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!

I had called as well as requested a quote via yelp and didn't get a response. Granted it was over…read morethe holidays, but yelp claims 100% response rate. Tamar later returned my call and was super gracious. It was very nice to speak with her and she was very honest and forthcoming.

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.

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.

Rosemary and her crew have been carefully tending the garden at my job for several years now. They…read moremake great suggestions - adding mulch to cut down on weeding, suggesting when to do pruning, changing the watering system. They have added new plants, trimmed and maintained plants, removed and transplanted plants as necessary. They are careful and consistent. They also consulted with us on how to use the garden to deter break-ins and graffiti and how to make the garden less inviting to homeless folks wanting to sleep there. These may not be issues everywhere but we are right on Telegraph Avenue and have found human excrement and needles in the garden and had graffiti and several robbery attempts. We were very pleased with these lovely suggestions which have been tremendously helpful.

We have a front garden that neighbors love to gaze at as they stride or wander by, and we have Vera…read moreRose Gardens to thank for making it so. And with few rain clouds in the offing, we are comforted by knowing that all the plantings are drought-resistant. Liz McLoughlin & Tom Hall, San Francisco, CA

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.

Miri is priceless. She is extraordinarily knowledgeable about native plants and the creatures that…read moreinhabit native gardens. She takes time to understand the client's needs and what all is involved. She was undaunted by my challenging site in the Oakland hills and her rates are extremely fair.

Cancelled 20 minutes before our schedule appointment because she was tired. I suppose that makes…read moreher honest, but I can't recommend Miri.

Sonia was a great, prompt communicator, and she was incredibly thorough in figuring out our yard…read moreand the kinds of plants and trees we liked before coming up with her beautiful plan. Along the way, she introduced us to a bunch of plants I love that I would have never known about, and was great at incorporating our tweaks and ideas as we finalized everything. When the plan was set, she connected us with a talented landscaper who got everything planted to Sonia's specifications and installed all the irrigation and hardscaping. Redesigning a yard can feel overwhelming (so many decisions!), but Sonia made it easy, and I'm over the moon about the way our yard turned out.

I love my new garden designed by Sonia. The colors blend well and it is beautiful!!! I can't wait…read morefor it to grow. Sonia was precise in planning and managing its' planting. She designed a balance of the plants so it all coordinates.-Very thoughtful!!! It reminds me of a painting -soft, colorful , yet making a statement.

Heidi helped design a new garden for me and provided several affordable options for working with…read moreher. She ended up doing my design and recommending plants and I did the purchasing and installation usingadditional help. Worked out great

We could not be more pleased with Heidi's garden coaching service--she's worth every penny…read more Can a novice research, plan, and install an entire yard without any professional help? Probably, depending on how much time you have to figure it all out. But where we got the most value out of Heidi was in narrowing the field of plants and other features that would suit our property, tastes, and needs, so we could do the work ourselves without having to personally become landscaping experts. In all, I think I can safely say that Heidi has saved us thousands (tens of thousands?) of dollars that we don't have, by guiding us through the process of redoing our yard. She listened carefully to our likes and dislikes, assessed the sunlight, soil, and drainage issues around our property, and came up with lists of appropriate plants and design features that would meet our goals. She was respectful of our interests, and never pushed anything on us that we didn't like. She also has relationships with other pleasant landscaping people, one of whom (irrigation guy Anthony Mattison) was particularly helpful. So now, after a year of working with Heidi, we have redone almost our entire yard (mostly) by ourselves, including flagstone, flower beds, a lawn, irrigation, and so on, and our property is starting to look awesome. Without her, we would probably have made some progress by now, but I shudder to think of all the expensive and time-consuming missteps, mistakes, and regrets we would have had along the way. Highly recommended.