Landscape Design In A Day

The design went incredible. Over the coarse of several hours, and working with Carol, she laid out the plans for an oasis, right down to what plant went where. We followed that design and we now enjoy one of the finest backyard escapes in my entire neighborhood. It is beautiful to the eye, and very relaxing.

Carol was a pleasure to work with. She listened to our concerns and our needs. She helped us come up with a beautiful design for our sloped backyard, and got us in contact with a landscape contractor. Unfortunately, due to the financial costs of landscaping a sloped yard, we can only implement part of her design. Our hope is in the future we can accomplish her full design.

The process started with an interview with Carol on the phone and I completed a packet that she sent me. I also included a number of pictures of gardens so she would be sure and know the style of garden I was wanting. She came to my house and we talked for a little bit but then mostly she worked on her own, bringing me in when she had questions. She stayed for approximately five hours. At the end of that time I thought I had a completed plan for a cottage garden. She also decided at that time to charge me $100 more because it took more time than she had expected. I should've paid more attention because when it came time to actually install the plan it was far from what I thought it would be. There were huge spaces without plants, no layering of plants, nowhere near the plan that I expected. She even had me putting shade plants in the sun. I since then have had to hire another designer to help finish the plan. I spoke to Carol about the plan in length and her solution was that she come out and give me an hour and a half for free. She had been quite defensive and even rude on the phone so decided to decline her offer and requested that she reimburse me some of the money I paid her, but she has not done so. If you were going to do anything more than a simple landscaping I would not use her. I was very disappointed. Also, she referred me to a plant broker, Roger Miller, who brought me dried up and dying plants and when I didn't want pay for them got angry and refused to provide me the rest of my order.

It was great. I'm just sorry it took me a year to write a review! I sent Carol pictures and a few videos of the house and the yard, and we talked on the phone and met for a day-long consultation. I was looking for someone that was interested in thinking outside the box and was excited about it, considering that my property is fairly odd in terms of shape and location. I was also looking for someone that would give me more ideas for the future rather than a detailed plant layout. Before we met in person, I provided her with a sketch and measurements for the yard and during our session we came up with a plan that included not only modifications to the yard, but to the house itself (e.g. adding a patio, changing the front door layout, adding a garage and an ADU). Carol was great to work with from the beginning and a pleasure to share ideas with. She also gave me more suggestions on the phone after a few months when I was looking at ideas for a sloped side ditch in front of the house. I am actually now starting to plan the addition of a garage and ADU, and I will definitely call Carol back to refine our original idea and come up with detail plant layout (and maybe some more ideas on where to locate the garage and ADU and frame them with plants!). She is not only very knowledgeable, but also a delight to have around!

I was impressed with her knowledge of plants and what would look good where. We have not put the entire design into place yet (lack of funds at this time), but are going little by little..

It went excellently. She did a great job. She came over and spent a couple of hours in our yard. She did more than I have been able to in the last few years. She gave great guidance and helped us form a focal point for our great big yard. She gave us a plan where we could have a focal point in one weekend. It made my husband look like a garden god. We knew what the price would be, and it was exactly that. She even called us to make sure our plants were okay afterward. We had a big heat wave right after and she let us know what to do to protect the new plants. It was above and beyond.

Carol Lindsay was wonderful to work with. She understood my goals. Prior to our 3-hour session, I drew out the yard and the current plants and mailed it to her. I also sent her photos of the yard from several angles. Prior to our meeting, we talked on the phone and by e-mail. She answered my questions about a couple of plants that I already have. Carol also googled my address to get an idea of the size and shape of the yard. On the day of our session, Carol presented the draft of the new landscape design. Then we spent over two hours walking through the yard and talking about all of the options, my concerns and how I would implement the changes. To conclude the visit, Carol updated the plan for the changes that we had agreed on. We talked about the various plants and which particular versions of each type of plant would work best with my design. I plan on hiring Carol to return next summer after the changes have been implemented so that we can talk more about long-term maintenance of the completed yard. I thoroughly enjoyed working with Carol and learned a lot in the process!

We enjoyed Carol very much. We were impressed that she seemed to 'get us' right away as to our style and preferences. She was easy to work with and she addressed all of our concerns. We haven't yet started the project however I feel good about going forward with her designs and her expertise.

The process went great! The designer showed up at the exact time she promised.

From beginning to end Carol was great to work with. She was very responsive to our inquiries and really worked collaboratively with us on our new design. I loved the opportunity to do a lot of the prep work myself to keep the cost reasonable. She gave us a tremendous amount of resources and recommended some great contractors which we ended up using. I recommended her to a friend who had a similarly wonderful experience. I would highly recommend this process over the services where the landscape designer does it all for you.

Carol was very helpful. She spent a whole day watching the area and designing a plan that met my requirements and the natural needs of my plants if; sun vs. shade. She also taught me things I had never though about, such as future planning of the trees already there.

Since our family is on a budget, we didn't want to pay to bring in a whole landscaping team to do the work and figured with our DIY spirit and a little guidance, the Landscape Design in a Day would be the perfect solution. Carol was professional and helpful throughout the whole process. She took our wished/desires into consideration and brought her depth of experience to bring together a wonderful plan for what was merely a muddy, rocky, mess of a back yard. She helped us consider issues that we would not have thought of, such as the right ground cover for large dogs and little kids, or what plants are chicken friendly. I was impressed with her in-depth knowledge of plants, trees, soil and the best growing conditions for each one and she provided multiple plant options for each region of the yard. We are very happy with the results. We now have a work-ready design and a plant list to move forward. She has even followed up to see how the project was going and answer any questions. It's been slow going for us with two working parents and a baby/toddler (plus we got side-tracked with building a chicken coop!) but we've done the ground work and are looking forward to planting this season so we'll have something to show for next spring!

Carole provided me with just what I needed: a way to get started on my weeds-only yardscape. I provided a to-scale drawing of my property with the building footprints. Using that as the framework, she sketched out ideas as we talked at my dining-room table and came up with a plan for my front yard that will guide me in do-it-myself work that I will carry out over a long-term period. The design has already proved beneficial in helping me determine what and what not to buy when I visit my favorite garden centers. Now I can walk past the things I know won't fit into the plan. Carole knows her plants, has good resources, and I would recommend her very professional service for anyone facing what I am: a big yard full of weeds.

Our new home backs up to a protected greenbelt habitat and we wanted the backyard to incorporate mostly NW native plants. No lawn, low maintenance, and privacy on a small lot were the overall goals. Carol seemed competent, informed, approachable, friendly, experienced and well organized. Carol first provided us with her pre-organized package to complete. We gave her all the needed information and photos for her to prepare for the one day appointment. In May 2007 Carol sat for several hours on our covered back deck drawing plans and visualizing plants. We didn't hover over her but stayed available for questions and comments. She encouraged us to visit local native plant gardens and lent us native plant ID cards for inspiration. After some back and forth over a couple weeks, she delivered a richly detailed, creative backyard garden plan which incorporated pavers, a hot tub, water feature, small herb garden, and gravel pathways. Carol is particularly strong on plant selection and incorporated our preferences on size and color, etc. She has excellent plant sources who delivered the exact plants specified in healthy condition, without waste or error. After the project was completed, we continued to stay in contact with her. We hired Carol to revisit our and ldquo;siteand rdquo; as a garden coach a couple of times. She provided advice regarding additional and replacement plantings, watering and drainage, pruning techniques, attracting birds and insects, weed control and animal problems. Carol is a landscape design expert who is totally devoted to her career. We would consult Carol without hesitation, and consider her our personal connection to PLANTDOM. Now that's a great resource. Thanks Carol!

Very good. I was not expecting some new plans for the front yard but was very happy to get them so I could continue my work out front.

zero from the start

She required that we make a drawing to her scale of the yard with all plants and features measured in (quite a task) before she arrived. When she did, she put a piece of tracing paper over it and as she walked around the property traced in pencil the changes she recommended, She told us the plants she thought would do well and why. I wish I had a tape recording, because though much of her vast information was valuable most of it was lost in the near manic flow of the experience. Then it was over. She was gone and I was standing there with a large piece of tracing paper and a head full of swirling ideas

We will continue to use her.

Carol was amazing! I am a condo girl living in a house and hate yardwork with a passion. When we moved into our house, my husband turned most of our yard into a huge patio and we needed plants to fill it up. We met Carol at the Home and Garden show, and after visiting with her decided she was exactly what we needed. We were on a budget, so the idea of someone designing the garden while we saved money doing the digging was perfect. She started with a questionnaire that asked out our likes, dislikes, etc. My favorite was the question about how much I liked to garden. She included and quot;I want to drink a beer and look at itand quot; as one of the options. Yep, that was my answer! I wanted something that I wouldn't have to deal with. Ok, so she explained that wasn't possible without a gardener, but she could make it so I would only have to pull weeds and do spring cleanup. Then I told her I am highly allergic to flowers, so I needed an unscented garden but still wanted flowers and color. She didn't even flinch! She came to our house with stacks of books filled plants. I don't know anything about plants and I have no desire to learn. She just laughed and said to point to the ones I thought were pretty - she would do the rest. She went home and drew us up a gardening plan, explained it in detail (over and over again - I'm a bit of a slow learner) then arranged to have the entire truckload of plants delivered to our house. She even made sure she coordinated the day we planned to do our planting with the day she was going to be at our house working on the design for our front yard. That way she was close by to offer suggestions like, 'No Kelly, that one goes over there.and quot; We have had her back a couple times for short appointments to teach me how to prune and what needs to be done when, but most of the time all I have to do is pull the occasional weed. We planted over 300 plants and almost everything has survived even with the weird weather we have had over the last few years. She is also always available by email when I think I've killed something to offer suggestions (Leave it alone, its not really dead) and her newsletter is great. Overall, my experience with Carol has been phenomenal. I think the most important thing was that she listened to me and had a great sense of humor about it. She got it when I said I wasn't into landscaping or working in the garden, but that I still wanted something pretty, and she delivered!

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Carol has designed beautiful back yard for me at two different house. She is both practical and creative. I did planting myself and the yards are both delightful and easy to maintain!

Carol was a pleasure to work with, knew her subject, communicated well, and was patient in working with me. We are very happy with the results – they speak for themselves.

I called Carol to obtain information regarding her design services. She will be providing services at a future date. She has been wonderful. Carol was very responsive when I have called and provided me with possible solutions to my landscaping questions. It is apparent that she is very concerned about designing plans that will allow her clients to fully enjoy their yards and landscaping. She is very knowledgeable and has already provided me with direction on items I had not even yet considered. I am looking forward to working with Carol, given her professionalism to date, I am sure I will be completely satisfied with her services.