Hawthorne Garden Design

We have used Hawthorne Garden Design twice and each experience was positive. Tamara and the installation team were responsive, patient, friendly, and professional. She listened carefully to our requirements and her recommendations brought our vision to life. Communications throughout the project were frequent and we always felt we could get our questions handled quickly. We added a small project just before our most recent work began and Tamara quickly provided design options, a detailed estimate, and ensured that this work was done without upsetting the primary project’s schedule. The installation team worked quickly, quietly, and completed the work faster than anticipated. The finished project is impressive. If you are planning to undertake any landscaping work, you should strongly consider Hawthorne Garden Design.

There were too many issues with the implementation, the quality of her plants, and the level of service and responsiveness after project completion for me to recommend Hawthorne Garden Design. Tamara has a good design aesthetic. Her design fees and estimate came out to be the most expensive of the three companies I solicited, but she was able to do the iron fence work we needed, had experience working in historic dc neighborhoods, and seemed in general to be a good fit. Being a new homeowner in DC, I knew my property was in a historic district and informed potential landscapers. Tamara assured me the proposed landscape work did not need permitting since we were not laying concrete. However, we received a stop work order shortly after the project started. It turned out my entire yard was public space and we needed to get permits for all of the work. Tamara tried to work with DCRA and the historic board, but didn't get very far and suggested we abandon significant parts of the project. I ended up having to do the majority of the legwork - getting signatures from neighbors for approval, presenting to the ANC council to gain support for the design, and finally secured approval for a design that was very close to what we originally wanted after 5 months. Tamara's touted experience with historic neighborhoods was one of the main reasons why I hired her, but in the end she provided little understanding of regulation and offered almost no guidance navigating the entire process. The issues did not end after securing the work permits. The slope of the small 9' x 12' patio installed in the side yard was too steep. It took many conversations with Tamara - from showing her the measured slope to even placing chairs on the patio - for her to finally concede that it was indeed too steep and send her sub back out to fix it. They improved it only slightly and the patio is still not graded correctly. Not only can you feel the slope when sitting on furniture, there is a visible slant to any liquid placed on top of the patio table. Finally, all of the ten rose bushes HGD put in started to grow strangely at the same time shortly after they were planted. Tamara did not respond to my first email asking her if there was something wrong with the roses. After my landscaper confirmed it was rose rosette, I tried contacting Tamara to see if there was any remedy. She confirmed the roses were in fact diseased, but it was not her fault since other roses she planted from the same nursery were fine and it must of come from other diseased roses in the neighborhood. Now, I run in my neighborhood regularly and I'm constantly on the lookout for diseased knockout roses to let their owners know, but have yet to find any. The roses were also planted on different sides of the house and all showed symptoms at the same time. This isn't definitive proof, but like any other issue that came up during the project, Tamara would not concede any culpability whatsoever. When I told her I was not happy with her service, her response was: "Thanks for you email. I'm sorry that you're disappointed. I felt that I made every effort to go over and above given the complexities of your project. Good luck in your next project." I would've been happy if she just offered to take the diseased roses out, or offered a small credit for additional service (which she knew were in my plans)... basically, I would've been satisfied with anything at all. I'm usually a laid back client with an expectation for good work. I didn't make much of a fuss having to spend 5 months of my time to secure the necessary permits, but grading a patio correctly and standing behind your plants? Apparently that's too complicated. Tamara obviously doesn't care about you as a client and wants to get out of a project as soon as it's done.

We are so happy with the results of this project and the work done by Tamara and her team. From the first on-site consult through to the finishing touches, Tamara was helpful, knowledgeable and considerate of our budget and vision. She was really fun to work with and, compared to other quotes we received, a great value. Tamara took great care with our garden plan. We had expressed that native plants were a priority and invasives were off the table. She gave us options for almost each type of plant that she included in the garden design and was patient while we decided on the final combination. After the plants were installed, she had a follow-up call to make sure we understood how to care for them. One thing that made us decide to go with Hawthorne Garden Design was the fact that Tamara was able to subcontract for the iron work and hardscaping. Other landscape companies would only do the plantings or plantings + hardscape, but not all three. This made it so much easier for us to make sure we understood the quotes and to coordinate dates and times to get the work done. Sandoval Landscaping did the railings, fence and flagstone path. It looks beautiful and they were really great to work with, coming back to the house an extra time just to walk me through the final details and make sure we'd be happy with the results. From the street, our house looks like a different house entirely and we are still getting compliments from neighbors more than six weeks later. Thank you, HGD!

This job was done quickly, efficiently and inexpensively. Not once did I have a concern about the plan we (she) designed or wondered if someone else might do it better. From the very beginning, I had complete trust in Tamara. I knew that she understood what we wanted and she went out of her way to find the right stone that worked with us and our house. The drainage system they installed was relatively complex because of the roots of our Elm tree. Hawthorne Design knew exactly how to work around those roots. They are a very professional team that has clearly had a lot of experience. Tamara is punctual, as are her workers. She also is very funny and easy to be around. She listened carefully to what we were trying to achieve in our yard and made it a million times better than we ever dreamed. Nothing went wrong the entire time and we never felt like we had to watch over them to make sure they were doing it right. Most importantly, our backyard looks incredible. Healthy, vibrant and serene all at once. I highly highly highly recommend Hawthorne. Excellent work, original ideas, genuine people, amazing results.

This was as perfect an experience as you could imagine. Tamara was completely open and receptive to all of my needs and concerns. She also had very strong ideas of her own, which I really appreciate. She gave me great advice on where I should put my priorities (the front of the house, not the back) and how I should spend my budget. She also has deep extensive knowledge of rocks and plants so suggested many types to choose from and helped me narrow down. She had the work done on time and efficiently, and it looks absolutely beautiful. Its like walking into a whole new house. Plus she set me up with maintenance team that comes and mulches and cleans up twice a year. I highly recommend this to anyone.

Tamara is very easy to work with. I love beautiful gardens, but didn't have the first idea what to plant or where to begin. She created a gorgeous garden plan and implemented it so that years later we are still enjoying it tremendously. In fact we enjoyed so much what she created in the front, that we asked her to return to do the back and will be working on the side soon! She charged $15,000 in total, for plans, meetings, plantings and labor. There were no hidden or additional costs. Her prices were beyond good for the amount of time spent, the plants chosen and the care with which the entire project was completed. One of the things I found that was so special about the way Tamara approached our garden was that not only was she interested in our color scape, but she took time to figure out what would work for us in the amount of time we wanted to spend in the garden and how we would be able to get the most enjoyment out of it over the years. Her strategy worked, because we still love it! I highly recommend calling Hawthorne Garden Design and see for yourself!

I think I covered this above. The entire process has been delightful. In addition to her professionalism as a talented designer, Tamara is a lovely, kind person and a great listener. She made sure she understood what I wanted, but guided me through the many things I didn't know. I would recommend Tamara to anyone.

The process was very smooth. I met with Tamara several times working out the details of the plan. They were casual meetings that she made fun and interesting. Once we decided on the "floor plan" she was instrumental having her crew deliver and install the design. She has provided us with good guidance throughout the year on how to maintain and maximize the landscape.