Rock Paper Clippers -

Alex Choy

Kathy Landscaping Review
We were referred to Kathy last year when we're beginning to explore redoing the landscaping in our front and side yard, which were both in desperate need of updating the existing 90s landscape. Our decision to work with Kathy was solidified over the phone and in-person consults that we did to start the process. We were impressed with her local knowledge, great questions, and guidance as to what the process would look like. We also loved how communicative and transparent she was about timing and costs.

We were thrilled once we received the master plan and couldn’t wait to see what it would look like once it was completed. Upon deciding to move forward, Kathy provided a list of contractors to work with and made a recommendation on who would be best for us based on the demo, plants, and stone work we wanted to do.

Kathy helped to shepherd the process from start to finish. She was directly involved in guiding with precision the placement of the stones, plants, and lighting. Once the project was complete, Kathy did a meticulous review (helping to ID which plants didn’t make it through the planting process, adjusting lighting based on how the plants had settled, and ensuring we had the right irrigation and lighting equipment installed) and provided us with a comprehensive plan of how to care for each and every plant.

We would highly recommend Kathy for any of your landscaping needs!

Justin Ng

Kathy transformed our challenging hillside backyard from dated and overgrown into a backyard oasis. She carefully considered our needs (outdoor lounging area, decluttered hillside, fountain/lighting features) and guided us away from elements that would not fit our landscape or budget. After iterating our 3D design plans, Kathy provided terrific recommendations for contractors, arborists and vendors. During the build, Kathy was very detail oriented and hands-on to make sure everything was installed just right. We especially appreciated the education she gave on how to maintain our new landscape and supported us after the project was wrapped up. Highly recommend Kathy to anyone looking for an expert landscape designer who treats each project as if it were her own. Thanks Kathy!

Debbie Hussey

We moved into a newly built modern farmhouse where the builder clearly saw the landscape as an afterthought…lawn in front with uninspiring shrubs, a nice deck in the back but the remaining terraced landscape and yard was just decomposed granite and more lawn! Of course, we did not want to waste water trying to keep the lawns green.
We were looking for more lounge space, play space and garden space. After meeting Kathy and hearing her process for designing our landscape, we were all in! She has a refreshing perspective, great experience with the layout of our backyard and a practical attitude. Kathy created a beautiful, robust design incorporating all of our wants and needs. We now have an enviable front yard of drought tolerant and native plants with a fantastic Japanese Maple tree and some boulders. Our terraced backyard now has dining space, lounge space with a fire pit and steel pergola, play space for our daughter and garden space. The rock walls, patio, lighting, etc. are all great and Kathy oversaw every detail. We could not be happier with the design, Kathy’s plant & tree choices, and her project management skills keeping everything on track.
I would highly recommend Rock Paper Clippers for any landscape project you have!

Rene Meisner-Williams

Our backyard had been ignored since we took out the kids’ playstructure. While we had a nice deck, the lower tier of the yard needed a serious update. We met with several landscape designers and Kathy really stood out as someone who is responsive, open, creative and straight forward. When we met with Kathy she listened to what our needs were and our aspirations for the space, and was very clear about what was possible. She had some unique design suggestions that helped create a unique feel to our space. In addition, she was very candid about budget considerations. The design process was fantastic, she came up with novel solution for connecting our deck to the lower tier and the renderings that she makes allowed us to visual the impact of different design features. Once we finalized our design Kathy helped us find Landscapers to perform the work, and once identified worked seamlessly with them. We added a mezzanine deck, replaced a wood retaining wall with stone, adding a beautiful fountain, repaved the lower section and added lighting and irrigation throughout. It is a pleasure to entertain in our backyard (perfect during COVID times). Besides being available all throughout the process, Kathy has continued to respond to questions and challenges to make sure the plants are healthy and growing. The best thing about working with Kathy is her creativity, pragmatism and availability. I highly recommend Kathy to anyone looking to update their outdoor space, and can’t wait to work with her on our next (front yard) project!

Erin Bauer

Kathy rescued our yard!

Before working with Kathy, our yard was overgrown, chaotic, full of dead lawn and - thanks to a homemade pond from the prior owners - unsafe. We rarely spent time out there.

We interviewed Kathy along with a few other landscape designers and were impressed with her knowledge of plants and her vision for what we could do with our space. We decided to move forward with Kathy and she helped us work through exactly what we wanted, suggesting design elements and layouts we never would have thought of. Once we had a landscape contractor on board to build out the design, she partnered with them to make sure the end result was perfect. Kathy helped us through the inevitable speed bumps during construction, guided us through decisions and answered all of our questions thoughtfully and thoroughly.

These days, we spend almost every evening out in the yard. The layout is clean and functional, the plants are colorful and unique, and the lighting makes it a magical space. We love it and constantly get compliments from neighbors.

Thank you Kathy for turning my confusing layout sketches and vague ideas into a beautiful yard we’ll enjoy for years!

Han Li

We had the great pleasure of working with Kathy on designing our new home's landscape. What impressed us the most about Kathy was her knowledge, passion, creativity and professionalism. Kathy checked all the boxes on our wishlist and went above and beyond - low maintenance/sustainability, large plant variety, visually harmonic with the surroundings and colorful.

We have a net-zero home, so sustainability was on the top of our list - Kathy picked out colorful draught resistant/tolerant plants and taught us to look beyond succulents. We love colors - Kathy would send us to different houses to check out their plants to make sure we love the colors and the looks, she even helped us picked out our house's exterior color. We wanted something topographically interesting - Kathy brought in big rocks and little rocks, purposefully designed high grounds and low grounds for different types of plants based on their water usage. We wanted a worry-free installation - Kathy was involved every step of the way during the installation process to ensure every detail in the design was captured by the contractor, she even chased after the contractor for us for plant replacement and fixing the lighting system for free! We really couldn't have asked for a better landscape designer, who takes such great pride in her work.

Kathy is extremely knowledgable about plants, landscaping, lighting and irrigation, so every time we had a question, she would have a thorough answer on why and why not it was a good idea/would work. I used to laugh at "homework assignments" she gave us, granted that we knew nothing about plants - she asked us to look at the pictures of the plants and read about them (yes, she did quiz us on things once in a while ;)). But after working with her for a while, I started to appreciate her assignments - we started to understand why she made the choices/suggestions she did, we started to appreciate the level of detail that goes into landscape design, and after everything was done, we were beyond thrilled to see the final product that we were part of making. Kathy still stops by our house periodically to check on our plants and makes suggestions if anything needs attention/to be replaced.

Not only have we been thoroughly enjoying our views outside our windows, we've had so many compliments on our yard from neighbors as well as people passing by. We have happily referred friends and neighbors to Kathy. In short, when it comes to landscape design, in Kathy, we trust!

Whitney Wood

We can't stop hanging out in our new backyard -- Kathy transformed it from a dull, drought-damaged place to a lovely, water-wise space that every family member enjoys. I had an idea what we wanted but Kathy's great questions during the consultation and planning helped clarify what would work for us. She gave us a few choices to make, but when in doubt we followed her recommendations and couldn't be more glad that we did. She kept a careful eye on on our installation process and made a few adjustments to the design along the way. The whole space if lovely but I have to say, we particularly love the little fountain she included in the design -- it is a burbling delight!

Skyler Thompson