Vision Garden Design

We wanted to transform our dated front yard that had a big, dying lawn and aging shrubs into a woodland garden. We also wanted to revamp our backyard with its old-fashioned patios and a major drainage problem into a relaxing place to entertain friends and family. We were looking for someone to help us visualize a beautiful new garden with great hang-out spaces and new, interesting plants and flowers that would be bring color and life to our front and backyards. We worked with Robin on the design and are thrilled with the results! Robin is so pleasant and professional and really listened to our vision for what we wanted. She is also very knowledgeable about plants and provided that information in an accessible manner so we were easily able to visualize how the finished garden would look. We have already recommended Robin to friends, family, and neighbors, and will continue to do so!

We decided to hire a landscape designer because we wanted to do an overhaul of our outdoor space and only had an incomplete idea for what we wanted. After we met with Robin, we were confident that she would be able to translate those fragments into a cohesive plan that would maximize how we use our outdoor space. Robin redesigned our front, side, and back yards in a way that met all of our needs and incorporated a number of elements we never would have thought of on our own. We finished our project just as the wet winter was winding down, and we have been enjoying the space Robin designed ever since! Throughout every stage of the project, we appreciated Robin’s attention to detail. She was also very responsive and patient with us as we took our time making some decisions. For all of these reasons, we would highly recommend working with Robin!

I can’t say enough great things about Robin! Working with her to completely redesign my front landscaping, replace plants in other areas & to repair lighting issues throughout my yard has been a pleasure. Robin is knowledgeable, creative and very practical in all things landscaping. She is that rare competent professional that will go the extra mile to make it right for you. Robin is also friendly, personable & easy to work with. I highly recommend hiring her for any project you might have!

Robin is very organized, communicative and patient. We worked on my project design for 6 months. She helped to me through the bidding process and monitored the implementation process. It was important for me to have a professional overseeing the entire project end-to-end. Robin has a wealth of professional contacts and information in the field of landscaping design and installation. They came in handy. During the installation she was responsive to changes and adapted well to new ideas. In addition, Robin is an expert in plants! If you are only thinking about a refresher for your garden instead of a full re-design, she will be fantastic at that too. I highly recommend Robin as an all-round landscaping expert!

We hired Robin to do a full remodel of our front and back yards. Everything was demolished to make way for the new landscape: the existing driveway, paths, irrigation, gates, and one fence. We opted for Robin's "full service" package which meant that she not only produced stunning and comprehensive designs, but also interviewed contractors and collected bids, managed the installation of the new hardscaping, and personally selected the plants and oversaw the planting. The result is a major upgrade to our property. Our front yard now has serious curb appeal. Our backyard is a heavenly oasis that we sit in every day. Everything looks so good - the low-water plants that will bloom year round, the lush ground cover in front and grass out back, the trees and arbor that provide us with shade from the Sunnyvale sun, the natural stone pavers and horizontal gates - everything!

We had a wonderful experience with Robin. We have an awkwardly shaped corner lot with a small slope, and she helped us design the front and side yard. Ever since we moved in five years ago, we knew we wanted to beautify this space. It was full of dead grass, stunted plants, and very dated. We also live in an area with lots of deer and wanted to ensure whatever we ended up doing would not require lots of water and upkeep. From the first meeting with Robin, we felt very comfortable. She was organized and a very good communicator. During the design process, she listened carefully to our feedback and always found solutions when we ran into challenges or tricky issues. She kept us on track and always made herself available when we had questions. We did not realize how much strategy and thought goes into the design process. She had to carefully consider plant colors, plant size at maturity, our preferences AND ensure that everything was drought and deer tolerant. We also hired Robin for the implementation phase of the project. She collected bids from contractors and presented us with the options. We selected one of the contractors who we absolutely loved. He and his team were incredible and did an amazing job. Robin worked with the contractor on plant placement and came back throughout the implementation and even after to check on the progress and make sure everything was coming together as we hoped. Having her help on the implementation was worth every penny. I am confident that we never would have progressed on the project as fast as we did had we not hired her. We are incredibly happy with the final product and have gotten so many compliments from our neighbors and family. We ended up with exactly what we wanted and cannot wait to see how the landscaping looks over time as the plants grow and mature. It truly is a beautiful space and looks like a completely different home.

We had a poor experience working with Robin as well as the Unlicensed Contractor she recommended and regularly works with on design projects - Gomer Basave of Basave Landscaping. Even after paying Robin for design, bid management, and installation facilitation services, we had to hire a second team to resolve both design and construction issues. In the end, we believed that Robin just didn’t have the design or facilitation expertise to complete our simple project and even worse, she didn’t care. She was extremely difficult to work with - she was unfriendly and unprofessional when problems arose. I had to convince her to come to see issues even though our contract stipulated additional visits after the project was complete were included. Thankfully, we eventually gave up on Robin and Gomer - considering it a sunk cost. We hired a new local team who identified the issues easily and were able to resolve them within a few weeks. These are some of the many issues that we experienced with Robin: - She was unable to present a single cohesive design on one drawing as we have experienced in past landscape design projects. - Robin has very poor design visualization skills. She did not sketch out ideas, or present any elevation designs to present how the design would look. This is a basic service with all the other designers we interviewed. - When problems arose with the contractor, she did not work with us to resolve the issues.

For the last 20 years we have made changes to our front and back yards, here and there, but it was time for a major overhaul, and that meant hiring a professional designer. After searching various online sites and seeing many glowing reviews, we contacted Robin Salsburg. From our first contact, Robin was engaging and open and so easy to work with. She listened, asked questions, and helped us figure out exactly what we wanted. For our front yard, she designed a beautiful low-water garden with a mix of succulents, perennials, and a small low-water lawn alternative. In back, she gave us two new flagstone patios, a new staircase, and a wonderful collection of evergreen and deciduous trees, shrubs and flowers that have truly transformed how we view and use our backyard. In addition to designing the yards, Robin facilitated the installation of the projects. This was just as invaluable to us as the design itself! She continues to be a wonderful source for any questions we have about plant care and concerns. We highly recommend Robin for anyone looking to re-landscape.

Amazing designer to work with who is responsive, fair on price and can design for any budget / space constraint. She ended up designing for our front yard (pavers, veneers, fruit trees, fence, lawn) and backyard (veneers that covered a huge retaining wall, lawn, borders for pavers, deck, water feature). She also helped us with identifying and managing the contractor which was HUGE. We were extremely happy with the result and highly recommend Robin!!

Robin (Vision Garden Design): Highly Recommended. Robin is a rare find. She loves her work, excels at it, keenly interested in pleasing her clients. She designed / managed a good-sized refresh of our front, side, and backyards. From initial site visit, framing ideas, to final plans, Robin accommodated our (sometimes changing) needs throughout the process. She managed the sourcing of plants, delivery, and installation contractor. Robin is always friendly, pleasant, easy-going, accommodating, and non-judgmental. It felt like we were working as a team - she was there for us throughout the entire process. We're thrilled with the result, and have had numerous compliments from neighbors and passersby. Thank you Robin!

Robin was top notch from beginning to end of our project! We needed a complete backyard re-do; Robin was great at truly understanding what we wanted and providing us with several options to consider. She is meticulous, detail oriented and has a great aesthetic sensibility. She was also invaluable in working with the contractor during the installation to ensure everything was done according to plan. Truly cannot recommend her highly enough!

Robin was wonderful. We are very pleased with the results. Great design, easy to work with, fair pricing and she has great connections. We procrastinated upgrading our landscaping for too many years. We wanted to do ourselves but never had the time. So I researched several landscape designers and chose Robin. The advantage of going with a landscape designer is we had the ability to get competitive bids for the best price and service. Robin provided us with some recommended installers. The problem with going with a one stop design and install landscaping company is you are not sure you are getting the best price and many of them are not professionally trained designers. I highly recommend Robin based on the fine work she did for us.