PLUMAGES

I'm very pleased with his expertise and attention to detail. He's very conscientious.

It was wonderful. You cannot beat the price for this amazing service that Mike performs. He is a genius when it comes to trees, plants, flowers etc.… He knows when they bloom how big they get what conditions they like best and what colors will look best together.

Mike and his team arrived on time, put tarps and ply-wood down so neighbor's grass wouldn't be damaged, and supervised plantings and trimmed large trees. Everything was cleaned up at the end of the day, virtually transforming our yard. We're absolutely ecstatic. Highly recommend Plumages!

Mike has a rare gift of vast technical expertise blended with artistic vision. His designs are thoughtfully planned, taking into consideration location, light source, soil condition, sight lines, as well as client preferences. Each design provides visual color and texture interest spanning all seasons. Over the years, I have worked with several landscape providers. None of them has come close to the knowledge, quality, and thoughtfulness that Mike provides. He not only leaves his clients with beautiful landscaping, but an education as to how to care for it. He does numerous follow-up visits to see that everything continues to thrive. Mike is a man of high standards and integrity. Our family has personally had a difficult year touched by deep sadness. To begin each day looking out on a lovely garden landscape is a source of comfort and hope. Thank you, Mike.

. It would be an understatement to say that Mike is the consummate professional and outstanding to work with. He has helped us before and everything that he did in the past worked beautifully. His knowledge base is incredible but he is very humble and simply shares what he knows in a quiet and thoughtful way. In addition to educating us about what we have in our yard and how we can best care for and improve upon it, he had specific tips about placement of plants and the impact of the trees on other plantings. Mike takes his time: you can tell that he really cares about what he does and he wants to do everything he can to help each customer. It's clear that he takes pride in his work and he is constantly trying to learn new things that will make him even better than before at what he does (which is an incredibly high standard to begin with). We feel very fortunate to have found him and would recommend him to anyone- he's just excellent. I do need to add that in our opinion he charges only a fraction of what his services are worth- the times we've had him work for us we always choose to pay him more than he is charging because he provides a much more valuable service than the figure that he comes up with! This is not an experience we have had with other service providers, and he's- the best.

Wow. Wow again. Mike is the man you want for a customized landscape design, based on his extensive knowledge of plants, bushes and trees that grow well in the Chicago area (coming from years of experience at the Arboretum). Mike's design costs are very reasonable, and he will draw a design for you the same day of your discussion. That can be the limit of his work, or he can coordinate with Rent-a-Gardener to do install work to your scope and budget. Mike supervised a crew for me for one 8-hour day, and in that period, completely re-did my landscaping front and back. The crew is amazingly fast, and Mike is continually directing the effort for efficiency and quality. It's like your best friend is installing your landscaping for you. If you need landscaping advice or help, stop reading now and call Mike. You won't regret it.

We contacted Mike Spravka at the suggestion of Arun Aggarwal of RentAGardener Landscaping (see separate review). The rear area of our yard backs up to older tree growth, including black walnut trees known to release a toxin through their root systems. Previous plantings had not survived. During our consultation with Mike, he carefully studied the area and listened to our concerns and preferences. He studied the area at great length, giving thoughtful consideration to the surrounding trees, light source, and soil condition. He then drew up a plan which included arborvitae, a Canadian Hemlock, 2 hydrangeas, as well as numerous perennials, ferns, small shrubs and grasses. He allowed space for seasonal decorative pots as well. He also designed a small area for the front of the home with a vine and other plants. Before the landscape project was done, Mike stopped by to observe the cable markings and how they might affect the plant locations. On the day of installation, Mike was at the site the entire time managing the crew, overseeing the installation, checking the soil condition and making any necessary amendments, re-checking the sight lines from the house, and directing final plant placement. He also gave us information on watering and future plant care. In the days following the project completion, Mike has stopped by several times to check on everyone's satisfaction -- ours and the plants! He truly wants his landscape designs to be a success for his clients as well as creating an environment for the plants to thrive. His knowledge of plants and trees is amazing. What a joy it is to look out at our new landscape area! It's been a pleasure working with Mike and RentAGardener. Mike is thoughtful, conscientious, and very creative. We look forward to working with Mike again and highly recommend him to others.

Perfect...very punctual and did an outstanding job! The landscaping is beautiful and look forward to working with Mike in the future for all my landscaping needs. Incredible value! Thank you Mike!

I was referred to them by and quot;Rent a Gardenerand quot;, who use Plumages for design work. Spoke to them on 5/21/13. Was told they would call me back later that week. They never called back. I suppose I could have persisted in calling them, but another contractor that I found on homeadvisor.com responded in one day, visited two days later, provided an estimate and got the job. It cost far more than I wanted, but I needed the work done before summer. Other contractors I contacted at least had the courtesy to say they weren't interested. My advice is that if you need garden landscaping work done you have to start contacting contractors late in the winter before they book up.

Mike is very knowledgeable of landscape design and the best plantings for the location and setting. Our landscape looks beautiful, and it is thriving!

After a second phone call, Mike called me back, and after talking for about twenty minutes, I liked what he had to say and decided to have him come out to do a consultation. My wife and I wanted some landscaping ideas and were interested in having the help of an experienced designer/arborist. The consultation was not for free - it would be between $75 - $100 (approximately $30/hr), which we felt was reasonable. Initially, there were some delays on Mike's part, but, eventually we were able to schedule an appointment. Mike was very patient with us, and even walked with us to different homes in our neighborhood so we could show him other people's landscaping choices that we liked. He is very knowledgeable and friendly. While on site, he drew up a very detailed diagram with his ideas (based on our criteria and feedback). This diagram/plan is exactly what we wanted. He spent about 3.5 hours with us on a Sunday afternoon and charged us $90. We decided to have the job quoted. As stated above, Mike does not do the work himself - he works with a Rent-A-Gardner outfit in Aurora. Once we received and reviewed the quote from Rent-A-Gardner, we decided to have the work done. Mike likes to have someone at home during the implementation of the work in case of unexpected surprises/complications. That way a decision can be made on the spot. I agree with his thinking, but, between that constraint, his other commitments, Rent-A-Gardner's schedule, and the weather, it can take awhile to get the work scheduled. In our case, it took just over 3 weeks, but, Mike did call us regularly to keep us up to date. Mike also took the time to come by the site before the scheduled work day to double-check everything. On the day of the work, Mike was present most of the time, supervising the Rent-A-Gardner employees to make sure the work was executed to plan. He charged us $135.00 for the 4.5 hours he was on site. We are very happy with how it turned out, and we appreciated Mike's attention to detail (a tree was being planted close to the house, and he personally picked out a tree that has a pleasing shape that won't interfere with the house as it grows). Because there is a sub-contractor involved, scheduling the work is a little more complicated, and you have to pay two invoices instead of one, but, these are minor issues. We will be working with Mike again in the future, and highly recommend him. Also, to be complete, the cost of the job from Rent-A-Gardner was $2500.00 (materials and labor). So, altogether we paid $2725.00. We may have been able to get the work done for a little less, but, not without the peace of mind that Mike provided. I will post a good review for Rent-A-Gardner as well.

I have hired Mike to work with installation crews several times over the the last 3 years. He is a detail-oriented, professional provider who always has my best interest in mind. The July 3-4, 2013, installation was no different than the other experiences I have had. I just couldn't be more pleased. Mike came out before the crew arrived to walk around my yard with me to make sure he understood exactly what I wanted accomplished. On July 3, 2013, it started to rain and was not going to let up. He called the project after an hour instead of plowing ahead in undesirable conditions. Mike and the crew were at my home again at 8:00 a.m. on July 4, 2013, and concentrated on completing the project to my satisfaction. To say my yard rocks would be an understatement. Mike's main focus was to make me a satisfied customer. He accomplished that goal 100%. I have complete trust in Mike's expertise and artistic eye. He is an integrated landscape designer and a total plant health care specialist. Mike's calm countenance and professional demeanor is assuring during trouble-shooting situations. He is prompt to answer phone calls/e-mails and always responds promptly. I highly recommend Mike Spravka's and quot;Plumagesand quot; business. I will have no landscaping done without his involvement.

This is the second time we have utilized Mike's services and expertise. First time was last Fall and after seeing the wonderful results blooming this Spring, we asked him to embellish the beds a bit and add some news things as he saw fit. His knowledge is encyclopedic....he knows exactly what color will bloom and when it will bloom and he designed the beds accordingly. He tried to ascertain our line of vision from several windows and sought to put our favorite colors where we would have to pleasure of seeing them many times a day. He is a pleasure to work with and is very sensitive to the client's needs and desires. He is thorough, professional, and creative. We could not be more happy with the results, and look forward to having him do more work as needs dictate in the future.

Mike came over to my new house and walked the entire yard with me and explained in detail the types of trees and shrubs in my yard and how to care for them. He game me great ideas for improving and maintaining the yard and showed an impressive depth of knowledge. Would definitely call again.

I called Plumages and spoke with Mike Spravka. I explained basically what I wanted done. Mike and I set a date to look over our property. Mike suggested the rose bushes, the ground cover, the type of maple tree, described the type of crew he would need and generally everything that would be done. I needed quite a bit of landscaping work done as described above. We decided on May 23rd to have the work done. Mike and his crew showed up right on time and worked straight through an eight hour day, finishing everything we had discussed. I feel I could not have had a better landscaper. I would recommend Mike and Plumages to anyone.

I gave Mike Spravka (Plumages) a call to see if he could come out, take a look at my property, and draw up a fairly complete landscape design that would include the back and side yards, as well as adding a little more to what the builder provided in the front yard. I was only interested in plants at this time; no hardscaping. He returned my call later that same night, which was great. We talked for probably almost 30 minutes on the phone. He explained his background and then asked me all sorts of questions about what I was looking for. I told him I wanted to have a yard that would be colorful and interesting all year long and that would also attract birds. In addition, I wanted to have screening for the neighbors' houses. We arranged a time later that next week for him to come out. He was right on time, and after giving me a resume and business card we started walking around the property. He commented on some of the plants the builder had put in. Specifically he thought the river birch they installed was too close to the house and would be a problem in a few years, so he suggested I move it further away from the house while it was easy to do since the builder had only just installed everything a few months earlier (right before the winter). He also thought I should move a couple of the somewhat plain viburnum the builder installed to the side of the house so I could put something more ornamental in their place. After taking a look around outside, checking the views from where my patio would eventually be, and checking the lighting and soil we went inside and Mike asked if I could walk him around inside the house and show him which views were important to me. So in each room I pointed out what I would like (eg. screening in some areas, something nice to look at in another, etc.). Mike also asked me to let him know if there were any specific trees/shrubs that I liked which he should include. After that Mike got to work. He would go outside for a while and draw some things up, and occasionally stop back in the house to check the views again, ask me questions, or show me his progress. When he was finally done he had three pages of extremely detailed drawings showing where all the plants would go based on each fence section where possible to make it easy. For each plant he described the specific variety, sizes, colors, times of year it would be in bloom, and any other significant attribute. The plans had 22 trees, 37 shrubs/grasses, 13 perennials, 5 groups of annuals, and also incorporated some other plants that my mom was going to be giving me from her yard. We went over every detail of the plan, with Mike explaining why he made the choices he did. I thought the plan was great. It satisfied everything I was looking for and more. I had originally thought about doing all the installation myself, but 22 trees was going to be too much for me, especially since I was looking to get some decent sized ones to start with that would require several people to get into place. So I decided to have someone else install the trees, and I would do the shrubs and flowers myself. I asked Mike if he had any suggestions on landscape installers, and he referred me to Rent-A-Gardener. He regularly works with Arun from Rent-A-Gardener, and said he had trained many of the workers on the best way to install new plants. So later on he coordinated with Arun to get me some quotes on the installation. Mike also gave me some recommendations for local nurseries where I could get good quality shrubs, grasses and flowers that I would be installing myself. I did end up using Rent-A-Gardener for the tree installation, and also had Mike there to supervise the installation to make sure everything was done right. He did a great job overseeing the installation, making sure to position everything just the right way and making sure the workers were doing things right. He also checked all the trees to make sure they were good quality (which they were) and that they didn't have any pests. Every now and then he would stop in to ask my opinion on some things. We ended up making a few changes to the plan and even adding a couple of extra trees. Mike took care of coordinating everything with Arun, so adding the extra trees, changing the type of one of the trees, getting extra mulch, etc, was no work at all for me. I would highly recommend having Mike supervise the installation. Mike ended up spending about 6 hours at my house on that first day, including the time to walk around, talk about what I wanted, and to draw up the designs. He charges $30/hour, so the total was $180. That's a great price for the scope of the design and the level of detail. And you get to keep the drawings to do whatever you wish with them. You don't have to agree to do an installation like some other designers require. And he says you can call him whenever you want with any questions you may have. The rate was also $30/hour for supervising the landscape installation. I think he could definitely charge more for the level of expertise he provides. So overall I was very impressed with Mike. I have already gotten many compliments on my yard. His level of knowledge of trees, shrubs, flowers, etc, is amazing. He's very easy to talk to, very responsive, and very conscientious in coming up with a design that satisfies your requirements. And as mentioned he's a bit of a perfectionist in making sure things are installed just right. I would highly recommend him for your landscape design.

It went very well. Mike was able to come to my house on a Saturday, so I didn't need to take time off of work. We had to reschedule a couple of times because of weather. Mike was very good about calling me to discuss the rescheduling ahead of time. I was amazed at the quality of the plan he drew for the front yard landscaping. I'm looking forward to implementing the plan as soon as the weather permits.

This was the second consecutive summer that we have had Plumages (Mike Spravka) design landscaping and supervise the install for us. Again, we could not be more pleased. He designed the landscaping about one month before the install, and managed getting the quotes from landscape installers. The install came off exactly as planned, in one day. The design works, aesthetically, and horticulturally, which is to say the plants look great, and thrive, in the locations Mike picks for them; this includes existing plants that were not thriving until transplanted to new locations in the garden by Mike. His after-sale service is the best, bar none. He keeps tabs on the plants when he is in the area, leaves detailed notes on the condition and appropriate care and feeding of the plants. We highly recommend Mike, without reservation.

Mike Spravka is an arborist and an ornithologist with whom I am privileged to work. He came and surveyed the garden; we agreed on what needed to be done and he set about creating a masterpiece out of my very overgrown garden. He weeded, made new pathways, creatively opened up areas in the garden by moving plants. I worked along with him and learned all the names of the weeds we were pulling out as well as the plants we were moving and tending. He collected and bagged all the yard waste and watered all the new plantings before he left. Not only did he give me a beautiful garden, he identified all the birds in my yard as we worked. It was a glorious and exhausting day.

Mike called me within a day or so of getting in touch with him. He talked in detail on the phone about what he does, etc. before he came out. He showed up at my house two days later....on a Sunday.....and spent some time talking about different aspects of the design, types of trees, plants, etc. I really didn't know what I wanted so he came up with a plan. He drew a sketch of the front of my house and marked where I should have certain shrubs, plants, etc. It looked great on paper. He talked about all the different plants and trees and explained all about them. He marked exactly where these different plants should go, and how many I could fit into the space. He also took time to look in my backyard and give me some advice on my lilac bushes and a tree in the backyard. He spent almost two hours at my house and was very personal and easy to talk to. I will definitely use him again when I get around to landscaping the back yard!

Working with Plumages was a great experience! Mike took the time to listen to our needs and goals for our yard and then expertly incorporated them into a beautiful landscape design. He has an extensive knowledge of trees and plants and truly seems to enjoy his work. He did a very thorough job and went above and beyond our expectations. We would encourage anyone looking for a landscape designer to call Plumages. You will not be disappointed.

Fantastic. I could not be more happy (see above).

Mike responded quickly to my phone call. Came out looked at the area I wanted landscaped, talked with me about my likes and dislikes, and drew up a plan immediately. Approved the plan and within two weeks a crew of three installed the plantings. All went well - it looks terrific and I'm very pleased.

I spent $125 on that work. Overall everything was excellent. He did top-notch work and he was extremely reasonably priced. He was also phenomenally knowledgeable. I would tell others to use him without hesitating.

Mike did a GREAT job with listening to our needs, giving a few options for us to choose from for each spot and even helped track down a particular flower that I couldn't find at the local garden centers. His sketches were accurate and listed the common and proper name of each plant. My husband and I then did the planning. We've received so many complements on our landscaping as a result of Mike's plans. I have already recommended Plumages to friends and neighbors.