PLUMAGES

I had Mike out two times in two years to help me design my perennial gardens both in the front yard and all along the perimeter of our back yard. Each visit was $100. Mike took the time and great care to listen to what I wanted and then spent a bit of time looking over the gardens and coming up with a beautiful sketch. He detailed what plants to put together to have a balanced garden all season long. I have been enjoying putting these gardens together and they look great.

Excellent: Mike does excellent work in creating landscape plans (usually on the spot!), executing them, and answering questions associated and unassociated with those plans. He is very reasonable, courteous, and has very good follow-through. Mike noticed and pointed out that part of one of the trees was rotting so we had it removed (by a tree removal firm). He was correct and saved us future grief. When creating his plans, he utilized plants already on premises as much as possible (at our request) and helped to relocate them as needed. We chose to get the vast majority of plants/bushes ourselves, which saved money over the usual cost of a landscapng project. Mike took special care when installing the plants/bushes, removed some rocky soil in our garden (part of it was formerly landscaped with rocks), and all in all did a great job. We have received many compliments on our yard, one of our friends now uses him, and another has asked for his name. He even answered some Q's about some of the birds in our yard, as he's an ornithologist. His landscape plans are not fancy (no expensive brochures/drawings), and his very reasonable prices reflect that. We used him once again this summer (May-June 2010) to create a plan for a smaller part of our garden and he did great work at a reasonable price. We're already thinking of calling him again to modify part of our garden.

They were great. I liked his thoroughness, he took a lot of time looking around our yard. I didn't go with him because of the price.

Absolutely perfect! Mike was a pleasure to work with, always on-time, and delivered well beyond expectations. No unpleasant surprises! We have landscaping we love, and we are enjoying it every day! Mike continues to survey the landscape when in the area and provide feedback on how the new plants are doing. Mike Spravka gets my strongest recommendation.

Wonderful. Mike is amazing. He has lots of creative ideas and is very, very knowledgeable. He came back again to show me how to prune. That was another two hours and $50 more. Again well worth it. I highly recommend Mike!

We were THRILLED with Mike - I honestly cannot say enough good things about him. I see it being a long term relationship and that we will keep calling him back out every few-5 yrs to review how things are going. His knowledge is amazing, super professional, very friendly and easy to work with

Very pleased with the look of the plants he suggested and the placement. When I brought the plan to the nursery, they were very impressed with his drawing - said it was better than many they had seen. I have suggested this company to my friends.

Overall, this was a very positive experience and well worth the modest investment. Mike knows a lot and is very generous in sharing it.

Mike did not do the work himself but supervised the work of Rent-a-Gardner. Their original quote was a little high for us, but Mike was able to work with us and them to do the work in a shorter period of time which allowed for a lower price. The work was extensive and of very high quality. Mike is still going to come out and do a walk through, even after we have paid, to explain all the plants and trees we have on our property. We just moved into a new home and the landscaping was let go for the past year, so there was a lot of work to be done. Everything looks great.

We have a huge corner lot that has been overwhelming to maintain since we moved in over two years ago. The previous owners apparently believed that every border or edge of the property must be overflowing with plants and trees so we were spending our weekends just barely beating back the growth. We called Mike to help us decide what to do with the landscape and he agreed to come on the following Saturday. He showed up right on time and we began walking the property. My wife took notes while I videotaped so we wouldn't forget any details. Mike's knowledge of plants and trees is amazing. He knew every detail about every living thing on our property and gave us great ideas on which were keepers and which could be transplanted, given awaay or disposed of. He agreed that it was too much for us to maintain as is so he showed us how to eliminate trouble spots and at the same time dramatically improve the look of the landscaping. Mike spent over two and a half hours with us and we couldn't be happier with the results. We now feel like we have a doable plan and it was so comforting to have a professional give us "permission" to get rid of all the plants and beds that were giving us such headaches. And on top of all that Mike is just a really nice guy who doesn't talk down to novices (like us).

They were very nice. They did very satisfactory work. The young man, who came out, was professionally qualified in landscaping. Besides that, he was very informative and he worked with us very well. We didn’t have a huge amount of money to spend, but he worked just right along with all we wanted. If we needed him to come back, he didn’t have any problems. His prices were very reasonable. We don’t think that he overcharged us at all. The quality of his work was great. Everything he planted looks great now. He asked us what we wanted and that is exactly what he gave us. It was a very satisfactory experience.

Mike was very thorough and patient in developing the design, spending about an hour and a half going over the property, soliciting my likes and dislikes (I'm not into heavy duty plant maintenance and I wanted some very fragrant flowering plants), making recommendations as to color, height, contrast and complementarity with the house, and drawing the design (in the tiniest print you have ever seen) in an initial visit. The actual work was done with Mike supervising a crew of 4 in a day. It was significant. See my report on Rent A Gardner for comments on the crew which was also exceptionally good. I wanted to be there when the planting was done and I was very appreciative of Mike's willingness to answer questions.

Fantastic! Mike is extremely knowledgeable and helpful. He listens to your ideas and needs and incorporates those into your plan. He uses your existing plants as much as you'd like. He is very responsive and open to follow up questions and calls. I sent him an email a few weeks after our consultation with a question about something I found in my tree and he called me back with information identifying the pest and how to take care of it. He is extremely nice, knowledgeable and helpful. I will (and have!) recommend him to my friends.

He is amazing. He is very generous with his time, is attentive to our specifications, and has great prices. I would highly recommend him to others. He gets an A+.

Work was done professionally and on schedule.

Mike does superb work and is unbelievably knowledgeable. He has a great reputation in the landscape community and it's well deserved. I loved the design he did. He took my concerns and wove them into a beautiful plan.

They did the work in one day. The work they did was very good. They had good presentation. They did a professional job with the cleanup and then also did a good job at hauling it away. The clean up was done so well that you could not even tell they were here. He is very knowledge about planting and what should be planted and what climate the plants need. He is a certified arborist.

Mike showed up on time and started by evaluating the two large old trees we asked about. He said that one just needed to be pruned and then it should be able to survive the construction damage to its roots. Mike gave us advice on how to help that tree continue to thrive. He explained that the other tree in question would not survive as its roots were too severely damaged. He then walked around our house with us and talked to us about other trees in our yard. He talked about how to best deweed and maintain our lawn. He was extremely helpful and knowledgeable! He also told us that we can call him in the future to ask advice about future trees we may want to plant. Finally, Mike provided a recommendation for a tree specialists to remove the one tree.

Mike did an initial analysis of our landscape, then drew up a plan based on what he knows and what we have in mind. He also gave us the name of someone we could contact to order the plants, and along the way gave about a million specifics about different plants and trees and their needs and advantages/disadvantages. I cannot overemphasize what a nice person he is and how great he is to work with. I would highly recommend him to anyone who needs advice/guidance in landscaping and wants to work with a true professional who knows what he is talking about but is really thoughtful and respectful of those who are "novices." We were shocked by the LOW fee that he charged and it was only at our insistence that we paid him more than he had asked.

Mike developed a great plan that was well thought out and easy for the landscaper to execute.

This is the second time Mike has helped us. We are very happy with the advice and plans he gave us. Mike is extremely knowledgeable and helpful. We highly recommend him.

They were extremely pleasant to work with and easy to get a hold of. They are cheaper than most companies. Mike Sprauka is a very patient man, and he is also very knowledgeable about trees and shrubs. He also spends a lot of time with the clients checking their needs and wants.

Mike was wonderful; he answered all my questions, and made many great observations. I don't pretend to know a lot about plants or how to care for them, so his suggestions and tips were greatly appreciated. He is extremely knowledgeable and very personable. He left me with a drawn out plan for the yard, as well as a helpful plant catalog to look up his suggestions. His price is unbelievable as well. I can't believe the amount of expertise and information I got for $75. I will definitely have him out again when we move into Phase 2 of our lawn revamp, and I highly recommend his services.

Bottom line, Mike was absolutely AMAZING. It is such a pleasure to work with someone who actually listens and factors in your wants/expectations into his work. Mike spent the time discussing each plant and reason for it's selection for the yard. He also suggested which current plantings should go (or keep) depending on their health/benefit to the yard. Mike was very informative about the trees/plants/expectations and was ready to offer advice on each. It was such a pleasure working with him! I will definitely use his services in the future!

He was very knowledgeable about plants. He was very thoughtful about what I asked for. He was out for several hours and presented me with a design for a remarkably low price. He placed the plants out for me when my gardener came out.