Designscape Horticultural Services Inc

Made appointment for initial meeting and scope of work. Had no response. Called again and someone eventually came out and took all of the information. They appologised and promised to be better at communication. They never contacted me again with price or design options. They are located close so no excuses about location.

They designed the landscaping for my house, and I have had them come twice a year for mulch and pruning, etc. for several years - always satisfied with the service and quality of the work.

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Designscape is taking care of a lot of varying issues at our cabin in the woods of Brown County - everything from planting wildflowers over a septic field, to filling sink holes and staking up trees. They are fantastic! They saved my young tulip tree from a pest of some sort last fall, rescued our plum tree (which had nearly blown over in a storm,) and have helped us keep our area under control as the weather has gotten wilder. I would definitely recommend them to others. They know trees...

We first encountered Dan Gluesencamp and his colleagues at Designscape 15 years ago, when after trying several landscapers (and trying our own hands at gardening!), we reached out to them to create a few beds for us.

They were so skilful and easy to work with?they could understand our often vague objectives and turn them into beautiful reality?that we began to use them for more and more services, including caring for our lawn and beds, maintaining our irrigation system, installing lighting around our trees, even snow removal in the winter. They built a natural-looking waterfall in our back yard.

When we bought the adjacent lot, DesignScape worked with us to develop a plan for integrating it into a small, but much more developed existing yard. They regraded the lot and installed underground drainage to deal with a longstanding water problem. They built a beautiful handcrafted low stone wall and then installed well-chosen trees, bushes, and grasses, wisely cautioning us about over planting.

Although Dan and his crew are prize-winning gardeners, landscapers, and arborists, their skills are much broader. They built and maintain a wood fence for us around the property. When we decided we wanted a pergola to provide some shelter from the summer sun, they created a beautiful space with interlocking pavers and oversaw construction of the structure and installation of lighting and a fan. We were so pleased with that work that we later asked them to replace the driveway and all of the cracked cement sidewalks around our home with more natural-looking and beautiful pavers.

When a storm brought down a 150-year-old hickory tree across our house (while we were fortunately out of town), Dan was the first person on the spot, he contacted us, assessed the damage, dealt with our insurance company, and by the time we could return to Bloomington that night, our roof was covered with a tarp, the lawn was swarming with his crew, and trucks were lined up as far as the eye could see to receive pieces of this one-mighty tree.

Two additional notes to this story bear highlighting. First, Dan wastes nothing, and with our permission, arranged for a local sculptor to have the usable sections of the trunk of the tree for his work. Second, early the next morning I was sending an email recounting the prior day?s events and recounting how Dan and his crew had literally saved our home. I added a facetious line that the only thing they hadn?t taken care of was the sea of bark and leaves and sawdust covering our yard, when I looked up and saw half a dozen of his crew raking our lawn. By the next day, he had removed the stump as well.

We worked with Dan over the next two years to figure out something to take the place of the massive tree. We knew we couldn't install a tree of the same size, so Dan crafted a plan to plant a ring of smaller trees and install an amazing fountain that would collect the water from our roof and sidewalks and provide a stunning, environmentally friendly centerpiece for our newly leveled front yard?something we had long wanted to accomplish. Knowing of our love of animals and especially elephants, Dan even arranged for an elephant topiary to be part of the new installation, something that has brought much delight not only to us, but the neighborhood as well.

There are many qualities one might look for in a local business?professional skill, staying up-to-date with new developments, punctuality, sense of pride and responsibility, good value?and Designscape has all of these, but they have something more: they are good listeners, they care about their customers and treat their staff as family, they are scrupulously honest, they are careful and often advise caution even when doing so costs them money, and they are far more interested in long-term relationships than in short-term profits.    

Over the years, we have recommended Dan to many friends for projects large and small, and never once has he disappointed. In fact, we might add that we were prompted to post this review today when, after five inches of snow last night, we woke up early this Saturday morning to find the walks shoveled. Who could ask for more? 

The Designscape team was fast and efficient and did an excellent job.

Great people to work with. They are very helpful!

When I first called and told them we were building a home and wanted to know what services they provided. I learned a lot when I spoke to them on the phone. They answered all my questions over the phone, before I decided to meet with them for an hour at my lot. The $50 only applied to meeting them at my lot and the charge can go towards the cost of design if I chose to use them. Its a wooded area so I was concerned about what types of plants to have around deer. We made full use of the hour. They have a website that is very helpful with figuring out what services they offer.

They do great work. We have used them for several projects in our yard. The quality of the work is very good.

They do a good job for us. They are very busy so sometimes you have to bug them to be on top of it. We've always been pleased with their work. They are very meticulous.

They looked at the area and there are a lot of hills here. My 30 year old retaining walls were falling down. They were old and had deteriorated. We talked about different options and I chose the middle option which was treated lumber for walls that were 6 by 6. So they created the design. I told them where I wanted it and how far I wanted to do and they did that. It also included the steps. I also needed some stairs replaced because it's a hill and what I had had deteriorated. It was a pretty big project. I also had an area within my yard where I wanted to build up a garden. I started it myself, but they recreated that. They finished it with Brown County stone. It was a big area. I would tell others to go with them. They have a really good reputation. They are very responsive to any concerns or requests that you have. Their price is right. The work that they do for the most part is excellent.

I have used Designscape for years to do a variety of yard work. In terms of removing the trees, they had the expertise to remove the tress and also to grind out stumps. Some have separate ways to grind the stumps, but they were able to do both at the same time. Their prices are comparable. The price was good as they did a pretty thorough job.