Native Plant Landscape Design Corp

We dealt with NPLD for a design only and were very dissatisfied. It was expensive, bad disrespectful communication, poor design. The cost was over two thousand dollars for part of a one third acre lot with a house. We had one personal interaction and one Zoom interaction plus emails. The process consisted of one preliminary design with a Zoom session. This was followed by emails in relation to changes to the design. We asked for another Zoom session but was turned down. This was followed by a final design that incorporated some of our ideas and interpreted others as they pleased (for example, we asked the number of certain plants to be reduced so they eliminated them). They made no contact with us after paying for the design. They supposedly tested the planting area (i.e., we paid for one), but we never received a report. It was a waste of money. We are now working with another group that is willing to interact with us on a personal level and on a continuous basis.

We suspect that you found this site because you are interested in designing a garden with plants native to this area. We live in Arlington, Virginia, and that’s what we did. We searched, and we found Native Plant Landscape Design, NPLD. We worked with NPLD since August last year and plan to do so in the future. Now we have a problem: how do we give proper credit here to such an excellent organization? We will try. Last year we searched for an alternative to what we had growing in the front of our house, which came from working with a major local garden center 10 years ago. We had tried ripping some things out, putting rocks around to increase interest, planting some trees — but it all lacked design and a sense of unity and purpose. They were not native plants. Why native plants? In our case, we wanted to create a native plant habitat for birds and pollinators that would be at one with its surroundings. With this in mind, we did some research and heard about NPLD through the Virginia Native Plant Society. We then contacted Elisa Meara, NPLD’s founder. We were impressed by the effort that she and her colleagues put into the planting design for our house. After walking the site together and discussing our hopes with Elisa, we received a detailed site survey and two-page list of specific plants complete with a landscaping map of their proposed placement sites. Because of the way our former lawn area wrapped around the house, three different micro-areas developed, one on the north side in an area shaded by tall conifers and holly, one exposed all day to the sun, and a smaller third area designed to slow rainwater run-off. Each has its own specific plants dedicated to the that micro-environment. Site preparation started in April. All old non-native plants were ripped out and new fresh soil put down. The plants came. Pots were placed carefully to check if earlier plans made sense. Then Elisa and her crew got down in the fresh soil and planted. The point in all this detail is our effort to describe how NPLD works from site survey to design to planting — and then installing an irrigation system used for a few minutes each day. As an example of the regard we hold for them, later this year NPLD will be designing and planting our backyard, a smaller project and less visible to those passing outside our fence, but very visible to us. And further, we now have a maintenance contract with NPLD, for these new beautiful plantings need care until they are firmly established. At that point, they almost won’t need maintenance and watering as, of course, the garden is native to our area. Our landscape is now a tough and beautiful garden, tough because nothing has been lost after the intense storms and heat we have had the last few months, and beautiful such that passers-by tell us how wonderful it looks if we happen to be out in the flowers. Thank you Elisa Meara and NPLD.

Mollie from Native Plants came to assess one part of our garden where a tree had died and was overgrown with crabgrass. She selected a great tree and native perennials that look beautiful. She has a deep understanding of where sustainability and natural beauty intersect. The installation crew was prompt and courteous. I recommend them highly!

We worked with Alex Thompson from NPLD on a design for our Silver Spring yard in 2022. Alex is incredibly knowledgeable and a delight to work with. She came up with a creative design that addressed our sometimes conflicting priorities, and NPLD installed the first phase of the design this spring. We could not be happier with the landscape work and plantings, and can’t wait to install future phases.

Lack of communication with client. Client emails detailed needs for landscape design and installation for several separate projects. Tried to push into design without adequate consult first. Then when follow up consult scheduled, after detailed email sent, company made erroneous assumptions and cancelled consult while client waiting at home. All they had to do was read my emails. If had questions, just call me. Don’t cancel assuming you know what I want without asking me!

It was truly a pleasure to work with Native Plant Landscape Design Corp from the initial consult to the final installation of my garden.The designers are amazing with their plant expertise and creativity. I was blown away by the complexity of the process and enjoyed watching the designers create a beautiful highly functional habitat. The entire process was done professionally and with great client services. I would highly recommend this company for anyone interested in installing a native garden!!!

Alex Thompson, Anbu Vijay and Elisa Meara are fantastic to work with! After removing the over grown landscape shortly after moving in, we had let the front yard sit for a few years because we could not decide on how to address the slope or balance the landscaping again the size of the house. We also wanted to reduce the amount of lawn maintenance and be more eco friendly as far as water use, run off reduction and creating suburban habitat for birds, etc. The team at Native Plant Landscape listened to us, did a through analysis of our yard, and developed a gorgeous, detailed plan that helped us find creative solutions in a lovely low maintenance native landscape style that is still in keeping with our neighborhood. They also worked with us to break the project into manageable phases and over saw plant procurement and installation of phase 1 using their own team of installers. We are so pleased with the results that we are eagerly awaiting phase 2. In the two month or so since installation, the plants have just taken off! The lush dense plantings are long blooming, tolerant of very hot weather and heavy rain, expanding to hold the slope and already drawing gold finches, butterflies and an array of pollinators. We are so pleased and recommend them to anyone looking for a break from their ordinary suburban lawn!

We had a large project done by Native Plant Landscape Design at our home. From the very beginning of the process it was evident that Elisa is extremely knowledgeable and passionate about her field. She was patient in listening to our needs and interests and the landscape design plan came together very nicely. We had so many different types of trees, plants, shrubs, and grasses arrive at our home that it looked like a nursery. Anbu worked diligently to track the entire inventory and along with others placed it all around the lawn per the landscape design. Elisa was very involved in the process as well. The project was done in the summer of 2019. The results were evident even back then and last year the garden looked gorgeous. We went from a standard lawn in 2019 to an absolutely beautiful garden after this project. It's not just about the aesthetics. Most of the planting is native which is fabulous and many of the plants are magnets for butterflies and bees. Also, hummingbirds come all season long. Can't beat that!! As a separate project we had a long stream put in by a specialty company and the plants and flowers planted by Elisa and team are a wonderful complement to the water feature. As an aside, the stream attracts frogs which is great as they feed on pests and their singing/croaking is marvelous. Anyway, I would highly recommend Elisa and her team if you are considering a landscaping project.

My husband and I specifically wanted a landscape designer specializing in native plants and ecology when we decided to embark on landscaping our property. We have been thoroughly pleased with Native Plant Landscape Design (NPLD). To put in context, our property is about 1/4 acre and we had previously worked with a couple of other landscape companies for certain areas. NPLD has far exceeded our expectations and prior experiences in the level of detail and expertise with regard to options for native plantings that attract birds, butterflies and pollinators. We have been working with NPLD for about 6 months now on extensive designs (we are very detail oriented clients. so our process may take longer than other people's) and we planted phase 1 late fall. Elisa and her team are terrific to work with, extremely patient ( we ask a lot of questions and make revisions) and have beautiful, innovative and creative design ideas. I've been introduced to soooo many native species that other landscape designers do not use and which are beautiful! Because phase 1 was planted late fall, we have not seen it in full bloom (hence no photos), but already I can tell it will be gorgeous. We had Elisa and her team on site to oversee the installation, which was a big plus in lessening any hiccups that may occur during installation. I highly recommend NPLD. We are so excited for the spring to come so we can plant phase 2 and see all the blooms in 2021!

I commissioned Elisa to design and help install a native plant pollinator garden. My Del Ray Alexandria yard is very small, and mostly shady, so it's quite a challenge. Elisa is exceptional. She actually glows when she talks about her commitment to native plants and pollinators. She listens well, designs creatively, and makes helpful connections with installers and gardeners. She's incredibly knowledgeable about native plant species and how they perform in different seasons, and generous with her time in giving advice and following up on the installations. I was so happy to transform my scraggly backyard into a four season pollinator haven, with lovely surprises unfolding from February through October.

Elisa and her team were very helpful in listening to our goals for redesigning our property's plantings using more native plants and overcoming specific design challenges. We've also found it very easy to work with her team afterwards to source native plants, avoiding the hassle of having to hunt around area garden centers to find the right plants. Thanks Elisa!

We hired Elisa to design a native front yard with significantly less grass. I wanted color and texture and a seating area. She produced a plan that clearly reflected my desires and was good at giving me options to move around the patio to best fit our needs. Installation went smoothly, Elisa was on hand to place plants and answer questions. She has been available to answer follow up questions and had good advice on deer management. We're going to install phase 2 of the plan this spring.

We were very impressed and pleased with all our interactions with folks at Native Plant Landscape design. We very much appreciated their philosophy of creating "Functional gardens that are beautiful, low maintenance, and kind to the environment." This is one of the reasons we were attracted to their company, to help maintain local population of pollinating insects, and having a garden that, once established, we minimum maintenance. We worked with them through an initial design, then a phased approach to implementation, and ultimately, with a contractor they introduced us to, transforming our front yard into a "nature park." We recommend them highly. I Note that their philosophy is in line with the author Douglas Tallamy's ideas, as expressed in his book Nature's Best Hope, arguing that we each can help create a larger zone for nature by reducing grass and increasing native plants.

Elisa did a fantastic job designing our garden of an acre. The garden is so outstanding cars slow down to look, people will honk at me when I'm in the garden while driving past to voice their approval. Many times people will stop by and ask to look at the garden. No description of the garden can describe it. The garden's beauty is in the viewing.

Elisa did an extraordinary design of native plants in my front yard that have been featured in multiple videos and which continues to only get better over time. In addition to being environmentally friendly with all native plants, it is also beautiful with something blooming spring through fall and interesting food for the birds in the winter. I highly recommend Elisa and her contractors (who did an awesome job with installation).

Elisa is amazing! She created a native landscape design for part of our backyard, which was installed last fall, and a large portion of our front yard, which we just finished installing. I thought I knew a fair amount about native plants, but I am so glad we found Elisa because she knew so much more and came up with a spectacular design that I couldn't have even imagined. The plugs we planted in the fall all did well and are already full flowering plants much to the delight of the bees, birds and butterflies. The front yard plants are also thriving and will soon be a beautiful habitat as well. Elisa was able to get hard to find plugs and provide them in small or large quantities. We could not be more pleased with the process (which was a lot of fun) and the outcome. Elisa is an exceptionally delightful person. I can't wait to have her prepare a design for the rest of our backyard.

Elisa created a virginia native garden plan for our entire property - the plants will focus on providing natural habitat for bugs, butterflies and birds and will create a marvelous and heathy ecology in our lake side home. The first phase of the plan was installed this week and it looks marvelous....what was before bare dirt/rocks and a few tough weeds is now a beautiful garden that should grow to be easy to maintain. Elisa worked with the landscapers to place the berms, and plant locations. Elisa will help you work through RPA and NOVA SWCD VCAP applications as well as doing the design work.

Elisa is fantastic! She responded quickly when we first reached out to her. She then spent a lot of time at our meetings listening and making suggestions to be sure she accommodated our wishes. She is super knowledgeable about native plants and eventually generated a beautiful low maintenance design for our front and back yards. She also gave us recommendations for folks to do the hardscaping and planting which made it easy to get the work done. Now we are a year out from the beginning of the project, we are seeing the fruits of her efforts and we are thrilled. We have received tons of compliments from visitors. If you use Elisa and have patience with the process you will not be disappointed!

Elisa has just finished implementing a beautiful design for our backyard. I can attest that she is most flexible, listens well to input and direction, and really wants to make the clients happy! If you are looking for lovely, natural garden that belongs in Virginia, she should be your first call. She was also great at providing recommendations for other services that we needed as part of the project - arborist, pruner, landscape company for the implementation.

Elisa's design for our yard was gorgeous and extremely well thought-out. She worked with us to adapt the plan to our needs, and selected a wide variety of native plants for us to grow. We are awaiting the final results as it's still winter, but we were very very happy with her design and the installation. While the installation is done by another company (Shorb Landscaping), Elisa came by to make sure that the plants were all going in properly. She has been very responsive to any questions and concerns we've had. She genuinely cares about (and has an encyclopedic knowledge of) native plants and local ecology. I strongly recommend her services!

Elisa was wonderful to work with; she designed a whole-yard landscape plan for our home. She is very knowledgeable about native plants, and the sensitivity of working in a Resource Protection Area with erosion issues and eliminating invasive plant species. She was open to our suggestions and feedback, and provided information about cost-effective ways to implement the design in phases. We're looking forward to watching our native garden grow over the next few years.

Ms. Elisa Meara created a beautiful landscape design for the front of our home. We enjoyed working with her and are thrilled with our new plantings. Her knowledge of and enthusiasm for native plants resulted in a beautiful garden which blends well with our traditional neighborhood while providing benefits to native wildlife -- exactly what we were seeking. She also managed the installation process, making it very easy for us. We found Ms. Meara to be thoughtful, creative, patient, and thoroughly professional. She was responsive to our preferences and budget considerations. We recommend her highly.

Elisa was great - patient, detailed, and her charges were reasonable. I had a relatively small project, but that did not lessen the degree of Elisa's attention to making sure it came out right. I would definitely use her expertise again.

Elisa is an energetic and creative designer who is also very knowledgeable about the native plants in the region. She will work within your budget and will offer options for the planting. She teams up with professional crews who do the installations and personally supervises the work, if desired. She’s available for questions during the process and accommodating with queries before and after the installation. She’s a delight to work with.

Elisa is wonderful to work with and has a great eye for both form and function. I’m really pleased with the way my yard turned out, and she has continued to be really helpful throughout the process. I highly recommend her!

It was such a pleasure to work with Elisa Meara in the re-design of my garden, Previously home to a pond, the space was open to a whole new native garden installation. Elisa knows her plants! And has excellent sources to purchase them, and engaged me in the fun of purchasing at local native nurseries. Elisa is very attentive to details; and open to my wishes to keep certain plants and to ideas I sent her. Elisa also checked in with me on the prices of larger vs. smaller plants to keep the cost down; and with suggestions on whether to use her guys to instal the garden or a professional installation company. I am so happy with my new garden. As was the butterfly that visited as soon as the plants went in. I look forward to seeing more wildlife, particularly the bees, butterflies, and birds with whom we co-exist.

If I had to do it all over again......I most definitely would. I wanted a native plant garden for pollinators, one that would be low maintenance, draught resistant and would attract butterflies and bees and maybe some hummingbirds. Elisa designed a meadow in the front garden and has been a wonderful, thoughtful, professional and fun person to work with on this my first native plant project. I learned a lot; Elisa knows her native plants and my Latin has improved since knowing her, I now know what Lobella Siphilitica looks like, how sturdy and beautiful it is and how fast it grows. Elisa does get busy, so book early; my sister booked her for a woodland forest design in her backyard. Its been really fun, love the creative process and knowing that I'm doing a little something to help the environment, keep our beautiful songbirds with lots of food and winter protection buy planting the right native plants. On the professional side I was happy with all that we agreed on, delivered on time--which can vary according to the growing season - good quality work, and on budget. Through her I purchased a lot of little plants through her wholesalers contacts and which she delivered. I would have never known that some of the little pods were missing because the grower didn't have them, but she pointed this out to me and sent me a reimbursement check for the missing pods. Can't wait for our next project!

Elisa designed an overall plan for my backyard, the first phase of which is a huge rain garden with all natives, which we just completed. She is passionate about native plants and her designs are beautiful. She has great contacts in the business, and I appreciate that she was always trying to keep costs down. Elisa is extremely knowledgeable and a joy to work with. I recommend her without hesitation.

Elisa has done Phase 1 of my yard and I hired her again to work on Phase 2 as I was so pleased with the final design. She is one of very few native plant landscape designers in the Northern Virginia area. I recommend her highly.

Elisa prepared a beautiful and thoughtful design for my entire yard including the hardscape features. I am so pleased with her work – she listened carefully to my ideas, and fined tuned them into a cohesive and lovely plan. She has a wonderful aesthetic and an eye for detail in both the design and the implementation of the project that pulls everything together. Elisa is wonderful to work with – creative, knowledgeable, responsive, patient, and budget-conscious. She has great contacts for the implementation of the design and for the plants. The process has been so easy and rewarding. My yard is in the process of being transformed!

I am very pleased with how the job turned out at my house. The plants you chose and their location, the design of the walks and the materials selected – it all turned out better than I could have dreamed of. Your knowledge of the plants is very obvious, and it was much appreciated how you went over each and every plant with me. Looking forward to watching it grow and attract bees, hummingbirds, butterfly’s, and the like. Elisa, you were very easy to work with, and I’m glad not to have gotten in the way of your thoughtful design. Having been in the industry for over 40 years I would recommend you to anyone.

Elisa listened to our wants and helped us figure out our needs. She developed a stunning plan that we're just seeing the fruits of. She remained flexible as we adjusted the plan and helped to troubleshoot problems as they arose (including adding screening from neighbors that wasn't part of the original plan). We would work with her again in a second.

Elisa is knowledgeable, responsive, thorough, and pleasant. She worked within the limits of an already established landscape and provided native plant recommendations that met my goals for attractiveness, screening, easy care and sustainability.

Elisa has an incredible vision, knowledge & passion for the environment and native plants. She's a truly gifted, professional, meticulous, very friendly and easy person to work with. She took time to listen and look at pictures of our vision. She presented us an incredible landscape design that included a patio and native plants for the whole backyard, with names plus pictures of each plant/specie. She offered as much or little help we wanted to execute the project, never pressured us, but always ready for advise/help when needed. She is very reasonably priced and are so happy to found her through Houzz.

I worked with Elisa on an Urban Wildlife Habitat project in Alexandria, Virginia. Elisa was a pleasure to work with. She came up with a beautiful design that transformed a native plant restoration project into a garden with walkways that enable people to interact with and enjoy the plants. The Urban Wildlife Habitat was done in collaboration with a variety of partners, some vendors and others volunteers. She was very thoughtful and professional in both the design and in working with the other groups involved.

Elisa designed a backyard pollinator garden for me, and I couldn't be happier with the results. I have been interested in native plants for many years, and I have always been frustrated by how difficult it is to find professionals who are truly knowledgeable about natives and also responsive to clients' needs in terms of aesthetics, time and cost concerns. Elisa has that magic combination!

Just met with Elisa last week and contracted with her to develop a design of native plants for the 3 acres surrounding our new home. Elisa was very professional in her presentation and it is obvious through speaking with her that she has a true passion for supporting nature, our local wildlife and to help protect our environment. Elisa walked with us and asked what we envisioned, what we do or don't like visually and what type of wildlife we have seen. She plans on returning 3 times to determine the amount of light the different areas receive throughout the day. She was more than willing to develop a plan that we can add to over time as we cannot afford to do this all at once.

Elisa has a great design sense and she listened for our goals when she devised a beautiful and affordable landscape design for our front yard. We can't wait for Spring to watch everything sprouting, flowering and attracting pollinators. She has a great knowledge of her palette of Northern Virginia native plants, a curiosity to learn more and a commitment to create sustainable landscaping that supports wildlife.

I was so pleased to find Elisa who is an expert in Native Plants. She was very accommodating and fit me in to her schedule as I had limited time to complete the garden. She demonstrated her skill in designing a garden in a small space and was able to select the perfect plants for sun and shade areas. We shopped for plants together and it was not only an enjoyable learning experience but we were able to get a quality tree at a great price. Her creative efforts resulted in a graceful and beautiful garden with special focus areas. I would highly recommend Elisa and her dedication to native plants helped me achieve a garden with a purpose.

We wanted to add some interest to our backyard and our front door entryway. We hired Elisa to come up with the design concept, select the best plants to compliment the sun exposure and architecture of our house. She is so easy to work with and knowledgeable about all the details that we should consider in making choices for the landscaping decisions. We recommend working with Elisa and will continue to be a long standing customer of Elisa Meara Native Plant Landscape Design!

Elisa lanscaped our back yard last summer. She did an outstanding job and was extremely flexible in terms of how much we wanted to participate and how much we wanted her to do. From start to finish, she was thorough, professional and well organized. I would hesitate to recommend her for any outdoor project.

Elisa designed a beautiful front and backyard oasis for our home. She used flowers and plants that are native to the area, and that would be easy to maintain without excess watering. She is very aware of being helpful to the environment. She spent a great deal of time researching what I wanted and how I wanted our yard to look. In the end, I have two gorgeous drawings of a dream yard. Elisa is patient, passionate, and committed to helping her clients.

Elisa is a great landscape designer. She is passionate about her work and the environment. Her choices of the plants and the design were very well thought of. She listened to my needs and came up with a beautiful design. She is very easy to work with , accommodating and flexible. The price was quite reasonable. I highly recommend her without hesitation.

When I met Elisa Meara I already knew her to be passionate about landscape design, and I was eager to redefine our front yard to be more environmentally friendly. As we are now being taxed for impervious surface, I was considering a rain garden in the front lawn. Elisa suggested to first turn half of the lawn area into a perennial shade garden, as it lies beneath a giant white oak. Her imaginative plan included a square of the central lawn marked to give it structure, and create interest around the outside with native small shrubs and plants. On a nice day and with leaf mulch and top soil on hand, she guided a workman (and two volunteers) in removing the lawn surrounding the square and planting perennials and a three small trees from my back yard--transforming the space in one day! I later added more from friends and points of interest to give it character, as she suggested. With the gradual slope of the lawn in plants instead of grass, the rain soaks in better, and runoff is less. It is a delightful change that has cut down mowing and promoted interest in native plants, and best of all, created an outdoor "living room," where with an added wooden rocker, I can now sit and watch the world go by! Elisa's enthusiasm is infectious, which made it a joy to work with her.

Elisa did a fantastic job throughout and offered as much (or little) as desired without any pressure, from design, plant selection, obtaining mulch, and offered plenty of expert advise, even after the garden was complete - all very reasonably priced. She was very profession and truly a master gardener with extensive knowledge of native plants and ecosystem. And best yet, she created a beautify garden that my family has enjoyed ever since.

Elisa designed my city garden. She collaborated with me during the design process and we negotiated which plants I had that I wanted to include in the design. She visited the nursery and chose the plants needed. Along with the plants she selected appropriate plant food to be used during planting. Elisa closely supervised and worked along side the men who provided the labor. She was an integral part of the planting process. On site, Elisa made suggestions and modifications as needed or suggested by me, keeping the original plan in mind. The completed garden is beautiful and the envy of my neighborhood.

Elisa is knowledgeable, passionate and creative about native design. She drafted a beautiful plan, was open to my requested changes and was on site during the installation. She is extremely friendly and easy to work with and has been very available for follow-up consultations since she performed the work, On top of that, her rates are very reasonable. Highest recommendation.

Elisa Meara is a landscape designer with an eye for beauty and a heart of gold. She cares deeply for both her clients and the earth, an unbeatable combination. When Elisa worked on our backyard I came to experience her care and commitment first hand. From her architectural quality drawings to her meticulous inquiry of what we were looking for, she clearly respected my sensibilities both around design, and my pocketbook, while offering her impeccably honed knowledgable around the impact of plants on our environment. The end result is in progress (and I will update with pictures when finished) but in my mind our backyard has already been transformed to a work of art and exquisite beauty. Thank you Elisa! This has been an unbelievably painless process all thanks to you!

Elisa is extremely knowledgeable and helpful. She also is sensitive to balancing my desires for our garden with my husband's. She replies quickly to all of my e-mails with thorough replies to my questions, and she attaches images and descriptions of flowers and shrubs where appropriate. Elisa has been a joy to work with, works within my budget and charges a reasonable amount. I would highly recommend her for all gardening and garden design needs.