Appealing Gardens Landscape LLC

We were very pleased with the work done by Appealing Gardens. Keith was great to work with, very knowledgable, and based on our vague ideas of what we wanted, had a lot of good suggestions on what to do with the backyard after we had a pool removed. He was always responsive, completed the work on time, and continues to follow up and to respond to questions on irrigation and plant care.

From planning through completion (about a 3 month job), Keith and his team took ownership of the job's responsibilities, subcontractors, work and final product. The lot has a significant 8 foot drop in slope from NW to SE and as such drainage was the priority. AG designed and installed river rock/decomposed granite dry creek beds and grass swales to handle sheeting rain run-off that are performing very well. We recently experienced a 12 inch rain event and the drainage performed as designed. Signficant amount of hardscape work was done with many tons of stacked boulders and stone that enhance the landscape plantings and compliment the new house and surrounding native treed area. Drought tolerant native plants, grasses and trees make up the plantings and have acclimated nicely. The final landscape product exceeded our expectations to the point that the outdoor living areas are a focal point for the new house and will be used often. I give AG and Keith my highest recommendation and will use them in the future for any large landscaping jobs I have.

Keith was very responsive and designed an appealing landscape which incorporated native Texas plants and filled up our large corner lot quite nicely. Multiple friends and neighbors have commented on the beautiful design and it certainly helped our home to sell 3 years later. When it was first installed, I had some trepidations as it didn't quite look right however Keith advised me to wait 6 months to a year. He was right. Once the plants grew in, the landscaping was fantastic. This review is being written 6 years after the installation, and we are using Appealing Gardens again for our new home.

Keith stopped by several times after the complete installation to make sure all of the plants were thriving and continued to make periodic follow-up contacts to insure that we were happy with the work as well as to educate us regarding plant food, watering, etc. of all plant materials. The finished product was so well done that a neighbor also contracted Appealing Gardens to do their backyard and seem very happy with their finished landscaping. Keith has always been available to answer questions regarding the maintenance of all installed plant materials and/or the mechanics of the exterior lighting as well as the water feature. All of the installation crew were very careful with our home and existing front yard during the installation. We would do it again with this company.

It started fine with an interesting native Texas design with walkways and minimal maintenance plants. During the construction and installation we encountered problems with the design and incorporation of the irrigation system. It was not well planned. We had many issues with getting proper irrigation to the plants. These issues were resolved by the sub-contractor but appealing gardens, who recommended the irrigation contractor, took no responsibility for the problems. Now after three seasons we continue to be disappointed inn our landscape. The "native" plants were not as adaptable as promised. One plant turns out to be an invasive weed better left to Texas pastures and not a home landscape. We can't get rid of it and it does not look attractive now. Another native plant seems to be very susceptible to bugs and needs frequent chemical spraying to control (these shrubs are coming out). Other plants were installed in locations that don't receive adequate sun and have not bloomed very well, it at all. The small grass areas were seeded but would not last because of the shade. We continue to have very serious and frustrating problems with irrigation. All in all it was a complete waste of money and effort.

See above

It went badly, almost from the beginning. Slow start and very slow response to calls. We had irrigation problems imediately and Keith would not own up to a responsibility for the irrigation contractor (who eventually did a very nice job and kept after the project to a satisfactory conclusion (finally being July 2012!! - this was Organic Options and I would have them back out to do additilonal work). Keith did not advise the irrigation contractor that we had a well (he and the landscpae degigner knew we had a well but they denied it), and the system was not configured for our system (see a review of Organic Options for more discussion). Keith would not respond to calls this spring and has never contacted us since getting our last check. We lost a number of plants due to irrigation problems and have lost most of the grass area due to improper irrigation. I lay all of this at Keith. In addition, a part of the design and plant recommendation included a native Texas plant that is VERY VERY iknvasive and should never be considered for urban landscpaes. Thsi was Fall Obidient plant (Physostegkia virginiana). It never grew as shown and indicated in the landscape plan. We are tryign to get it out of the landscape but this will take years due to its invasive nature. All in all, a very bad deal.

The design was artistically done. Looked great, but the overall experience turned sour. The dogwood tree they planted looked good initially, but never thrived despite carefully following the instructions we were given. We'll probably cut it down this year. But worse, although the patio looked very nice, the steps were built with only a 9" tread. Although aesthetically pleasing, the step was so short that several visitors lost their balance and almost fell. Ultimately it got me, even though I knew it was a hazard. I missed a step one day and wound up falling and suffered a broken foot (fifth metatarsal.) I called Keith and left a message that I would like some work done. I didn't tell him about the problem in the voicemail and did not even expect him to fix it at a reduced price. I just wanted it fixed. He didn't return my call. I called again - still no reply. When I got him on the third try, I explained the situation. I never asked for anything special, but made the mistake of telling him about my fall. When he heard that, he curtly told me "I can't help you." That was the end of the conversation.

My husband picked them. They were excellent. They did a great job. I have no idea about the pricing. We would use them again in the future if we needed to.

It was good. He came when he said he would, his crew worked hard and it cost what they said it would cost. I'm working with him right now because some of the plants died because it was in the middle of a lot of hot weather. He said he would take care of it in the spring if we could make it through the winter. So far so good. It was a little pricey, I think I could have gotten it done quite a bit cheaper. If I had to do it again I would not have spent that much money because I think I could have had it done cheaper. He's an upfront guy who does what he says he will do. I thought he returned calls very promptly, not during the day when he was at work but at night. I thought he was very responsive, also to emails as well. He takes a lot of pride in his work and makes sure you are satisfied. He was really good about recommending things. We have more work to do, I will start with him and probably negotiate the price.

He hasn't really started. I have a big project and we're trying to come to terms on how much I want to spend. So far, he's been outstanding. He gets back to you on time, he is accommodating, and he doesn't try to sell you something you don't want. He is just very responsive. We're still going back and forth. His price started out pretty high. We're down to $25,000 right now. I'm questioning if I want to spend that much money now. I have a new house so I have a big project. He has worked up a couple of different options for us, so he's put some time into it. He has bent over backwards trying to get us what we need. After I found him on Angie's List, I thought I saw a couple of reports that he didn't get back to them very quickly. I thought that for being busy time he's been pretty good about that. He usually returns phone calls at the end of the day when he's off work.

The job was done very professionally and on time. Keith and his crew made sure everything was cleaned up and swept at the end of the day. There were no surprises and I was very happy with the result. I've gotten many compliments from neighbors on how it looks:) Keith also was responsive after the first year when I called with questions about pruning and caring for the plants.

He estimated the work to take 2+ days. They were done in 2 days. We had a dead-line because of a wedding party in the back yard. He said he could be done 2 days before; knowing our angst to get it done, he was done 3 days before. We had them install a stone border along the beds in front of the house and some river rock that wasn't on the plan, for which we paid extra. They put out more rock than we discussed (no charge) because it looked much better and balanced out the design. When he was finished with the back, we asked if he would mind installing the old brick border used on the old beds. This is something we had only tacitly discussed previous to the work. They installed it (perfectly done). When I asked how to get to the front and back yard hydrants without tramping through the plantings, he brought large flagstone pieces and installed them across the beds, and added more large flagstones at two areas where he knew we were wanting a yard entrance. All at no extra charge!