Custom Plantings

Darcie and her crew did outstanding work. I had a huge collection of potted plants that I'd been testing for several years, and they needed homes in the ground. Darcie has a horticultural background and a great eye for design, and she was able to help me decide what existing plants to keep, where to plant my potted plants, and what new plants to bring in. Not an easy job, to say the least. Also, I wanted a stone patio and pathways put in. Both yards are now full of color and breathtaking year round. Every time I'm out front, somebody walking by will compliment me on my gorgeous yard. Both yards are such a joy to me, and they are flexible enough that I can add or move pots around. In fact, one of my drip zones is just for my pots. Darcie is experienced and talented in her field, but her best quality is that she LISTENED to what I wanted and did her best to achieve that. I have the heart of a gardener. I wanted yards that were alive with color and texture, attracted bees, hummers, and butterflies. I wanted yards that were beautiful, but changed throughout the seasons, and were never "done," so I could add or change plants/pots out if I wanted. And that's exactly what I got. And it all came in several thousand dollars under budget.

Everything went fantastic and our front yard looks even better than I expected. Darcie was very easy to work with. Would definitely recommend

Fantastic! It was a pleasure working with Darcy and the crew company went above and beyond they are completely and totally professional they are efficient and they had the job completed in one day I am more than happy with the completed results. I had been searching for a good Landscaping Company when I came across custom plantings. The reviews were great, I called and spoke to Darcie the owner and even though she was booked up, She made some room and fit me in! (I mentioned how great the reviews were and how I didnt want any other company ;) ) We scheduled a date for consult and when she came out I was most impressed with her knowledge and expertise! She seen what the previous owner (Phoenix Equity)had left me to deal with, a bunch of different sized pieces of artifical turf with absolutly nothing underneath, I assume they just wanted it to look nice for the sale and didn't really care about what happened afterwards, So what I was stuck with to my surprise was turf and weeds that had sprouted right through the turf. It was absolutely awful. Darcie gave me a couple tips on what she thought would be best and I gave her my ideas of what designs I wanted and from there we implemented into the finished product and the results were more than what I had hoped for! Together we met at Green Acres to pick out the plants and flowers which I knew nothing about but she showed me which ones would work with the drought and California weather. On the day they came out to work on the yard they showed up on time they worked straight through the day they cleaned up all the mess and I was left with the most beautiful yard I could of hoped for. I can't thank you enough Darcie and the crew at Custom Plantings

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Darcie toured our yard to provide an estimate and gave us a general idea of what she wanted to do. She asked about what we liked, what we didn't like, and what our general budget was. She made sure to let us know that she was booked several months in advance. When it came time to start the project, she took me "plant shopping," all the while providing explanations and suggestions. The crew was professional, friendly, and courteous, and the tear-out and landscaping was completed in just under four days, and just a tad over the estimate, thanks to an add-on or two. Despite the fact that Darcie gave us a general idea of what she would do, it's hard to get an accurate image from someone else's idea, even after we viewed other projects she had done. We were pretty sure it was going to look good, but we were wrong. It looked amazing! Our neighbors stop by to admire the landscaping; one guy who drove by at night even stopped to turn his brights on to get a better look! We could not be more pleased with the job she and her crew did.

We are more than pleased with the results of the work that Custom Plantings has performed on our front yard. Custom Plantings' backlog of business is testament to the popularity of Darcie Paulin's competence and horticultural skills, as well as her ability to manage a great team of people who get the job done well. We first contacted Darcie in late March, hoping to get the job done early during the cooler weather and before visitors who would arrive in July. This was not to be, as we found out when responding to Darcie's quote in early April that she was booked through the month of July! The thought of going elsewhere was not entertained for long, as I was confident that Custom Plantings would give us the landscape that we wanted based, largely, on the reviews posted here on Angie's List. It was well worth the wait. Work began on August 2nd and was completed mid-day on the August 6th. The work included excavation of the old lawn (weed patch - This was done earlier in the June/July time frame), major overhaul of the irrigation system to include adding a sizable trip irrigation system for the plantings, installing new sod, grading in some mounds, installing some 70+ plantings, boulders, weed screen, mocha rock overlay, and a fine looking stone retaining wall to contain the rock along the front of the property. Jose', the foreman on the project, is a fine craftsman who directed the work of others on the project as well as taking on some of the more demanding jobs himself. He was quick at correcting anything that went amiss, and very accommodating to our preferences. I highly recommend Custom Plantings. Darcie Paulin knows her plants and where to put them.

Everything went fantastic. Eight men (very happy) crew completed the job in four days. Over 200 plants, drip system, riverbed, and bark. Darcie provided excellent suggestions and options on plant selection.

The professionalism and quality of this service were well worth the price. In comparison to other landscaping providers they were very cost effective.  Darcie is not only a great landscaper her values and ethics are above reproach. She has made several follow up visits to ensure all my questions and needs were met. 

Fantastic service. My guidance was to make the landscape drought tolerant and very low maintenance. The details were left to Darcie's creativity. She created a design that not only met my requirements but was attractive and pleasing to the eye. She helped with the HOA approval process. She kept me informed throughout the process from beginning to end. Her knowledge of plants and the planting process gave me the assurance she knew what she was doing and could be trusted. Her crew was really great. They were respectful and answered my questions. They worked very hard during a week where the daily highs ranged from 105 to 108 degrees. The clean up when they finished was immaculate.

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Working with Darcie was easy and comfortable.  She is professional, responsive, and in high demand. I found her very accessible - by phone, text, and email - both before and during the job.  Hiring her means being able to trust in her vision, which I did.  The first day of work - the tear down day - was the day she and I went plant shopping.  That field trip gave her a chance to reconcile her vision with my preferences.  She got a good sense of the colors and textures I liked, and that allowed her to select appropriate plants at different nurseries without me.
Her crew of 8 men arrived at 7:00 every morning - carpooling so as not to make parking an issue on the street.  They worked until 4:00 every afternoon, cleaning up completely before leaving.  All the guys were friendly to me; they got along well with each other and worked well together.  Juan was the crew leader on this job and I found him to be exceptionally professional and knowledgeable.  Darcie was on the job site every day making sure that the work was being done to her satisfaction.  She laid out and re-laid out the plants herself to optimize the color impact as they grow and bloom.
The job was completed in the 5 days quoted and right on target with the cost estimate.  I highly recommend Darcie Paulin and her company and will use her again without hesitation should the need arise.

darcie and her crew showed up at my house at 7:30 am and worked till around 6:00 pm!  they worked hard and were very professional and nice.  they took out 90% of what was there and amended my soil before laying the drip system and planting.  a complete transformation to say the least!  
darcie suggested different plants from 'green acres' nursery but my husband and i pretty much left everything in her hands.  she's the expert after all!  not only did she give me an environmentally water-saving (converted sprinkler system to drip system) landscape, but also color that i wanted.  this transformation has brought out the beauty of my house.  before this re-do, my plants overtook the visual of my front house.  now the visual is so enhancing to the house i could post it in 'house beautiful' magazine!  
In addition to her experience and expertise, she has a great sense of humor and is sensitive to the wants and needs of the homeowner.  She's is a joy to work with.  her pleasant attitude is reflected in the behavior of her employees.
you can't ask for more than that!  call her ? you won't be disappointed.

We hired Custom Plantings to landscape our front yard. This included lawn removal, selection and installation of plants, rocks, boulders and flag stones, drip irrigation, a dry river bed and a walkway.
We found the owner , Darcie, to be a very responsible, straight forward and honest business owner.
Communication by phone and emails was excellent.
Darcie is insured, bonded and carries workers' compensation insurance.
She insisted that we remove the lawn correctly. We had a lot of bermuda grass which would grow back if we did not take the time to eliminate it, as efficiently as possible.
Darcie respected our wishes and wanted us to be pleased with the results. She spent a lot of time with us in selecting plants, rocks, and boulders and took us to Green Acres, Silverado and Hasties on 2 occasions. We were involved in all decisions.
She has her own crew of very capable, polite and hard-working men. We can?t remember all their names but Rigo and Jose were very helpful and friendly.  Darcie is there on the job several times per day to make sure everything is done according to plan. The job was to take 4 days but was completed in 3 days. Darcie adjusted  the labor charge, something we really appreciated.
Darcie will tell you that she does not provide a drawing of the landscaping job. It made us a little nervous about not seeing even a sketch but we are very happy with the final results. Darcie arranged all the plants in the yard and asked for our input before planting. She adjusted the location to our liking. If we did not like some of  the plants, she would remove and return them. The plants are guaranteed for 6 months. Darcie replaces any that do not survive during that period.
We would highly recommend Darcie and her crew. We love the final product. Darcie can be very busy but it?s worth waiting for her to do your landscaping.

I wanted to hire a small, family-owned business to install a new, small front yard, a company that shows that it cares about its clients by listening, paying attention to details and making the client feel that he/she is important to the company no matter how small the job. I found such a company in Custom Plantings. Darcie Paulin, the owner of Custom Plantings, was patient, attentive and knowledgeable. She listened to my ideas as she gave some of her own. I really appreciated her knowledge of plants, as I know very little about them, and her help with designing the yard. She came with me to buy everything - plants, pots, and hardscape. She was present at the start of the install to direct her crew of six capable and hardworking guys and periodically throughout. She worked with me on the final placement of the plants. Her crew installed a drip irrigation system. The bid was for three days of work, but they finished in two. Periodically, during the work, Darcie would check in with me to see if I had any concerns or questions. At the end, there was one area of the yard that I wanted to change, which they did. Darcie explained how to work the irrigation system and how to care for the plants. Before leaving the crew did a great job in cleaning up after themselves and did additional clean-up such as pulling weeds in the sidewalk in front of my house. Darcie is friendly and has a good sense of humor. I enjoyed working with her from start to finish. I would hire her again and will recommend her to everyone.

I needed major front and back yard landscaping for our new home in Granite Bay. I found Custom Panting on Angie's list based on other's review and called. She returned the call immediately and told me she could not schedule me for 6 weeks or so. The reviews were so splendid, I decided to wait till she could get to me. Boy am I glad I did.
Darcie (the owner) provided the entire set of services for our front and back yard landscaping. She surveyed the place, came back with a design suggestion, took us to the nursery, helped us select the plants and pots, said "no" to some stuff we wanted to do, which is as useful as recommending stuff  (She has an actual college degree in botany or something), brought her crew (she has her own crew!), removed the old plants, planted the new plants, re-did most of sprinkler system with a new timer, fixed all the lights and put in lava rocks all over the front and back. The place looks awesome.
The job was completed in June. In Sept, 3 months later, couple of the begonias plants looked like they were getting too much water. I text-ed her a picture just to see what she thought, to my surprise she showed up the same afternoon, readjusted the sprinkler timing and scheduled to come and replace the 2 begonias!
I don't care how long you have to wait, but if you need anything major done, your best bet is be patient and wait til she can schedule you. There is a reason why she is so busy, she has an excellent reputation and she works very hard at keeping it that way!

This is a follow up review.  After my February review we decided to hire Darcie to redo our back yard.  They scraped off a steep hill, replanted, replaced irrigation, and re-barked the hill.  Then on the side yard she removed all the bark and did a floral planting area and the rest pebble rock.  They fixed my garden box irrigation and put in fresh dirt.  She worked with plants already there and added more for a beautiful "completed" look.  She also refreshed bark in the front and side area, using the same bark keeping the price down.   She and her workers were great and worked hard.  It looks beautiful and we are really happy with it.  She came in under budget using some smaller plants that worked better.  Can't wait to see all the flowers from the bulbs and carpet roses she planted.  Shopping with her for plants was educational and fun.  She has a lot of knowledge of plants and listened when I said color and more color.  Can't wait to see the hill full of even more color this summer when all the roses bloom.  She is the only one I call back every year to prune and keep my plants doing great.  Thank you Darcie and team for a wonderful job!!

have also e-mailed her with questions about plants and she is always great to answer and let me know what to do.  She is very knowledgeable about plants and where they work!  She is the ONLY one I will be calling for my yard!  She doesn't add money to bids once she has already started and she stays within her bid.  She is upfront and honest with bids and costs.  She is great at different budgets and different ideas for different areas of the yard but the best part is that if she puts it in it is done and she will come back and prune the plants so they stay looking great!

We have hired her to replant our back yard hill where all of my evergreen plants have died and it now looks terrible.  I can't wait to see the after!!  I will actually want to be in my back yard, that will be incredible!  She is wonderful to work with, always communicating when she will be here and then actually shows up and is ready to do the work with her team.  She doesn't drop off the non English speaking workers and take off!   When I find great people to work with I don't need to call anyone else and that is Darcie for my yard!  I can't recommend her highly enough, a totally joy to work with!  So happy she is still in business and hope all who have the privilege to work with help her,  will help keep her in business! 

I am extremely pleased with the services of Custom Plantings.  I had 3 new flowers beds installed in my front and back yard.  Darcie was fun to work with.  She was knowledgeable, creative and and I felt like she wanted my yard to look as beautiful as I did.  She had great follow through, answered my phone calls quickly and was very flexible.  I was impressed with her crew as well.  They worked very hard and made sure everything was perfect.  I had a GREAT experience and my gardens are beautiful.  I am now on Darcie's calendar for regular service throughout the year.  I highly recommend Custom Plantings.

We were referred to Darcie and team and were happy from the beginning.  From the very first introduction, Darcie was right on time and held all her commitments.  The crew was there when they said they would be - no rescheduling, showing up late, or any other challenges that would give me event the slightest pause.
The work was fantastic and fast!  The crew was very professional and went above and beyond in several instances.  Darcie always made us feel that she had our best interests in mind and was open minded when discussing options with us. 
I could not recommend her more highly.