STEVE, ESSIE & ARTHUR (the Airdale) OF OAKLAND:

We highly recommend Utopic Gardens!  Angela and Ash created a beautiful garden on our back yard hillside in the Oakland Hills.  They are great designers and excellent listeners about what we wanted including low water usage and Deer friendly.  The entire project went well from the initial meeting, to their staff and close out.  Their pricing was mid range, compared to other estimates, but we are certain the end result was the best.We could never have imagined that our yard would look so lovely and artsy.  The plants, shrubs, bushes and trees they chose, work so well together as well as with our overall property design.  We especially love the color variations, boulders and dramatic lighting.  We are so lucky that we chose them for our project and hope you choose them too!

BILL & FRITH OF CLAYTON:

I met with 3 other landscape design contractors before meeting with Angela and Ash. The scope of our project called for a more artistic, outside the box  design/vision and Angela clearly understood this. When Ash came out after our initial meeting with Angela he brought a number of very creative ideas and it was obvious they had listened well and were on the same page with what we wanted from this makeover project. They built a beautiful, interesting raised flagstone patio with very tastefully designed moss rock walls and borders that meander in a very natural way around the yard. The plantings, lighting and irrigation they installed complimented each area to create a nice variety of interesting and inviting places for our visitors to discover as they explore our new mini resort. I can't put in words how pleased we are with the results. We did our homework by visiting with other customers and seeing the work they had done, so we knew they were good, but I think we got one of their master-pieces. These two are at the top of their game right now. Their crew is awesome and will make you tired from just watching. Very detailed oriented and take pride in what they do. Always left the site clean and in order at days end.  
They aren't for penney pincher types though, They are fair, but like anything else quality  costs.  We went over budget slightly, but I feel every dollar was wisely spent.  It's a joy to walk out to our backyard.

BOB AND CONNIE OF ALAMO:

Beyond our expectations.  Angela and Ash are true landscape visionaries.  With minimal drawings, they brought our yard to life with suggestions on tree trimming, colors and concept. We trusted them with the full yard reconstruction, including design of the yard, hardscape, plantings, lighting and irrigation system, augmented by their interactive consultative approach. Their employees were congenial and very hard working - wonderful people to have around your home during the day. We appreciated their insight, knowledge and passion for completing a fantastic endeavor. They are delightful to work with... trust them.  We expect to hire them for additional landscape needs.

CLAYTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY:

On behalf of the board of directors of the Society and the Gardens Tour Committee members, thank you for allowing us to showcase your beautiful landscaping on the 2009, 17th annual Clayton Gardens Tour.
The tour attendees especially commented on your creative use of plants demonstrating that 'drought tolerant' doesn't have to equal 'ugly' and in fact can be quite beautiful.  The aviary was also of interest to many.
 We appreciate you and others like you whose generosity allows us to continue to operate our quaint museum on Main Street.

PAUL & MICHELLE J. OF WALNUT CREEK:

What a pleasure it was to work with Angela and Ash. Our front yard in Walnut Creekwas a total tear out. They did all of the landscaping, Irrigation, lighting and electrical. We wanted a "Low Water, Mediterranean" look and that's exactly what they delivered. Angela did the design work. When we saw the initial plant recommendations we liked about 75% of the plants. The other 25% didn't suit our style. So, Angela took us to Devil Mountain Nursery in San Ramon and helped us "find the missing pieces." That helped us soooo much. They did the entire job in about 1 week. They cleaned up after themselves every day. Now we have a front yard that is the talk of the neighborhood. We're already talking to them about doing our backyard.

VINCE AND TERI OF CLAYTON:

Utopic Gardens turned our desires into a stunning reality we are in love with. They redesigned our existing tiered landscape to include beautiful dry-rock walls, tiled patio, Flagstone paths, a modification and increase of our space and flow, finishing it off with beautifully selected native and drought-resistant plants and well-placed lighting, giving the whole yard a warm and inviting glow. Angela and Ash are wonderful to work with. They have good coordination with their work crew. They stayed on budget. Their work crew is not only expedient, but they take pride in maintaining a clean work environment at the end of each work day. Utopic Gardens is absolutely a company you can put your trust in.

PHYLLIS AND STAN OF LAFAYETTE:

We highly recommend Utopic Gardens for any of your landscape design and installation projects. Owners Ash and Angela Hakimi are professional and responsive and have the design and construction talent to produce a wonderful outdoor environment for your home or business. They listened carefully to our desires and concerns and developed a plan that met our objectives and budget. They designed and constructed 150 feet of rock wall with drainage, 100 feet of fencing, arbors, gates, a foot bridge, irrigation, and complete landscape design with drought-resistant trees and shrubs. The final product greatly exceeded our expectations and reflects the quality of both the designers and workers.

MARCIE AND RYAN OF CLAYTON:

Utopic Gardens was recommended to us by a local garden shop, and after meeting with Angela and discussing her ideas we were excited to get started. Both Angela and Ash were great listeners to our ideas and also realistic about what we could expect in keeping with our budget. Our BIG project started on time and finished on time. Being a very picky critic, I was thrilled to take note at the end of each work day how the yard was cleaned up and the equipment was put away out of reach of our two curious children, a stark contrast to previous yard workers we had hired. While I got to spend a lot of time observing the work as it was in progress I was extremely impressed with the quality of the work I was seeing done. A flight of stairs being added to the backyard was meticulously leveled at each step and reinforced so well that I know it will be in perfect working order for the next 50 years. The time that Angela and Ash spent listening to us and brainstorming creative solutions helped us to feel that our dollar was well spent and we were working with real professionals. In the end we were more than thrilled with the result. We now have a beautiful back garden that we can enjoy year-round and are planning to use Utopic Gardens again soon for our side front yard.

SHIRLEY AND JIM OF DANVILLE:

Each day when we look out onto or stroll through our garden, we feel that Ash and Angela have created our very own private Shangri- La!

DAN AND SUSAN OF SAN RAMON:
 

After interviewing two companies referred to us by Orchard Nursery in Lafayette, we chose Utopic Gardens, primarily because of their creativity and what we had seen in some of their previous contracts. We did not have a definite concept of what we wanted to do with our front yard, but we outlined our objectives of year-round color, no grass, low maintenance, low water, and hummingbird/ butterfly- attractiveness. We identified our budget and let Angela and Ash develop a design concept. After we approved the concept, the Utopic Gardens team dedicated the next 2+ weeks to implementing the design. What a great job the result surpassed our expectations with a Mediterranean-style yard with a beautiful re-circulating water feature, striking boulders, very attractive plants/shrubs/trees, new drip irrigation system, new sidewalk with colored cement, breathtaking accent lighting, and a flagstone walkway. We are still receiving compliments from our neighbors 6 months later.

TAMARA OF CLAYTON:

Utopic Gardens was recommended to me by Nicole of R&M Pool in Clayton. I instantly clicked with Angela, finding her style and creative ideas just what I wanted. Our front yard project was a complete tear out and re-landscape from nothing. We had the driveway done in pavers with a border of flagstone and steps and landing done in flagstone. This was the only part of the project that was sub-contracted. The rest of the work included decorative fence, incredible stone terraced walls, and lighting, irrigation, and landscaping that was done by Angela and Ash. Initially, there was some confusion on my part about who was supervising the subcontractors, but once that part of the project was finished, the rest of the job went relatively smoothly. I am very particular in my vision of what I wanted and Angela was able to incorporate my ideas into the finished project. We did have some minor differences of opinions on some aspects of the project, but both Angela and Ash worked hard to make everything turn out perfect. I am very pleased with my front yard. It is so much better than I could have envisioned and I have neighbors stopping by to comment on how beautiful everything turned out. I would highly recommend Utopic Gardens if you value unique design and working with people that make sure you are happy with the end product.

NAT C. OF LAFAYETTE:

Angela and Ash did a fantastic job of sprucing up my yard which included adding a retaining wall, terracing off parts of my yard, irrigation, deer fencing, and planting many native plants. When I first used them, they weren't on Yelp yet but were highly recommended by Orchard Nursery. Angela is super nice and helps plan the design. Ash is the project manager and is approachable and friendly. They have a small, hardworking crew that gets the job done in a timely manner. They clearly have a passion for what they do and it shows in the final product. I got lucky as they were the first landscapers that I have ever used and I had a very pleasant experience. I recommended them to my neighbors who ended up using them, and they can't stop thanking me for recommending the best contractors that they have ever hired.

KATIE AND DICK OF ALAMO:

Angela and Ash transformed our ordinary yard into a magical garden! We highly recommend them and they are an absolute joy to work with.

DESIREE OF OAKLAND:

We found Utopic Gardens through a reference and would highly recommend their services. They were quick and reliable and we appreciated their skillful craftsmanship. We desperately needed a custom planter box for in front of our business, Cole Coffee. They built a custom box, replanted our tree and delivered in 2 weeks!