Hawkeye Landscape Design

Geri and her amazing team transformed our backyard from a plain expanse of grass to a peaceful park-like setting with native plants, succulents, olive trees, and flagstone paths. It's water-wise, but far from xeriscaping, it's full of color and life. We hired Geri for her appreciation and knowledge of plants, which we (and our hummingbirds and other wildlife) appreciate the most - but her selection of rocks and other hardscaping is top-notch as well. The boulder fountains are beautiful and popular with the birds, and a spectacular rock-filled riverbed collects rain and helps with our major drainage concerns. Geri had some ideas we had never even thought of, like a natural cobblestone wall that winds through our garden and is easily the most striking feature. Her team is truly gifted with stonework and it was a joy to watch these artisans at work. Geri also very quickly picked up on our style and what we love, so it feels very much our garden. We spend time out there daily now - what a difference it makes to have a thoughtfully designed, nature-centric backyard!

Working with Geri at Hawkeye Landscape Design has been such a pleasure, we recommend her in a heartbeat. Our goal was to incorporate drought-resistant and native plants, pathways, benches, maybe a wall or 2, etc. to somehow create a highly functional, aesthetically pleasing yard, well connected with nature, providing plenty of places to eat, work, play, sit and just hang out. High quality work is prized in our household. We got it all. I found Geri while looking online (especially Houzz.com) for examples of landscape features I loved, with workmanship I admired. This led me to her website where the projects in her gallery were varied, yet I liked them all. During our first consultation, it was clear that our ideas easily meshed with what she enjoys creating. Discussions during design creation and installation allowed for us to make necessary adjustments so elements functioned well “in the real world”. She was imaginative in finding solutions when we had differing opinions, and patient in teaching us to care for our property. Geri and her crew specialize in stonework and their work is beautifully designed, skillfully and meticulously constructed. The crew was easy to work with, considerate, conscientious and skilled at their work. They worked as a team to create a covered separate patio, arbors, a cabinet with a sink, flagstone floors, pathways and a gorgeous rock wall entry with a heavily weathered mesquite archway. An example of them standing behind their work came when we had a surprise extreme heat wave that overwhelmed one of the newly planted trees. That tree was replaced, no questions asked. Working with Geri was a pleasure with many lasting returns. Our new yard is used every day and we look forward to working with Geri and her crew at Hawkeye Landscape Design in the future.

Geri turned our tired, concrete dominated back yard into a lovely oasis that takes full advantage of the view of surrounding hills. She integrated elements of the pool and existing hardscape so that everything blends seamlessly. A dreary expanse of pool decking was expertly removed by her crew with no damage to the drains underneath. Much of that concrete was repurposed into new terraces down the hill. A seating wall was added that blends perfectly with an existing wall that forms the back side of the pool. An overgrown pittosporum bed was turned into a new sitting area with the best view in the yard. Geri was always either on the site or easily available for any questions we had and she stayed within our predetermined budget. I have been gardening for years, but she introduced me to new interesting plants. She also brought in a great lighting contractor, William Holland (My Quiet Home) who got our old outdoor lighting up and running with new controllers and better placement of the existing lights. My new plantings are now starting to grow in- and I enjoy my new garden so much I am planning to have Geri and her crew back to develop more of our big yard.

Hawkeye Landscape Design did a great job landscaping our very large, hilly back yard - 2 patio covers, new plants, new planting areas, a little hardscaping, lighting, a bit of irrigation, and couple of new lawns. Three weeks, full time. Hawkeye has 2 major assets that make them a great choice - an excellent crew and the designer herself, Geri. The crew was skilled, hard-working, and friendly. Geri planned everything, but was able to work in new requests, was very flexible, and was fantastic to work with. I highly recommend her for any landscaping project.

Oh. My. Gosh. Hawkeye Landscape has made an astonishing improvement to the face of my home. My mid-price tract home now resembles a custom luxury home ... or at least it will after I get the house itself repaired, repainted, and maybe add-on a room or two. ;-) In scouring the pages of Houzz, I found that I was consistently saving landscape images that were created by Hawkeye, so I decided to make a call and invite Geri out for an initial plan. I liked the fact that she didn't design one fully finished "this-is-what-you-get" landscape, but instead presented some options of what could be done, with the intent to work together on how it would evolve. And once we had a basic plan, Geri was sensitive to my spending cap, utilizing the budget in areas that would make the biggest impact. The fact that she has her own crew made the construction time a pleasure because each worker was a total professional. It was quite the education to watch the stone by stone construction of the courtyard wall -- these guys are artists and the wall is beautifully fitted together. In fact, a contractor working on a huge back yard construction down the street made a point of stopping to examine and compliment Hawkeye's work -- and that's pretty danged impressive! I'm looking forward to watching my new plantings grow. Geri installed appropriately hardy, drought resistant (and architecturally interesting) plants which will survive much better than those poor plants the previous landscaper put in fifteen years ago (hydrangea on a dry hillside? Really?). My husband and I love to sit in our new courtyard, and it's fun to have so many neighbors stop to tell us how fabulous the house looks now.

Hawkeye Landscape Design was referred to me by the builder of my Trex deck. After I met with Geri I could see that she had great ideas and was flexible to mine. My backyard which goes down a slope had never been fully landscaped so we were in many ways working with a blank canvas. Because I have added projects on as we have gone along, the job has taken awhile. All of my requests have been cheerfully met - not always easy desires, her crew is great to have around and do wonderful work. I'd gladly hire them to do work for me again. I will have them back to do maintanence to keep things looking perfect for me. :-)

Working with Geri Elfman, owner of Hawkeye Landscape Design, was a pleasure. She recently designed and expertly installed a fabulous new addition to our existing backyard garden. Her new vision seamlessly incorporated the old with the new and we couldn't be happier with the result. Geri is a very gifted, talented and competent designer who listens to the client and works within budget. Her team of long time employees are hard working, skilled and experienced. Geri and her team created a beautiful, peaceful garden retreat which far exceeded our expectations !

It was a pleasure working with Hawkeye Landscape Design. Very courteous and efficient company. We look forward in other projects in the future with Hawkeye. We also look forward in meeting in the near future. Thanks again for your orders.

I had gorgeous landscaping work done by this company. They created a drought friendly succulent garden in my backyard and I am simply in love with it. It is so low maintenance!

Very disappointed with the design the price of $ 500 i thought was fare however after giving multiple photos of what I was expecting, I did not like what Geri came up with at all and there was no attempt to change or offer another design. I don't think that is a fare way to do business and would not recommend Hawkeye Landscaping Design to anyone. There are lot of designers out there, you just have to make sure to select the right one!

We had quite a big landscaping project that we had postponed mostly due to having difficulty envisioning something that would fit the house, our personal taste, and serve as a peaceful retreat as well as an entertainment area. We knew we wanted something unique rather than the standard fauna, grass, and hardscape so often seen in local neighborhoods. Thankfully, a recommendation through Casa Mexicana led us to Geri and her crew and our boring yard was transformed into a whimsical retreat with truly one-of-a-kind features to be discovered at every turn. They met all our expectations and more and are a delight to work with. The process was fluid and communication presenting different options were well-informed. The crew is extremely respectful, friendly, and hard-working. We have really enjoyed sharing our new sanctuary with friends, family, and pets as well as all the colorful birds and butterflies who love all the flowers and drinking from our impressive boulder fountain. Geri did a super job ensuring that each month something new would be colorfully blooming while keeping everything very drought tolerant. The dining area and fireplace are wonderful additions to our living space allowing us to enjoy the beautiful weather and especially sunsets that we have here in Southern California. I highly recommend especially if you want something very special that will impress others as well as give you somewhere to fully enjoy nature's beauty.

Dependable, Easy to work with, Good ideas, Timely results. Geri was fun to work with. The guys on her team, Gerardo, Victor, Roger, and Sergio were polite, professional and neat. Construction creates chaos, but Geri’s team ended each day with neatly stacked tools, and clean, swept walkways. We only worked on the front garden this time. I will be contracting with Hawkeye Landscaping again for the back garden.