the details, made sure the landscaping team was doing what needed to be done. And we ended up with a gorgeous back yard that has made the whole house a much nicer place to be. I would absolutely recommend Elaine to anyone - she's a delight to work with, and her work is fantastic. Thank you, Elaine! read more

Summit Landscaping did an incredible job on my front yard project I had a front entryway that was not very inspired and asked Elaine to come up with some ideas to make it inviting and beautiful. She came out in record time and worked with me, offering many creative ideas. She really listened to me on what I did and didn't want for my entryway and came up with a plan that worked within my budget. Her bid was very clear as to what she'd be doing, and how long it would take. And she and her crew exceeded my expectations. From beginning to end, they were professional, responsive, and followed through on everything that was promised. I love coming home to my beautiful garden, and spend much more time now in this happy place that she has created for me. I highly recommend Summit Landscaping! read more

I worked with Elaine on multiple small-to- medium projects over the years, including most recently the patio rock garden featured in her photos. The pictures don't do it justice - it's a spectacular re-use of a forgotten steep slope outside our sun-room, and makes us feel good each time we step out or come home. We've had neighbors driving out of their way to admire it, and one told me that it belonged in Sunset magazine. Elaine has a great eye for colors, knowledge of plants, use of space, and great instincts for what people want and need. She has past experience with premier corporate retail design projects, and it really shows in the thorough and professional quality of her proposals and the follow through to make sure things get done right. Her crews have been dependable and the costs reasonable. All I can say more is, you could not make a better choice ! read more