Vision Garden Design

Twenty-eight years ago, our family was fortunate to find a great landscape designer and a great plant visionary to transform our backyard. We followed that project shortly afterward with a partial transformation of our front yard, using the same plant visionary who selected plants suitable for our neighborhood next to Almaden Quicksilver Park. As time and deer performed their own transformation, it became necessary to look for a new landscape designer and a new plant visionary, as the professionals with whom we worked more than a quarter century ago no longer were available. After a couple months of searching, we came upon Robin Salsburg and her business, Vision Garden Design, who we selected to redesign our front yard and facelift our backyard. Robin proved herself both a great landscape designer and a great plant visionary, consistent with her business name. As time and deer performed their own transformation, it became necessary to look for a new landscape designer and a new plant visionary, as the professionals with whom we worked more than a quarter century ago no longer were available. After a couple months of searching, we came upon Robin Salsburg and her business, Vision Garden Design, who we selected to redesign our front yard and facelift our backyard. Robin proved herself both a great landscape designer and a great plant visionary, consistent with her business name. Robin prepared detailed drawings, which were easy to understand, and gave us fun homework assignments when it came to selecting plants. There were a lot of species and varieties to consider, and Robin made it simple for us to pare down the number of plants by noting which ones we loved, which ones we could live with, and which ones we hated. When it finally came time for us to implement Robin’s final design, we asked her to recommend landscape contractors, and then (with her assistance) interviewed four firms. We eventually settled on K&D Landscaping, and asked Robin to oversee the project to ensure her vision was fully implemented. Robin met weekly with the contractor and us, and after two months of construction the project came out even better than her wonderful two-dimensional drawings promised. We have worked with many design professionals, and we can wholeheartedly say that Robin is among the very best. She focused on our best interests throughout the design and construction phases. Looking back on the project, we feel as fortunate as we did 28 years ago, perhaps even more fortunate because Robin has made our front and backyards better than we ever dreamed.

We hired Robin to help us completely redesign our overgrown, neglected backyard, and we are so thrilled with the results! Since we didn’t know where to start with this project, we relied on Robin’s great eye for design to envision the space, and she guided us through a step-by step process to help us make all the choices from pavers to plants, so the new garden looks exactly how we hoped it would. We also had Robin facilitate the installation – a must-have service for us. She worked closely with our contractor to ensure everything was implemented according to the design. We would absolutely recommend working with Robin for whatever project awaits you. She is knowledgeable, organized, responsive, kind, and worth every penny. We could not have done this project without her!

When an originally small project turned into something where we wanted to reimagine our front and back yard, we searched for a landscape designer. After many conversations, we were lucky to meet Robin who helped us transform vague ideas into a beautiful result with harmony, charm and taste. Robin’s easy manner, responsiveness and knowledge made her far and away the best choice. We could not have conceptualized what was possible without Robin’s insight, and the results far exceeded our expectations. We recommend Robin to friends and could not endorse her more highly! You will love working with Robin.

After years as a rental, we decided to move into our Rio Del Mar house and make it our full-time home. The landscaping of this house had become sparse and needed a complete overhaul in both the front and back yards. We needed a demolition plan, drainage solutions, hardscape design, space planning, irrigation and lighting plan, a sauna installation, plant selection and installation, fountain placement, and mulch/gravel selection. Since we were new to the area, we also wanted help finding the right contractor to complete the work. We hired Robin Salsburg of Vision Garden and we are so glad we did. Robin was wonderful to work with and we love our new landscape. It is water sparing, beautiful, and functional. The front and backyards meet our needs perfectly. The design also complements our home and neighborhood. We know we will enjoy it for years to come! Robin started by asking lots of questions. She wanted a good understanding of our personal style, preferences and how we envisioned using the spaces. Then, she started to “create”. There was a draft at each step so we could visualize what the spaces might look like. She always asked for feedback and made alterations as needed. My favorite part was the plant selection. She created a whole online “book” for us to review. It featured plants that would work well in our yard. Our job was to let her know which plants we “loved,” which ones we “liked,” and which ones we “wouldn’t want”. While this took time, it was well worth the effort because we love everything in the yard! Robin also handled getting bids from three licensed contractors. Once we had all the information, my husband and I were able to make the final choice of who to hire. Throughout the landscape installation, Robin was in contact with both the contractor and myself. The communication and teamwork were excellent throughout. The whole process went smoothly and exceeded my expectations. We recommend Robin and would use her again. She is professional, communicative, collaborative, trustworthy, and makes great effort to deliver excellent service. She is also just a really nice person that I’m grateful to have met. Call Robin. You won’t be disappointed.

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.