• how to make your garden more attractive AND use native plants
• to reduce garden maintenance, cost, and resources
• how to renew, reuse, and recycle your garden
• tips and tricks to make organic gardening easier
• to promote bio-diversity, including plants, birds, bees & beneficial insects
• how to set up basic criteria to make your own garden design decisions

• if your only sunny space is the front yard, learn to mix edibles with ornamentals attractively
• if your space is tight, learn to grow edibles vertically
• to grow more in the same space: rotate and sequence your crops
• the importance of combining plants to boost their growth
• how to plant during the year to keep your garden productive and change it from year to year to keep it healthy

• spruce up your garden to help sell your house or for you to enjoy yourself
• make your home look good enough to eat; we provide exterior color & materials consultation & selection
• improve livability with garden furniture & furnishings selection & procurement

• help you find the right contractor for your project
• provide you with bid documents
• bid review assures 'apples to apples' comparison
• periodic site reviews during construction and after to assure
  your garden stays looking the way we conceived it;
  schedule a regular or periodic checkup.

As much as I wish I could say anytime is the best time for a consultation, it really depends on what you want to do. So here are some helpful criteria:

• If you want to modify an existing garden and you know some plants will go and some will stay, the reality is that some are good plants in the wrong place. Therefore meeting just before an ideal time to move them is best. Generally, the best times to relocate plants are late October into early December and mid-February to mid-April. Plants that are proven hardy are fine either time. Plants with border-line hardiness are best in late winter-early spring.
  Best times to contact us: August/September & December/January.
• If you have a sea of mud and no garden, the sooner the better. Contractors are generally slower over the winter, so meeting then should get you a plan where their schedule would be more amenable to a spring installation. That said, if we are having a ‘hot market’ or a particular contractor is in high demand, then it might mean waiting until summer.
  Best times to contact us: October/November & April/May (for a fall installation)
• If you need a planting plan to fill in your empty plant borders around your existing hardscape (patios, paths, decks, etc.), the best times to plant are from mid-February to the first of May OR late September into early December – depending on temperatures. If we get a hot-spell in April of 90-degree temperatures, that’s not ideal.
  Best times to contact us: January/February & June/July.
• If you would like us to evaluate the planting design of your garden and advise you about what to do to improve it, the best time to see it is when it is fully leafed-out.
  Best time to contact us: mid-April - late September.
• If you feel like your hardscape is a jumble, the most obvious time is over the winter. That said, seeing your plants in relationship to your hardscape is also beneficial.
  Best time to contact us: Anytime
• If you are working with an architect to construct a new house, working with us during the design process is helpful because it isn't often that we find an architect that has the best sensitivity to planting.
  Best Time to Contact Us: near the end of the conceptual design phase
• One more thing: Just because it is the middle of summer doesn't mean you can't plant then, but it does mean you will need to water more frequently. If you have an irrigation system, you just need to set the timer. If you must do it by hand or with a sprinkler/hose, then consider the time that you will need to spend to do it properly. As I've told clients who planted in August when it was over 85 degrees, "There is no such thing as overwatering new plants in that kind of heat."

My husband and I built a house recently and the builder left us with a muddy mess of a "yard." The HOA required us to have our front yard landscape completed in 6 months or less, and I started to panic. I have no clue about gardening! I just knew I wanted it to be beautiful, low-maintenance, and no lawn. A friend referred me to Vanessa, and in our very first meeting over a cup of coffee, I knew I could trust her 110%. She lights up the room with her super cheery attitude and is a fantastic listener. Vanessa doesn't impose her artistic vision on you;
she grasps all your wants and needs.

Vanessa is the entire package, and I can't tell you how relieved I am (over and over and over again!) to have her help. From the actual plans to advice and resources, there just is NO way I could have completed this project without her. The end results of my front yard are incredible. We have people drive by and tell us how much they
appreciate our garden. They always comment on its beauty, a real "gardener's paradise," but they have no idea how easy the plants are that Vanessa chose! And I LOVE the fact that my yard is a million times better than all of the "basic" landscaper designs (sod and a few boring plants) that my neighbors have. Our front yard is practically a work of art!

Vanessa is now collaborating with us on our backyard, and again, I can breathe a huge sigh of relief knowing that it's going to be a truly magnificent place to spend our time. Without hesitation, I recommend Vanessa!
Shannon Pratuch, Washougal, WA

Vanessa Nagel is living her passion. It is easy to see her passion for her work in everything she does. Her creativity combined with her ability to simplify defines her work. As a Landscape Contractor we enjoy collaborating with Vanessa on projects. Many large estate gardens we install over a period of years. Both of us love plants and enjoy clients’ joy in experiencing the unusual. Vanessa will transform your yard into an amazing garden.
Donna Burdick, Landscape Contractor