Terra Gardens

It is a great honor to leave this review for Terra Gardens. The magic they worked in my back and side yards is quite impressive and astounding. The transformation of the space has allowed for me to fully relax outdoors. When I get home, I walk outside and enjoy peace and serenity. My yard also now provides a beautiful aumbiance for entertaining friends for dinner and birthday parties.

Before I came across Terra Gardens, my family's backyard was overrun with odd bushes that were not native plants, and required too much water. The irrigation system was overly extensive and outdated. There wasn't even a map of the water lines, so it was always hard to find someone with patience to fix them when they leaked. And worse yet, some of the shrubs were getting too much water, growing mold and the ancient fruit trees in my yard needed attention, and no one I hired felt confident in pruning them. The space felt too cramped, overgrown and drab. There was no where to sit and enjoy the evening, it was far from relaxing on weekends, and it was slightly embarrassing to have friends over even for tea. Although I knew it had potential.

When I met Adam, I immediately felt comfortable conveying our issues and dreams for our yard to him. He sat down with my partner and I, and was a great communicator throughout the planning/design process as well as through the completion of the project. I appreciated the care he took to make sure we could work out a price that felt right for everyone involved. We decided to clear the plants and shrubs that used too much water, and they completely re-designed and updated our drip system to be efficient, and chose very tasteful plants, shrubs and trees that aligned with our vision and are drought tolerant to conserve water. The old fig, apple and plum trees were treated with care, they received much-needed intentional pruning and are producing healthy delicious fruit--more than last year!

Our family thoroughly enjoyed having Adam and his crew around and watching their project unfold with masterful grace. We now have a beautiful curving earthen pathway and stonework patio now, with a neat pergola for shade. Some of the back and side yard have terraced garden beds to allow for more room for plants without taking away from the yard. Most excitingly for my partner, we now have a sturdy redwood fence and awesome raised beds for our greens and culinary herbs. I am truly happy now, as I walk into the yard, it feels like an enchanted garden. It feels great to have friends over and share meals outdoors. I can now sit in shade under our new pergola, and harvest from the fruit trees with ease, all the while resting assured that my water bill is not going to be high, and our family can live more sustainably, in beauty. If your yard is feeling drab, I highly recommend contacting Adam for any of your landscaping needs--he is an honest, kind and creative person. He and his team are good people who do impressive and satisfactory work. Thank You Terra Gardens!

Wow, what an incredible job. We recently purchased our home and envisioned a landscape that could compliment our home renovations, and the team at Terra knocked it out of the park. We had some ideas about what we wanted the yard to feel like and how we wanted to use it, and Terra not only helped up dial in the practical implementation, but saw things we definitely would not have and designed the space to make sure they were accounted for organically in the design and build (DRAINAGE, wow, we are blown away right now).

We thought we knew what we wanted and just wanted someone to build, but Terra are experts in a way that deserves a mention. Michelle developed a incredible plan and was fantastic to talk to throughout the entire process (plant palate, landscape plan that was clear and completely transformed how we looked at the build) and Adam's team made install so easy. It felt seamless, and exceptionally deluxe to be taken care of like that (especially compared with our home renovations).

Their attention to detail is outstanding - you get what you pay for. With how much time we've spent in the yard, it is incredible to watch the space grow and flourish. Thank you Terra!

Terra Gardens revamped our entire backyard. We are located on a hill with with a yard that was hardly usable before their transformation. From the beginning, Adam and his team were completely professional and responsive. We talked with several companies and received a couple of bids and found Terra Gardens to be the most professional. They had a project coordinator, designer, and full crew. They are a full service, one-stop shop that work with you every step of the way. We had phone calls to discuss our vision and budget. Thereafter they came out to look at the space, then they came up with rough ideas, and provided us with a very detailed bid. We knew that they were honest and transparent based on the level of detail provided. They worked with us to cut costs or reallocate our budget. After we moved forward, the designer, Michelle came up with a beautiful plan that captured our vision. Once the crew started, they were highly diligent, professional, and responsive. The team paid attention to detail and event went above and beyond the plans to make our yard look beautiful, for instance, adding some extra wood work on retaining walls. Our project was not easy because most of the digging and leveling had to be done by hand given our tight access on a hill. A year later, we've had questions pop up and they remain caring and responsive. Adam has even stopped by to help us figure out how work our drip system. We highly recommend Terra Gardens for your next landscaping project!

I thought I'd come on here and give my review of Terra Gardens. Terra Gardens was referred to us after using Yardzen to design our side yard. Once the design was approved we were put in touch with Adam. I for one am a stickler for communication and unfortunately communication was the one thing that was lacking from this whole experience. We finally met Adam face to face and had an immediate vibe with him that both my wife and I felt Terra Gardens were the ones for us to complete this project.

Hugo was our project manager and I have to say he is a master at his craft! He was pretty much the solo person working on our yard and his quality of work definitely showed. Now coming into this we were told the project would be done in 2 weeks but it took a good 5 1/2 weeks. Mind you we did have some set backs with waiting on materials so I wasn't really concerned about the timeline.

Here's where things were a bit concerning. Again I had mentioned communication was completely lacking from Adam. There were days that Hugo would show up and there were days he wouldn't show up without any notice or call from Adam letting us know. The final stage in our project was to get the gravel glued together so that we wouldn't have any loose gravel between the concrete pavers. When we first met Adam he initially was the one to suggest the glue and the process would take some time by having to mix the glue in with the gravel before laying it out.

What ended up happening was the gravel was laid out completely but was never mixed in with any glue. When the glue was finally sourced Hugo returned and started spraying the glue over the gravel which obviously didn't do anything to bind the rocks together. I've reached out to Adam twice now letting him know that my wife and I both feel the job is incomplete based on the expectations Adam gave to us. We'd like for him to complete the work but he has not responded to any of my texts or calls leaving me to assume he no longer wants anything to do with this project.

UPDATE: Adam finally reached out to me and explained the decision behind why the gravel was not completed as expected and will be returning to our home to rectify the situation and lay the gravel as it was supposed to. Adam felt this was a mistake on his part but will be resolving asap. Thank you Adam for continuing to show that your customers are important and the job isn't complete until the customer is completely happy!

We utilized Terra Gardens for our backyard reno in January/February 2020 and had an absolutely amazing experience! Adam and his team are great to work with - every single one of them is easy to communicate with, knowledgeable, and friendly.

Our yard was a complete blank slate - the house had been flipped and was a sea of red bark with a few misplaced trees and a lot of debris. To make things more challenging, the whole lot is on a large slope, and our budget was minimal for such a large space. Adam and Michelle came up with an amazing plan that created a yard beyond our expectations. They helped us play around with different options to allow us to prioritize what was most important in our vision.

All of the work was done in 2 weeks - it was magical to see the whole thing come together in such a short time window. Looking at it now, only 7 months after the work was completed, our yard looks amazing. Things really grew in quickly!

We get so many compliments on the space, people can't believe what it looked like before! I can't recommend Terra Gardens enough!

Adam is the kindest person we've worked with when it came to turning our house into our home. Not only was he a good listener, but he felt like a partner, walking us through each part of the process and explaining everything throughout. When our yard was finished I felt like Adam had downloaded my brain and 3D printed my ideas. If you want to work with creative, ambitious and hard working people, then Adam at Terra Gardens is the person for you.

We'd been living with the 1960s style yard that came with the house for 5 years and felt like it was time to make a big change. We had redone our interior last year but kept the curtains closed to the eyesore of an overhang out back and the planting spaces slowly became overgrown with weeds. This year, with an active toddler running out of space to play, we knew it was time to make the update so we could host friends and family in a space we'd proud of and expand our living space.

First, Adam came to chat with us, look at our space and get some ideas. I showed him some things I had found online with the goals that we wanted an entertaining space, some colorful plants that were low maintenance and drought tolerant, some trees for privacy from our neighbors, and just a space that we could just hang out in while our kid plays. I knew from our first conversation that they were really paying attention and that they had really nice ideas.

Next, he sent over three different designs for us to consider with a patio cover, a low deck and variations on planting space and lawn. We loved all of them so it was hard to choose, but ultimately we went with the one that would give us some flexibility to move around outdoor furniture. They scheduled a week for demo and got right to it. Their team removed about a 15' x 15' area of concrete, 3 trees, smaller plants and the other half of the yard which were all weeds. The redwood deck went in next, they expanded the steps from our sliding doors to span the whole width for extra seating, then the pergola went up which they made to look very minimal and modern at our request. They also put in a floating wooden bench with a concrete backrest - super ambitious and it is the showpiece of the yard (we get a lot of compliments on it). 6 cement-looking pavers (a great cost saving tip!), a lawn of native grass (mow it or don't and it just lays down which is awesome) surrounded by dark grey gravel and plants of all sorts of soft textures.

They finished the yard while we were out of town and the bench didn't quite feel deep enough to me to sit comfortably, so Adam came back out and re-did it, no problem at all. So nice!

When it came to the plants Adam printed out some images and went over all the options with me (also calling them all by their Latin names, I was very impressed) and listened to which colors I did and did not like. He chose a variety of deep purples, bright pinks, red kangaroo paw, succulents surrounding the space and cool blue toned palms for behind our bench - I can't wait for those to one day give us some nice shade. It feels like a relaxing botanical garden retreat every single day and really suits our aesthetic and lifestyle. The trees have grown to give us more privacy from our neighbors and it's everything Adam promised.

Having a nice, practical and colorful backyard has made such a huge difference to our quality of life. We eat our meals outside, play music and hang out in the grass, our toddler runs around, and we can grill dinner with plenty of space around us - we really made the most of our summer. I also work from home so now I have the option to work outdoors, get fresh air and enjoy my surroundings. Maintenance has been really easy which has saved us a lot of time. We've already hosted three very fun birthday parties out back and fit 40-50 people in our home and yard with room to spare.

Most importantly, Adam's designs are well thought out and well executed, his team is really great and friendly and Adam is a good listener and communicators. I couldn't have imagined a better experience and he completely exceeded our expectations. It's been almost a year and everything is blooming beautifully with loads of color and texture. We look outside every day and say how much we love our yard and know we will enjoy it for years to come.

We'll be working with him on our front yard this year too!

Adam did a wonderful job replacing a section of my old my fence, as well as building me a custom barn-style gate to my specifications. He was professional, thoughtful and really listened to my design ideas. I also really appreciated that he always left my yard cleaner than when he first got there. I would definitely hire Adam again and would not hesitate to recommend him to others.

I don't normally post reviews but Adam and his crew were exceptional in every way and a joy to work with on my backyard makeover. I had recently done a major kitchen renovation and I wanted my backyard to be a wonderfully inviting extension from my new deck and Adam totally made that happen. I love to garden and had various espaliered fruit trees and citrus trees I'd planted over the past few years, but other than than my yard was a blank slate.

I had a pretty good idea (with a rough sketch) of what I wanted and Adam took that and finessed it, working closely and patiently with me every step of the way. I admit that I'm quite particular (demanding is probably more like it) and very detail oriented and NOT once did Adam get frustrated with me as I made changes, revising the plan as we progressed. He was so good about suggesting modifications along the way and I must say there's not one thing I'd have done differently, this after living with my new backyard for just over a year. His crew was great....always professional, friendly, and punctual. I'm always looking for value and I can honestly say that Adam's pricing was very fair and I'm very pleased with the end result.

To summarize, I would not hesitate for a minute to recommend Adam for any future landscaping/hardscaping project!

I'm a long-time landscaping hobbyist, studying my Sunset Western Garden Book and ordering plants from catalogs for years. But I knew the overhaul of our backyard wasn't something to DIY - too much money, time and headaches at stake. Time to call in a pro.

Lots of landscaping shops can make a pretty design and install it, nothing special there. I wanted a company who would listen to what I needed from our outdoor space. I wanted it to be an extension of our indoor living spaces. I wanted drought tolerant plants, low to moderate maintenance, no use of chemicals to promote or inhibit growth -- and I wanted it all to be beautiful!

I got all that and more with Terra Gardens. Adam is so easy to work with and is a real professional. The love of his work and depth of his knowledge are evident from the first meeting (he even knows the botanical names of all the plants we discussed!) We were also impressed with his woodworking portfolio and his use of brick and stone in past projects. But just as important, he listened carefully and answered all our questions. We came away knowing our project was in very good hands.

His design incorporated many of my ideas and improved upon others in ways I would never have thought of. Once the work began, he worked hard and handled the inevitable surprises with grace and ingenuity - i.e., his creativity comes through in the design phase as well as on the job. He always had things under control.

The end result was a doubling of usable outdoor space with a gorgeous brick patio, raised planting beds and an herb spiral, where there once was a weed patch and a bunch of high-maintenance rose bushes. In what used to be an unappealing area where we spent zero time, we now regularly take meals outdoors, enjoying our sublime surroundings and making friends with the local wildlife. We absolutely love our new back yard!

Adam gave us a garden that's beautiful, functional, easy to maintain, makes sense for the environment, and is a real pleasure to be in. All that, plus he's just a really nice person! I think he's the East Bay's best-kept landscape design secret. Better hire him before word gets out.

We were so happy working with Adam and his team to help us redo our backyard. We knew the basic layout that we wanted, but he had lots of good ideas for how to make it look amazing. We extended a small deck by our back door to run the length of our house, excavated a bunch of dirt and weeds and put in a loose gravel area in the center of our yard for our dining area with redwood ties lining the planting areas around the perimeter. He was quick and responsive, and we never felt like he was trying to upsell us or overcharging us for his work. We are thrilled with the result.