Creative Outdoors

Jamie and Deborah came with two helpers to mulch my beds with pine straw (75 bales) and remove four large bushes.  They showed up on the appointed day and did a good job, cleaning up nicely and hauling off the bushes. They also did some cutting back work with the weed eater at no charge.  The bushes were easier to remove than any of us anticipated, and if I had to do that part again I would have gotten my husband to try his hand at it before hiring a contractor, but they've given us good value in the past so I had no objection to paying the price we had previously agreed on, especially in view of the extra work they did.  I will use them again.

Creative Outdoors did an excellent job on a landscape installation for us.  We first talked with Jamie Meincke, one of the principals, about installing a fence on our property line.  Fortunately, Jamie talked us out of that idea--the fence would have had to be very tall to accomplish our purpose, and the chance of getting a permit from the city for a fence that tall was questionable at best.  I was also not looking forward to applying weatherproofing to the fence every couple of years or so.  Instead, Jamie suggested we plant Nellie R. Stevens hollies (a less expensive solution), and we told him we would revisit that idea in the fall.  

We waited until November and then had some small trees cut down so as to get more light to the hollies.  Then we got several bids for planting nine hollies and three trees, and for cleaning out and replanting an overgrown area of our property.  Creative Outdoors gave us the best bid, and after several delays we got the project started, with both Jamie and Deborah Saunders supervising the work.  

Jamie and Deborah supplied and planted three 2"-caliper trees (gingko, cherry, and dogwood).  For the 24' by 24' area to be cleared and replanted, they did about half of the clearing on the first work day.  Because the unwanted growth there was so dense and I was concerned about regrowth, I took advantage of a hiatus in work to bring in a stump grinding service to finish the clearing,  Deborah and Jamie then installed the plants that they had supplied for that area (which I had picked out after much head scratching)--three 7-gallon plants, five 3-gallon plants, and nine 1-gallon plants.  

As to the hollies, the original purpose of the project, we were pleasantly surprised to learn that Jamie and Deborah got us much larger plants than we had contracted for--we had asked for nine hollies about 4 feet tall, and they brought nine hollies that were 7-8 feet tall.  They looked great right away and we were delighted with them.  Creative Outdoors also transplanted several bushes for me, and supplied and spread 60 bales of pine straw for all of our bedding ares.

The project had its ups and downs, and our communication could have been better at times, but Jamie and Deborah were very gracious, worked hard, knew what they were doing, and made sure that I was completely satisfied before they completed the project.  They also provided excellent value for the money we spent.