The Garden Artist, LLC

The job was complete, but not with shortcuts made, gaslighting done on customer, and very slow to non responsive with issues they were contractually and ethically obligatory to help with. The design is beautiful but that’s all I am truly satisfied with. I’m not a high maintenance type.

I would hire the owner/designer for design work only and maybe plant list and siting.The start date was in November 2011; completion in August 2012.  I was originally told the job would be completed in 6 days; took 6 months.  I was new to the area coming from Southern California where landscaping can be done on a year round basis.  I asked if winter would impede the job and was told, erroneously, that it would not; that "they" do this type of work year round.  Unfortunately, since the ground freezes (unknown to me that this would occur since I had relocated in July 2011), that as much as could be done was completed prior to the freeze.  If I had known the job could not be completed prior to spring, I would have waited to avoid having the mud quagmire that I ended up with over the winter and early spring.  I would also use outside licensed contractors in stead of her subcontractors as I felt the quality of some of the work was poor; the cost excessive.  At the time of the initial bid, the bid had been promised but was not sent to me by email until the evening before commencement of the work; it was barely legible unless you used a magnifying glass, which I did, I had been also informed that the designer had a contractor that she used.  She neglected to tell me the contractor was in fact her husband using a different last name.  I found this quite disengenuous.  The designer obtained bids for the accent lighting and lattice structure from her husband/contractor.  Both were very high.  I ended up using a licensed carpenter to build the lattice structure at almost half her bid price; the accent lighting was installed by a licensed exterior lighting contractor for less money than the bid price.  I was charged $200 per footing for four footings for my lattice structure which was only 5 by 9 feet; this charge was excessive.  I had eight large trees planted.  Do not suggest a cryptomaria tree as I had three planted and two died.  I had since determined that there are few of this tree in this area as they are "temperamental" at best.  My flowering plum was planted approximately six inches too deep as per an outside certified arborist.  I was charged for an additional ten feet of broken concrete paving installed with polysand in the joints.  The joint compound is mostly dirt and not polysand.  My rear yard is approximately seventy feet wide and thirty-five feet deep.  I was initially told that a small fountain I had brought from California could be used but when it came time to install, was told that they could not use it; it was not adaptable for the site.  I ended up finding someone else who installed it with an auto-fill, after the designers work was completed.  I had major problems with the flow rate on the drip system to the trees.  I could not adjust them myself; I am obese and 76 years old. I was informed by email later that the designer was invalidating her one year plant warranty as I had tampered with the flow rate on the emitters on the trees; hence their demise.  This was untrue as the only persons adjusting the drip lines were her crew.