JULIE ORR DESIGN

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Julie was very professional and punctual. She took our input and adjusted it nicely. She spent about 2 hours with us on site doing her rough drawings. Soon after, she emailed 2 optional designs which we had printed at Fed Ex. We were able to take the design to our concrete contractor and he did the work. We haven't put in the plants yet, as we plan to do that in the future.

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We hired Julie for an Express Garden design a year ago, and found her great to work with. She put in an enormous amount of time and effort on our project and had some fantastic ideas for making our yard a real show piece (neighbors still stop to admire!) We used her contractor, Southbay Design for the installation. Although they weren't the quickest, they were such wonderful, courteous guys and clearly care about their workmanship. With the horrible freeze this winter we lost quite a few plants (can't blame Julie for the weather however). We also recently hired Julie's recommended garden service (Julia Powers). Julia mentioned our plant loss to Julie, and she came right out (at no additional fee) to recommend replacements. She clearly cares about her customers and about making your yard a place of beauty.

Variety of good ideas, but took several conversations to and quot;hearand quot; our feedback. Final product is very good and we are happy with it.

But her service is rather rigid: she gives you only one revision and makes you have a decision within 10 days. When I asked her more detailed information about the plants, she apologized and said she couldn't provide that information. I felt for $1600 she should have provided additional information that I requested. To be fair, she delivered her design. But I would not recommend her if you need to work with someone who is responsive and flexible. So, I will not use her again or recommend her to others.

I took advantage of Julie's one day landscape design program. It's actually more than one-day but only one day of face time. Julie interviewed us over the phone about what we were looking for in a design, assigned us some homework to find landscapes that spoke to us online or in magazines (so we could show her). When she arrived, we toured the property and she verified our measurements and then she had lots more questions for us that made us think harder about what we wanted out of the space and what our future plans for it might hold. She asked questions and made suggestions regarding aspects we had never even considered. By the time she left we had a printable file with dimensions, plant suggestions, a list of reccommended nurseries and hardscapers. We were able to follow her plans and continued to learn from them. Her specific suggestions within varietal families were spot on. We had trouble finding a few so substituted and later went back and found the ones she suggested because they worked much better for our space. Since she worked with us she's kept us on her mailing list which is about bi-monthly and gives tips and ideas that have allowed us to relandscape a second space with much more ease and confidence. I got the impression that Julie would be fantastic for bigger jobs where she would oversee the whole process. However, for the DIY folks who want to do something, but aren't exactly sure where to start, go straight to Julie, and go before you start work. If I'd talked to Julie in the spring she would have saved me days of labor and a lot of money in showing me how to sheet mulch instead of ripping up sod.

Julie came to the house and designed first the front yard and returned again when we decided to have her design a plan for the back yard. Julie is wonderful! She is efficient, asks all the right questions and really listens. She wanted to know about budget, colors, types of plants we liked and didn't like and what type of environment we were looking for, especially for the back yard. She sketched out the design while at our home, reviewed the plants with us, making changes based upon our input. She was at our house each time about 4 -5 hours. I also appreciated that after the initial design of the front yard was completed, we changed our mind about part of the concept. Julie came out and made changes based on our concerns at no additional charge. She also came out again to help with the placing of the plants. We are so pleased with the plant selection and highly recommend Julie's service.

Did not in fact hire her.

I have a townhouse with a small patio and garden area, and I wanted to get ideas for ways to make the most of the small space which I use as an outdoor living/dining room for nearly half the year. Julie had me do "homework' before she came, sketching my garden area, listing what was important to me, colors I liked, what I wanted, etc,etc. Then she came spent several hours at my house reviewing the space, talking with me, and ultimately developing a design. She came up with several ideas that I hadn't thought of - making an espallier trellis to grow lemon and lime trees in a narrow garden space; building in two large redwood planting beds; and taking out part of the concrete patio to enlarge the garden space. Working with her got me out of the rut of planting the same plants all the time. She also recommended a place to buy a new fountain and a landscaper. I waited to write this review until I had implemented her plans - I am VERY happy with the results!!

Julie Orr was very responsive to our wishes and made several changes to the design based on our feedback. She waited patiently while we slowly completed the various stages of the design and came out to supervise on the final planting day, which was two years later! During that time she was a resource for additional questions and recommendations.

Julie came to our home and worked with us to quickly understand what we were looking for from a landscape layout and plant perspective. Within a few hours Julie provided - on the spot - an AutoCAD generated PDF of a design we worked together to define, as well as a detailed inventory of plants tailored to our needs. We were then able to provide these documents to a landscaping company as a useful project planning and costing reference. We're very happy with Julie's work, and the final product that was produced from it.

Julie brought her mobile workstation to my home and spent approximately 4 hours designing a new "woodland garden" backyard using native plants. Julie quickly assessed my needs and was able to provide the desired landscape plan. Watching Julie work was as entertaining as Iron Chef, as she quickly translated my thoughts into a beautiful design.

She spent a lot of time meeting with us and talking to us, understanding what we wanted. The plans look good.

My partner and I had been living in our condo for about three years, despairing of a dark, ugly backyard full of weeds, ants, a rotting deck, a dead tree and a giant air conditioning unit. We never really used the space, but we were determined that this summer we would. A quick search of Yelp and Angie's List lead us to Julie Orr Design. From her website, it sounded like a good fit--we were looking for something drought tolerant, easy to maintain, and that fit our lifestyle and our budget. We opted for the Express Garden service. Julie gave us some great homework to do to help her zero into our style and our requirements. We then spent an afternoon with Julie and her computer designing the space. First thing to go was the deck, which made our small backyard seem even smaller. We were going for a modern look, so she created this cool space with really large (24"x24") pavers and gravel, with three different focal points. She understood what we wanted, gently challenged us on our knee-jerk reactions, understood what excited us. In the end, we have a space that we use a lot (although we probably would have used it more if the summer hadn't been so cold). During the install, she worked with our contractor to make sure the vision was taking shape, to confirm the plants were in good condition, and to make last-minute adjustments. We were in great hands from start to finish. During the summer, one of our neighbors cut down a tree that had been shading our yard, so some of our shade/partial shade plants started to suffer. We called Julie in again for a check-in. We're going to move a couple of plants, replace a couple of others that don't like the new sun/shade mix. Plus, she gave us some ideas for containers and things to do in the fall. In all, we couldn't be happier, and we have a modern garden space that fits us and that we enjoy using. Quite a change from last year. And we're looking forward to next year after everything has had a chance to grow in. I highly recommend working with Julie to help bring the design of your yard into focus, especially if you are looking for creative ways to incorporate sustainable, native, or drought tolerant plants into the mix. She's great.

Julie is an expert in native and drought-tolerant plants. She was a great resource in the selection. She spent the first visit just assessing, measuring, and consulting with us, then a second visit finalizing selections and placement of plants. We ordered all plants through her, and she placed them all for us so we could get our poor friends to help plant them! We are very happy with the overall look of the final product.

Julie’s attention to detail is highly appreciated; she delivered within budget and on time. Easy to work with.

The experience was professional, reasonable in price, and gave us an understanding of how we could proceed.