Banyon Tree Design Studio

When we found Lisa’s portfolio online, the first feeling it gave us was hope. We had bought a newly constructed townhouse with a completely unfinished yard. Actually, unfinished would have been better. It was troubled with an outsized retaining wall built of concrete pavers and planted only with two struggling, sad shrubs. It had just two things going for it: the beautiful willow tree overhanging from next door and the potential for it to be reimagined a a very private space, tucked behind our townhouse in the rear of a lot of infill development in urban Seattle. Seeing Lisa’s work gave us hope that it could be re-envisioned into something beautiful. As we worked with Lisa, our hope grew into excitement. We loved the process of working with her. We had a great, lively series of discussions that began with ideas we had in our own heads and then brought Lisa’s talent to fully developed designs. Lisa was fantastic at understanding both what design elements we either loved or really needed. She envisioned many beautiful ways to interpret that through her own design expertise. And just as an aside, Lisa is a pleasure to work with and just talk to, in addition to her skilled professionalism. Now we have lived for a few months with the realization of Lisa’s hard work, original design and beautiful aesthetics. Her work is thoughtful, functional and elegant. Our tiny garden has had an outsized impact on how we live daily. By day, it is a beautiful garden with unique plants that create a sense of tranquility and surprise within the gated and fenced space. The angular composition of raised steel beds, decking, pavers and gate placement create a dynamic space that wowed us from its first day. Being small in its scale places us in proximity to each element of the structure and plantings. At night, the up-lighting and fire pit create a magic space. The privacy and beauty hand-in-hand gives us a daily escape from work and the churn of the city to decompress, enjoy dinner outside and have a drink by the fire. It’s been so rewarding to have a small space provide equal shares of happiness and function in our daily lives. And now I happily say we are grateful that we worked with Lisa and that she committed so much creativity to such a small project that has had such an impact for us.

Lisa Port & Banyon Tree Design have been around for years and truly know their business. Many architects, as well as myself, easily recommend Lisa to design the landscapes for their clients. Everyone that I work with who has worked with them talks highly of their skill & customer service.

Lisa is incredible. Over the past 3 years we have built 8 projects with Lisa and look forward to many more. We've been building landscapes for over 20 years and recognize how very fortunate we are to have found such a creative and capable designer to work with. Lisa is my favorite. She's got it all. She can take an outdoor space and make it a part of your home with rooms and destinations, views and vistas, beauty and function; all the while making it personally specific to your lifestyle and tastes. She never seems to struggle to come up with new ideas and ways to use a space that will work for your family. She can communicate her ideas with incredible drafting skills and a full understanding of how things are built. She knows that the true assessment of a successful project is measured by a clients's happiness, which she ensures by listening intently, setting clear expectations, and being timely. I love that! And she is a good person who I like to be around. She's creative. She's smart. She's educated. She's experienced. She's self-aware. She's thorough. She's responsive. She's loaded with good vibes. She's the one you want. To steal a line from Bring It On, "If we're gonna be the best, we have to have the best. Lisa is the poo, so take a big whiff!"

I found Lisa Port and Banyon Tree on HOUZZ. I had been working with another landscape professional and the person was just not listening to my vision for our yard. So I went on HOUZZ to look at pictures to show her. When I realized that every picture that I saved was from Lisa, I emailed her to see if she would take my small job. Boy am I glad she did. We are very budget conscientious, but the end result looks anything but. She was able to design in everything we wanted and more. Plus, she is super nice and easy to work with. I am so thankful she took our job!

In the building design process, we asked Chad Port to review our home plans. Chad was wonderful to work with, thorough and had some excellent suggestions for advanced framing techniques and energy efficiency. The follow up services and additional questions were answered promptly and with much detail. We would highly recommend Banyon Tree for architectural assistance! ~Kiva & Kirsten Lints

We love the design for new landscape and hardscape. Lisa has a beautiful eye, and she comes up with creative solutions to tricky problems (in our case, complicated grades). I highly recommend her.

We were delighted with the end result of our landscaping job. Lisa Port of Banyon Tree Design was helpful, efficient and fun to work with. She listened to our ideas and paid attention to the photos and schematic drawings we provided and then created a design beyond our greatest expectations. Our new garden is easy to maintain and a real show stopper.

We had a major remodel done at our Seattle home. Some structural concerns on the house, created some significant changes to the front yard and Lisa was recommended to assist us with sorting them out. Budget: She listened intently to our wants, was respectful of a budget that had already been over-stretched in the house remodel, she created solutions that were not just aesthetically pleasing, but ones that have truly become the major features of the front yard (who knew there could be so many!). Of all the work we had done, Lisa is the only contractor that came in with a design that was so reflective our our wants and came in on budget. Hardscape: Surrounded by an attractive, multi-level fence that Lisa designed, she created a lovely front courtyard that has a great path to the front door, a beautiful pond & waterfall that erases the noise of a busier street, creates a lovely water sound through open windows all summer long and is a treat to the neighborhood birds who bath in it daily. I addition there is a path from the front gate in cobbles and another from the driveway comprised of granite boulders. Finally, there is a small circular patio from blue-stone where we have a mall bistro table and umbrella. Plants: Lisa listened to our goals -- annuals are not our friends, we wanted color, we wanted permanent plants and as half the house has a hankering for an English garden, we wanted that "tripped over" appeal of a melding of plants. Lisa also knew that we were gardeners, we wanted to plant and we wanted to play a little on our own. She designed a great plan that was easy for us to follow, pointed out what we should get in immediately (budget constraints) and what could follow later. She gave us multiples for effect and singles where appropriate. We have, hands down, the prettiest garden in our neighborhood. it has established well of the years, requires little maintenance and has even been featured in a nationally published Landscaping book. Without hesitation or reservation, I would recommend Lisa and Banyon Tree design. In fact, we were so thrilled with Lisa's practical but pleasing approach to budget, hardscape and plants, that we engaged Banyon Tree in the creation of our weekend 'cabin'. See my 2nd review for more details on that. Finally, we have recommended LIsa to other friends, who have also engaged heavily and been equally pleased with Lisa and the outcome.

I didn't have any idea of what I wanted for my yard when I contacted Lisa at Banyon Tree Design. She took my budget and listened to my wants and needs and, together with her husband Chad, transformed them into a stunning design. Thanks to their beautiful landscape/hardscape design my yard went from the worst to best on the block. They are professional, easy to work with, good listeners and very talented designers. I highly recommend Banyon Tree Design.

Banyon Tree Design's challenge with our project was to design a deck to replace a 40 ft one level rotten deck. Lisa listened carefully to our ideas and came up with a design that captured exactly what we had envisioned. She paid careful attention to our budget as well!

Banyon Tree Design Studio assisted us with a backyard remodel design. We provided our challenges; small space, need for children play area, need for relaxing environment with a fire, a deck and a patio. Banyon Tree designed an amazing backyard with more than we ever could have imagined. The process was smooth with both Chad and Lisa guiding us from conceptual to final design with ease and keeping our initial requirements in line. As we sit in our yard watching our kids run around, the plants grow and the smell of a nice fire pit to sit around, we are reminded of all the hard work Banyon Tree did to design the most perfect space for our family. Thank you Banyon Tree team for everything !

Lisa Port provided the amazing landscape design that was installed at the home of a client of mine. Her design perfectly reflected the style and essence of not only the exterior architecture of the home, but also the interior elements of the home. Lisa is a talented professional with a great attention to detail. I have recommended her to other clients since we first met and will continue to do so in the future.

We have worked extensively with Lisa Port at Banyon Tree Design Studio. She is incredibly easy to work with for our clients and the architects in our office. Lisa has a down to earth, hands on process and her designs are always very fitting for the site. Definitely Recommend!

Lisa Port produced a great landscape master plan for our front lawn. She was responsive to our recommendations and limitations and initiated design ideas that were sensitive, appropriate, and useful. We have completed the installation now and are very pleased.

I had a landscape architect draft a plan for my yard but I just was not excited about it. They didn't seem to get the nuances of what I wanted. I started looking through Houzz' landscape photos to get ideas, and discovered that a significant number of photos I liked were of work done by Banyon Tree Design, which happened to be in Seattle, where I live. I met with Lisa Port of that firm and was blown away by how she understood what I wanted, and took my thoughts and made them so much better. I hired her on the spot and we began a collaboration that has been the best in my long experience of hiring design professionals. She did not discourage my ideas but rather encouraged my input and we would go back and forth until she had hit upon something I could not have envisioned but was exactly what I wanted. I absolutely love the fence she created, and the plants she suggested, and the entire gestalt of the landscape is more wonderful than I could have imagined. I would highly recommend her to anyone who wants something that is not run-of-the-mill, but something that reflects their personal style and tastes, backed up by impeccable design sense. And, she was great fun to work with. I always looked forward to meetings with her. I cannot speak highly enough of Lisa and Banyon Tree Design Studio.

I am a landscape contractor who for the last 14 years has installed numerous projects for landscape designers and landscape architects in the Seattle area. Out of all these professionals I have worked for Lisa is the most innovative, creative, and passionate about her work. If you are looking for a fully functional yet unique garden that will standout from the crowd I highly recommend Banyon Tree!

We hired Lisa Port of Banyon Tree Design Studio to redesign our yard and garden. She submitted three "idea" drawings that would replace our driveway, entry walkway, courtyard and replace our lawn with drought tolerant plants and walkways to make our yard more beautiful and welcoming. Lisa is a great communicator and has a great sense of style and is excellent to work with. I can't believe we waited so long to make the changes we now are enjoying every day. Lisa not only possesses excellelnt plant knowledge, but her recommendations for hardscape have been spot on. The landscaping is gorgeous, all the plants, trees and shrubs are thriving and perfectly situated. We will be using Lisa again as we finish the phases of our project. We highly recommend her!

Lisa did a wonderful job. We redid our backyard from scratch and we love it. As we got started, she met with us and really listened to our preferences. She was enthusiastic about the examples/pictures that we had cut out or found in magazines. She incorporated many elements from our initial meetings into several draft designs. It was a tough choice and we ended up choosing one plan but then mixing some of the ideas from one of the other plans. Lisa was always professional, creative and extremely helpful. Our goal was to get a backyard that people would want to explore and enjoy- she accomplished all of that and more.