GreenHeart, LLC

We had a fantastic experience working with Cathy. She listened to us, and then drew up a unique plan, making excellent use of our space. She is beyond knowledgeable, but doesn't act like she knows best when discussing ideas (even though she really does when talking the idea through) She designed the hardscape, landscape, lighting, water system. She worked with each of the contractors. Our house is beautiful now with an inviting outdoor space we spent the summer in. I have no reservations recommendring her because of the ease of working with her and the quality and beauty of her work.

Cathy Carr recently did a complete redesign of our garden and we are thrilled with the results. She began by asking us what we wanted the space to look and feel like. Throughout, she listened thoughtfully and always responded to our questions with clarity. The lot is quite large and her design divided it into several smaller, more intimate areas, combining structural elements and plantings to give us a variety of seating areas and views. She worked respectfully with the various contractors and provided creative solutions to some unique problems with driveway widening and site drainage. Cathy was onsite often, checking as each new element--stonework, lighting, irrigation--was installed, and resolved any issues as they arose. The plantings she chose give us new colors and shapes as the seasons change so we have continual enjoyment of the garden. On the business side of things, she is well-organized. Invoicing was scheduled logically and payment was easily done by bank transfer. We would definitely recommend her.

Cathy was really great to work with and I would definitely recommend working with her. We had a whole site plan done and did about half of it in 2021. Our two biggest areas that needed addressing were a drainage issue behind the house that had led to some minor flooding and a large home next door that needed some screening. Cathy designed several new beds along the side of the property and since the old patio needed to be torn up to fix the drainage problem, came up with a new and much more functional design. The before picture with the dogwood in bloom shows some overgrown shrubs along the driveway and the large home that was built on what had originally been an undeveloped side yard of our home. But where Cathy really was great was in translating our ideas into something that not only looks great, but is well suited to the site and to the area. I love reading stories on Houzz but when it comes to turning an ideabook into an actual landscape that looks good and works, Cathy was invaluable. She provided tons of helpful feedback and suggested things that I would never have come up with on my own. Most importantly, the plants are doing great and we love seeing and the bees and butterflies that are now attracted to the yard. As things have grown in, it looks better and better. We have received so much positive feedback from neighbors. Cathy also helped us get a great company to do the work and her input during the installation helped us solve an unanticipated issue. When we received some heavy rain a few weeks after the installation was finished, there were some washout issues with the front bed. Cathy made some suggestions that the installers were able to implement which completely solved the issue.

I found Cathy on Houzz!!! And from these before and after pictures, you can see that Cathy came up with a terrific design that works from all angles in our narrow back yard and which we see from our third-floor bedroom window. She managed the installation too. Shout out to Great American Landscape; especially Carlos who pieced the special flagstone to Cathy’s design for two small patios connected by an enchanting stone path.

It was an absolute pleasure to work with Cathy Carr of GreenHeart, LLC. She is an incredibly talented, creative, detail-oriented, honest, responsive and reliable professional! Possessing all of these qualities truly puts her in a class by herself! Not only did she provide a brilliant landscape design for my front and back yards, but she also managed the implementation process with reliability and responsiveness. She translated my vague visions for the project into a beautiful landscape remodel that exceeded my expectations (....which I have been told on more than one occasion may be too high:). I HIGHLY recommend Cathy!

We moved from New Orleans to the DC area the last month of 2019 as we had managed to purchase a house next to one of our 3 daughters living in the area. Before we had moved into the house the basement had flooded during an especially hard rain storm. While we were having work done on the back of our house we noticed that our neighbors on the other side were having a very attractive makeover done on their back yard. We watched as Cathy Carr, as it turned out, organized the work on a water issue that they also had in their back yard, and then did a very attractive redesign of the back yard including a new patio. We went together on a beautiful new wood fence between our 2 properties, and decided that she was the one to help us solve our water issues and improve the back yard and parking area. We needed to have privacy without obstructing the safety view of the intersection of 2 alleys where there is a certain amount of car traffic as well as people walking and small children playing. It has been very easy ,and fun, to work with Cathy. She did the plans for both the front and back yards, but for the moment we are concentrating on the back area. We put in several more mature trees and plants to get a real change. She listened to our ideas and certainly improved on our suggestions with expert knowledge of plants, patio materials, and the right contractors to execute the plans. While the work was in progress, she stopped by, usually daily, to supervise and suggest adaptations of the plan based conditions discovered as the work progressed. Looking forward to work with heron the front soon!

We recently chose Cathy Carr, Greenheart Garden Designs to do a thorough “refresh” of our backyard landscape. This involved designing an entirely new layout for paved paths, refurbishing a low dry-stack wall, reshaping and enlarging a small deck, installing lighting, and completely re-imagining the greenscape. Cathy worked with us to identify aspects of the yard we liked and integrated those features into an imaginative design. The final plan combined attractive hardscaping (using a combination of natural and cut pavers) with a selection of plants selected for heartiness, ease of maintenance, and attractiveness throughout the year. Every step of this process—from the initial meeting to plan review to installation—went smoothly. Execution of the plan was also hassle-free: the three contractors did excellent work, and Cathy was on site every day to ensure the project stayed on schedule and to answer any questions we had along the way. We’re so happy with our new yard and have had many compliments from friends and neighbors. We would highly recommend GreenHeart for projects large and small!

From the outset Cathy Carr was attentive to all of our ideas and wishes and adapted them to the available terrain. She gave excellent advice regarding options and choices and developed a great plan. She was attentive at all stages of the implementation and quickly made alterations as our ideas and the work evolved. Cathy brought some excellent partnerships to implement the project and we are extremely happy with the results and all of the subcontractors who collaborated on the project (fence, hardscaping, landscaping, irrigation and lighting plus installation of a fire bowl connected to our main gas supply). As the plantings start to grow, the project is looking better and better.

Cathy was and continues to be not only a pleasure to work with, but someone whom I trust implicitly to deliver an outstanding project. We did a complete overhaul of our front and back yards upon completing a home addition. It was no small challenge, despite the small plot, given that we were completely transforming a traditional brick colonial into a modern, Scandinavi-Zen oasis. From day one, Cathy has been professional, attentive, timely, communicative, confident and outstanding at finding just the right balance between listening to our needs and translating them through her vision into reality beyond what we imagined. Her pricing is more than fair, and she works in perfect harmony with the trades - it’s obvious that they enjoy working with her, too. Thanks to Cathy’s design skills, installation experience, and ability to blend the urban and rural, modern and traditional, we have been enjoying our outdoor living areas on a daily basis. It feels like we’ve doubled our living space. We would gladly work with Cathy again and recommend her highly for your project.

Cathy Carr designed and supervised installation of new hardscaping (an enlarged front stoop, walkways) and landscaping for our entire yard (around 1500 front, sides, and back), and dealt with runoff issues inevitable on a sloping street. She and Great American Landscaping did a wonderful job - transforming a humdrum yard to a garden people stop to ask about and admire, and that gives us an enormous amount of pleasure. At her suggestion, we we enrolled in a county “Rainscapes” program, and established a “conservation garden” in which native species of plant attract wildlife and are arranged to absorb as much runoff as possible, with berms and drains to capture water that ponds there. Our initial ideas were vague. Cathy walked us through major choices, and we left many decisions to her, almost all of which worked well. Something is blooming from early spring until late fall, and foliage colors continue to change through early winter. As it grows and fills out, it will get even better, but already we love to sit and watch the butterflies and hummingbirds. Our front stoop has become a lovely slate porch on which to sit and watch the world go by, and we now have a small patio in the back. Cathy is also a delightful person to work with - creative and fun, and patient in answering my endless emailed questions. I recommend her enthusiastically.

Cathy did an amazing job designing and overseeing every aspect of our new pavilion, patio and surrounding garden. Her attention to detail, experience working with the contractors and materials meant that they project moved smoothly and was installed on schedule. Cathy cleverly used some of our our existing plant and hardscape material after the project was completed to add on to our existing garden, and did so seamlessly! We loved working with Cathy - she was a true professional and a pleasure to work with!

We are very pleased with Cathy and the work she did for us. I would recommend her highly to anyone looking to reimagine/refresh their landscaping. After an initial meet she designed a plan taking into account our various requests (including squirrel proof plants, color throughout the year, and raised beds to grow vegetables). Cathy was creative and able to solve long standing issues for which we had not found a solution. Cathy recommended and coordinated the various contractors (carpenter, landscaping company, lighting/irrigation, etc.) all of whom did exceptional work and whom we’ve since recommended to our friends. Cathy made the process as easy for us as possible. She followed up with contractors as needed and consulted with us as the transformation of the yard progressed. We were lucky and pleased to have found someone as creative and organized as Cathy. We highly recommend her.