Botany of Design

In February, I verbally contracted with Lisa/​BoD for «WEEKLY fine pruning and yard maintenance» on a monthly basis, for an initial ‘trial’ period of the remainder of 2014. I was initially very frustrated by her seemingly slow pace of work, but I learned to accept it as my plants and yard took a new shape. Communication with Lisa was ‘interesting’ — if I was home when she was there it was not a problem, she was seemingly NOT reachable by phone, and email was replied to at HER convenience… I had an ‘additional garden project’ that I asked for Lisa’s help/​referral with, and while her referral (Raul) came out to bid the project (which I accepted), he never came to do the work??? Lisa advised me BY EMAIL a few weeks before she took two weeks vacation — during the MIDDLE of the summer (when I, my family and friends are more predominantly enjoying our yard) — and upon her return, I paid her for the weeks she had been present during the month. She was «extremely offended», stating that 1. She was «a Landscape Architect, not just a gardner!», 2. Comparing her employment with me, to my employment with my company, stating «don’t you get two weeks paid vacation at your job?» — which is somewhat irrelevant because in my experience, contract employees performing manual labor get paid only when they are present to perform work, and 3. Giving me essentially «immediate 30 days services termination notice». We had some further cordial communication — me asking her to make sure she completed deadheading five crêpe myrtles (which she understood/​agreed to), and her re-​stating her notice and final payment request (which I understood/​agreed to). It’s unfortunate and disappointing that Lisa/​BoD did not uphold her end of our ‘service termination agreement’ — even having been paid in full, and receiving a cordial follow up/​reminder email.
From my experience — before engaging services with Lisa/​BoD, I would suggest having a DETAILED WRITTEN contract, and I strongly suggest NOT TO AGREE to the ‘auto-​withdrawal-​payment-​system’ that she had initially requested I participate in.

We worked with Botany of Design for our home backyard design and were very pleased with the process and results. They listened well, understood our needs, and applied their expertise to ultimately provide us a design that was a work of art. The design that was executed truly created an «experience» in our backyard combining form, function, and natural beauty which transformed a boring space into a dynamic, stylin’, and highly usable area. Go for it and work with Botany of Design!

We hired Lisa in 2012 to redo our front yard. She came up with a very lovely design that incorporated low water plants, a fountain, and some large rocks. The yard went from an eyesore to being incredibly beautiful and inviting. We liked it so much that we just finished working with her to landscape the back yard.
Lisa is incredibly easy to work with – she is very kind and very attentive to requests and ideas. She took all of our requests, wacky ideas, wants, and needs and turned them into something beautiful and enchanting, but also practical. My husband likes a more formal English-​style garden, while I wanted something weird and a little wild that would attract birds and insects. She did a great job of balancing our two styles to create something that we both adore. She also recommended a great contractor and worked with him to make sure our garden came to life as we expected. Our back yard is now my favorite retreat and I have Lisa to thank for it. I highly recommend talking to her!

Alison designed the front and backyards from a blank slate on a house we were remodeling and putting up for sale. She helped us stay within a reasonable budget and worked well with the landscape contractor. She is very easy to work with, creative and personable. She has good listening skills and blended our ideas with her creative concepts. Her plant and tree choices mixed well with the architecture of the home and gave it exceptional curb appeal. We recommend her!

We really enjoyed working with Alison and are very happy with the garden she designed. She had lots of good ideas and worked with me to incorporate my preferences. We’ve had to replace a few plants that couldn’t tolerate our sunny yard, but are very satisfied overall with Alison and BoD.

We have a beautiful low water garden thanks to BoD. Lisa is really terrific and cares about her clients, and was a terrific intermediary with our contractor.