Johnson's Designs

I've worked with Ann over a number of years and could not be happier with her sound advice and approach to landscaping. With the severe drought and impact it has had on water usage, I was looking for someone with extensive knowledge on drought tolerant plants and ways to utilize the mature plants I already had. I've gotten tired of sinking more and more money and effort into maintaining my front lawn. With Ann's help and guidance she has transform my yard into a garden that requires minimal effort and watering while looking better than it ever has. She and her team do great work and have provided me with countless ways to save money while keeping a beautiful garden I can enjoy. That's a hard combination to find!

I had three specific requirements for a new landscape: 1 - Low maintenance (no spraying, no sculpting) 2 - Attract pollinators (hence the no spraying) 3 - Year-round interest with lots of bloom time (need to feed pollinators early spring through late fall) I was referred to Ann Johnson by another landscape designer because I was outside his service area. I contacted Ann Johnson for an estimate for landscape design and installation services. Our initial conversation was pleasant, and she seemed to understand my requirements. She seemed eager to work with me and told me to print a 4-page form from her website, fill it out, and mail it to her. I did as instructed. After she received the form, she called me and said "It looks like you're committed to working with me." I said that I wanted to meet with her first so that she could see the site and give me some ideas of the types of plants she would use and what she might do with the space. She replied, "I don't give free advice!" I told her that I had talked to another designer who had offered to come out and talk to me before making any decisions. Ann Johnson told me, "If you've found somebody who'll give you free advice, then you better go with them. I was doing you a favor anyway. I'm too busy to take on any new clients right now." How on earth do you choose a landscape designer if they won't talk to you about the ideas they have for your site? I have since found a wonderful designer who came out and walked around the site with me, and shared her ideas for certain areas and challenges. She even brought books with pictures of plants and left lists of plants with me so that I could do my own research.

She didn?t stick to her contract and was unable to discuss the adjustments in her contract. She had addition problems with her contract. She admitted that she had problems with the adding and subtracting and therefore she needed additional money. She stated that she had problems determining how much we owed because she was doing more than one job at a time. She would call to check if her workers were here because she wasn?t sure if they were or where they were. She would pay the subcontractors the full amount that we had agreed on. Now she is asking for an additional $8000. She did not build the wall right, and it?s falling down and separating. We had found out afterwards that her license had been revoked. She didn?t know what she was doing. We had soil engineers come out and look at it. They said the work was done all wrongly.