My Secret Garden Landscaping

The original price changed after the quote was made because something was overlooked by the landscaper. Would not recommend. What is promised and what is delivered are not the same.
Update, noted this company’s statement about my review. We have been a client and she had our other reviews taken off even though they are just like some of the other reviews. I think she has too much time on her hands, not us, to keep on looking at this instead of making her customers satisfied.
What good is Unilocal if our reviews are taken off for basically agreeing with her other former customers reviews?
We think that this business owner should concentrate on being a good business person and following through.

What was priced and what she said she would do were very different. She also is very eccentric and not easy to talk with (and she told me way more info than I wanted or cared to know about her personal issues). She told me she would come on certain days, then showed up early when I wasn’t home and left her hose and other material in our garage so we couldn’t even park our cars! Very disappointed, weeds came up within weeks after she left, the plants she planted are shoddy… price she charged was outrageous for what we got… would never use her again

I have been working with Joni from My Secret Garden Landscaping for 3 years and I can’t say enough wonderful things about this lady. She has truly turned my property into the envy of all my neighbors. She always comes up with great ideas and is an incredibly hard worker. If one of the plants doesn’t quite make it, or is not working out she is quick to replace it.
Warning, the gardening work she does is addictive. I have her come each spring and fall and we keep adding new things. She does it all, clean-​up, mulch, planting and more.
If you want a professional with a good eye, a vast knowledge of plants and a warm and friendly personality call her!

I originally found this «landscaper» off of service magic. I received a few quotes for some landscaping to be done in my backyard. I liked her and her pricing. I am on a budget as I didn’t want to splurge on my landscaping when I could splurge on vacations and updates INSIDE the house.
Regardless, the original quote was for under my budget and the work was to be done in 1 day. I hired Joni the day after receiving the estimate/​quote.
Upon her arrival the price changed by $ 100 because she didn’t estimate the new patio bricks to be installed. This was still ok as it was still in my budget.
What wasn’t ok was that she didn’t professionally install anything. I have NO CLUE how to put down any pavers/​bricks for a patio but I can tell you that if you do any little research or walk into a Menards the first thing you’ll see in the brick section is «how to install bricks for your patio». You need to first level the dirt underneath and once properly placed as desired you have to seal with sand. That never happened with Joni. I figured she may do it at the end… but to no avail, no such thing occurred.
A few hours into the job she told me it’s taking longer than expected and she has an out-​of-​town guest she has plans with. She wanted to come the next morning. That was ok with me. She was supposed to arrive at 10 a.m. She showed up at 11:30.
Day two, she sent me out for more bricks. By the time I arrived, sod was laid down. My yard looks way better than before but still needs a lot of improvement. She was supposed to remove some plants, replant others, etc. My biggest concern was the sod she laid down. Again, not being an expert, I figured all sod should be green. Not according to Joni.
Day three: she had to come back out because on day 2 her worker left early without completing the job.
Joni’s excuse for the sod being somewhat green and a little yellow was because I didn’t have a sprinkler. It had been 24 hours since she installed the sod and I made sure I watered it 4 times that day. The following morning I had a sprinkler on the lawn.
Here we are 1.5 weeks later and I still have yellow sod. Thanks for nothing Joni.
She tried to send me a text explaining how it’s MY fault she installed poor sod and that she would gladly install new sod that I must pay for. Umm, at this point, I don’t need her assistance.
Point being, she is nice and polite. I didn’t have a problem with her in that department. I had a problem with the shoddy work. She is supposed to be a professional. If she didn’t know how to install brick patios I would have accepted that but instead she falsely made me believe she has done this before. My bricks are already popping up and are uneven. I now have to hire someone else to clean up after her.
She was in my budget but so not worth it.
** side note ** she actually had the nads to hand out her cards to my neighbors while still working on my yard. She physically walked away from her job, went to her car, got a handful of cards and handed them to the board president because she overheard our conversation. What the!!!
Needless to say, he will NOT be contact her in the near future.
******update as of 08÷01÷11 ********
I had originally given this lady 2 stars but I’ve changed to to 1. Yesterday I received an email from her complaining about my review on
. She began to tell me about her whole life and how I’ve ruined it by giving her less than favorable rating. She also started telling me about her divorce, the two homes she’s lost and other personal things I would never share with a stranger. Joni asked me to actually change my rating. She lodged a complaint about the rating I gave her and now that company will allegedly/​potentially contact me. I don’t have a problem with anyone contact me. What I do have a problem with is her asking me to say she’s done a good job. She still did a crappy job, WHY would I change anything?
In this email she sent me she stated that she never said she was a professional and she did the best job she could. HUH??? You charged me like you were a professional. The day of the project she tacked on another $ 100 because I had more stones that I wanted laid down (even though I told her at the initial estimate date). I didn’t complain about having to fork up more money.
Honestly, I wish I hadn’t wasted my money on her. I could have done this myself and had done a better job.