reviews
real stories of success and satisfaction
Words cannot describe the transformation in my garden.
From the beginning, Judy was extremely caring and professional, listening to our needs, offering valuable suggestions that reduced our budget and making sure the work was delivered on-time. Her designs are a mix of textures – bird bath, various types of pots, pebble pathways etc., colors and eco-friendliness that speaks in harmony with the rest of our surroundings. Loved the fact that she brought together different aspects to the landscape in an excellent whimsical manner and beyond everything her personal touch to our garden.
Judy initially started as a design consultant and is now doing our ongoing landscape management involving continued landscape improvements and maintenance as well as pruning. I would highly recommend Judy for her designs and professional attitude to getting the work done on-time.
PRABITHA G. – Palo Alto, CA
I am a huge and enthusiastic fan of Judy’s Gardens & Design.
Landscape designer Judy Maier generated and executed for me an aesthetically pleasing, thoughtfully imaginative, and economically practical re-design plan for front, side and rear yard spaces of my old Palo Alto home.
Judy’s landscape design–faithful to but not confined by my 80-year-old home’s cape cod architectural style–delivered an enormous breath of fresh air to the property as well as reducing water consumption needs. Two impressive examples of Judy’s magic were her (1) locating and reserving for me a raft of huge hard-to-find camellias and (2) artfully pruning and trimming two sizable flowering trees, contributing to the transformation of the front yard. Her capable crew expertly and expeditiously implemented Judy’s designs.
I’m now using Judy for landscape projects on rental units I own.
BRYANT M. – Palo Alto, CA
Judy is first and foremost an artist and it comes through in her landscape design. And like artists have, she has her own unique style that she breathes into her works of art, in this case gardens, while at the same time being very intuitive and sensitive to what I want and see in my vision. I wanted a backyard that gave me the feeling I was out in nature, somewhat wild and free flowing, a place I could go after work to relax and let all the cares of the day dissipate into my surroundings. I knew she was capable of so many different styles from what I saw in her portfolio, but gave me exactly what I had hoped for. With her fine garden service, she and her team now maintain, manage, and nurture my garden so that it grows into the vision she planted and I had hoped for. I couldn’t be happier.
KATHY L. – Willow Glen-San Jose, CA
Judy did an amazing job helping us create some much needed “curb appeal” for the sale of our house. She listened to our ideas, kept within our budget and was a pleasure to work with. Her knowledge of plants was impressive and she helped us choose what would work best in our yard, keeping it drought resistant and low maintenance per our request. She has an incredible eye for combining elements in the garden that work well together creating a lush and beautiful chorus of textures, colors, line, & accents. The finished project is far more than we imagined it could be and we are happy we chose Judy for the job!
KRISTINE F. – Mountain View, CA
Judy is a joy to work with! She’s knowledgeable, friendly, flexible, and a caring person.
She and her crew have done my monthly fine gardening for over two years now, and the garden has really bounced back! she’s especially skilled at her aesthetic pruning of Japanese maples. mine look beautiful, and are very happy.
Judy brings the design and horticultural knowledge—that true care of gardens—that are far beyond typical mow and blow. Organic products and green solutions, which I value, are part of the service.
Her foreman, Jesus, is great to work with… helpful, positive and very accommodating of the additional pruning, irrigation work and adjustments that a small garden like mine needs.
Just give her a call. I’m glad I did!
DAN C. – Mountain View, CA
Love Judy and her crew. A few years ago we did the right thing and removed our grass and put drought-tolerant California native plants in our garden. Then we discovered that the regular mow-and-blow garden crews don’t know what to do with a garden like that. So, Judy to the rescue. She and her crew do our weekly maintenance (weeding, cleanup) as well as quarterly “fine gardening,” which is careful pruning and shaping the plants so they look their best. Judy’s knowledge and attention to detail combined with her crew’s thoroughness and care is magical. Our garden has never looked better.
CATHARINA W. – Menlo Park, CA
I have used Judy for the past two years to do aesthetic pruning of my Japanese maple trees and other ornamental trees. She has also pruned my fruit trees (apples and plums). Some of the maple trees had been planted in poor locations for their size and structure. Just one year after Judy’s pruning, I noticed a huge improvement in their form. She is extremely detailed in her work and spends a great deal of time viewing the tree in different light and from different angles before making any cuts. Her work on the fruit trees was excellent as well- she optimized fruit production while not sacrificing the beauty of the trees. Judy’s artistic sensibility is evident from the work she has done on my trees. Her communication with me has been excellent as well.
GERI M. – Los Altos, CA
We have been working with Judy for a while now. We can be a challenging client as my husband and I can have pretty opposite ideas. But working with Judy has been great. She is very patient, brings great ideas and solutions. What she is particularly good at is really listening and getting an understanding of what we want (or think we want!) and making it come to life. Our backyard looks SO much better these days … she has really created the “woodland” that we had been imagining.
We also, probably like most people, have big ideas but smaller budgets in mind. Judy has worked well with us to figure out what and where to spend and once we agree on a budget she works within it … no surprises.
As an aside, she also does fine gardening for us and does excellent work. She does aesthetic pruning of our Japanese maples, crabapples, and other trees and they really look lovely.
Would recommend her to anyone who is looking for help making a landscaping vision come to life or wants to freshen up what you already have.
SUE G. – Atherton, CA
Have enjoyed working with Judy for several years now. She has a great eye, our Japanese maples look wonderful when she is done. She was recommended to us by another expert pruner who’s work we admired but was not willing to travel to our area. We especially appreciate her willingness to work with us, explaining what she is doing, why and what she envisions our trees should look like down the road. We would recommend her highly to anyone. Thanks Judy
CAROLYN G. – Alamo, CA
We hired Judy to design a landscape for my elderly parents. Her design was just as we wanted. Her choice of plants was superb, balancing colors, textures, and seasonal variations all the while being sensitive to my parents financial concerns and desire for water wise plants. She was fun to work with and went out of her way to accommodate our family needs. She was very reliable and monitored the project every step of the way. My parents now have a beautiful front yard. I highly recommend Judy.
DIANE W. – Palo Alto, CA
Been using Judy for Japanese maple trimming for many years now. The trees literally love her! I had a scrawny one foot high maple inherited from a friend, practically dead. Now it is the most beautiful, perfectly shaped 10 foot tall tree that gives me pleasure every time I look at it. Took years of careful pruning and shaping, worth every penny! She’s magical with maples! (We have seven maples she keeps in good order!)
ANDREA B. – Palo Alto, CA
Judy treats my garden with love and care, as though it were her own.
She’s reliable, she keeps me informed about how my plants are doing and is quick with great suggestions about additions and moves.
My garden is beautiful! Thank you Judy.
JONNA S. – Willow Glen, San Jose, CA
It is not often that you meet someone who loves what they do for a living. Judy’s passion for gardens and all things in the garden is infectious. A talented garden designer who has a knack for immediately understanding what you are wanting to achieve and follows up with great and creative ideas in terms of plantings, hardscape and other features to create a unified design.
Judy is incredibly knowledgeable on plants, climates, irrigation and can takes the worry out of installation with her excellent team. It really is A plus work. Aesthetic pruning has made such a difference to our olive trees they are thriving!
We are lucky to have found Judy and look forward her monthly visits for fine gardening services. We see a marked difference in the health and extended blooming of the plants. And the garden now looks great all year round.
Judy really is one of the best, you cant go wrong!
BRIDGET M. – Menlo Park, CA
We hired Judy to act as our ongoing landscape manager for our home, as well as to do fine pruning for our Japanese maples, camellias, and other small trees. (Our property is about 1/2 acre with an ornamental front yard and a more natural back yard.) We are delighted with the job that she has been doing. Working with her recommended gardening crew, she has made our property look better than it ever has before, with our trees looking lovely and with flowers blooming in places that other gardeners worked on unsuccessfully for years. Judy is very knowledgeable and extremely meticulous, paying attention to small details and dealing early with potential problems. She is a pleasure to work with, both because of her pleasant, upbeat personality and her responsive, clear, and efficient communication with us. As might be expected, the cost is significantly higher than for most ordinary gardeners in the area, but if you want your property to look fabulous, she is worth every penny. Fine gardening skills such as hers are hard to find.
LAURA H. – Almaden Valley, San Jose, CA
Judy’s eye for symmetry and flow / function is unparalleled. She is personally invested in each project as if it were her own and takes great pride in everything to which she lays a hand.
Judy believes strongly in the natural harmony of our world and is able to reveal its beauty in the most aesthetically pleasing ways. It’s reminiscent to me of the approach that some of the masters took… exposing a beautiful sculpture from within the block of stone.
Judy’s talent for design, combined with her love for nature and exceptional eye for beauty leads me to give her my HIGHEST recommendation for your next landscape/garden design project.
MARC K. – Sunnyvale, CA