Artistic Gardens Inc

We used Artistic Gardens to do a large backyard renovation (pergola, hardscaping, landscaping etc). Overall the work got done. Would we recommend using them to friends? Likely not.

We were pleased with the masonry work and ideas for the types of bushes to have planted. Where we were disappointed was on the communication during and after the project as well as the attitude. We were literally ignored for days/weeks trying to get issues fixed and had to eventually visit the store to get a response. We paid what we believe was a very healthy price, with the idea they would stand by all work. In the end, when a few of the trees died (which were covered under warranty), they told us we would have to pay over a thousand dollars for the labour to put a few small replacement trees in. This seemed excessive and we had enough of the back and forth to fix something small. I ended up doing it myself (took a couple hours, not the 10+ hours they intended to bill us for), but it is disappointing it came to it when one pays the price we did.

Meredyth and her team worked on our yard 3 years ago, and I'm writing this review now because we are paying another company to undo everything they did.

The highlights:

1) After giving them a sizeable down payment we did not hear from Meredyth for 3 weeks.
2) Suggesting pea gravel as a design choice was an absolute disaster. It makes a huge mess, constantly spills into our grass/all over the place, and is quite painful to walk on (I have little kids)
3) We requested a conduit to be installed under the grass for electrical purposes. They installed the conduit, but then covered it up with grass before the electrical went through. We are now finally fixing this.
4) The wood fence that they built does not latch, even after requesting to fix it.
5) Before we started work our yard graded towards our house, something we wanted to fix. Post reno and it still grades towards our house.

Brad was quite reasonable to work with and would make the effort to follow up on certain things, but the fact is that we spent $15,000 and now I feel like we're starting from scratch.

We hired Meredyth to do drawings for a renovation for the front of our house. The drawings were helpful but they were missing certain elements that we required in order to move forward with the job. When we reached out to have the drawings updated to include the proper information and to move forward with the project she was unresponsive. Very disappointed with our experience and the unprofessional nature.

I connected with Artistic Gardens when they hand delivered a pansy to me –a single pansy, a plant, with their contact info. The snow was just melted. I got in touch and we met and were instantly simpatico. Our garden was badly overgrown and in great need of a ton of work and Meredyth Hilton designed a renovation that was simply everything in plants and flowers that I love – lots of lilies for example.
That was the easiest part.

Next, Artistic Gardens has to determine how to actually make my beautiful garden a reality in the shady, lumpy, clay-soiled dirt behind the home.
This will result in a transformation that will unfold fully over the next couple of years.

The price was a bit daunting but it’s been worth it so far.

Artistic Gardens have an amazing catalogue of beautiful work that is on their web site and also in their portfolio which they were happy to show me in person.

I had work done by them several times, at various times of the year involving seasonal decoration. What I appreciate most was the very helpful nature of the company owners Meredyth and Brad Hilton and their hardworking staff.

Their work enhanced my enjoyment of my home. They are masters of their trade and skilled in every aspect of garden design and maintenance.

Like most home owners, I had a very limited understanding and appreciation for what goes in to a landscaping project before I had one done. The cycle of planting at different times of the year, the arrangement of lighting, the drainage and inclines...and on and on. Brad and Meredyth walked me through it all and now I can appreciate how much goes in to the design of a property and we are so happy with our outdoor space! Artistic Gardens was a great experience and I would definitely recommend them (and have to several friends)!

Meredyth and Brad of Artistic Gardens are great, amazing professionals and totally charming as a couple. Came to our house, showed their portfolio and then it was all about what WE wanted. In no time we had a design that was even better than what we had been dreaming about! Costs rolled in and at first I have to admit it was a bit daunting, but the crews were great guys, and the work was superb and three years later I still feel like it was money very well spent. I would recommend Artistic Gardens any day!

Spring is almost here and we can't wait to use our new backyard created by Artistic Gardens! From design to implementation the project went well. The design process was very smooth, a combination of their expertise and our desires. Once the construction began things moved at a good pace. The detailed stonework is incredible, the planting superb! We highly recommend the Artistic Gardens crew!

We used artistic gardens a few years ago,for a backyard makeover. They were very expensive and somewhat slow but we were initially happy. However we have had many problems subsequently and have given up on having them come back and address these concerns once they had our money.. The sand they used between our interlock turns out to be a cheap type and we have had lots of weeds grow through even in one year. We paid someone else to fix it.. The stone patio they installed is sinking. The Napoleoon BBQ they installed in our stone patio was installed improperly and two years later had to be completely redone A BBQ specialist we called to fix the problem said he had never seen such a bad installation. Had to pay $1400 to fix it one two years later- not covered by warranty because it was installed improperly?. They do work that looks good but not so good on follow up or proper installation and for >$80000 we expected more!

Project involved complete hardscape and planting re-do for front and back yard: quality of hardscape was excellent but overall project was not cheap, esp. for quantity of planting that was provided. Also required occasional reminders of items brought up during proposal process. End product seems well matched to lifestyle requests though.

Would have given higher rating if co was more prompt at returning phone calls and emails, which usually took up to 2-3 business days to be returned (both before and after signing contract). Quotes and project start (once determined) were timely however.

Overall, given the price of their work, one would probably expect better attention to business detail and customer responsiveness but quality of end product is good.