Maples For All Seasons

Great pre-​sales support, friendly and informative… but once you purchase their relatively expensive trees and have an issue, they drop off the face of the earth. Voicemails, emails, and texts, all ignored. They promised to help us if we had any issues with our trees and this was a big part of our decision making process. We are pretty disappointed because they seemed like such nice people.

Barry at Maples for all Seasons (MFAS) is a great person, gregarious to talk to & personable, good at making the sale (I ended up buying 3 maples).
When I tried to make contact for following up with the trouble my expensive maple was having (not leafing out this year & proactive measures I could take) I hear nothing back. Complete silence.
* No response to emails sent (with pictures), (1+ month back)
* No call back on messages left. (1 + week back)
I believe the Acer. Fireglow maple enthusiastically recommended, for that semi-​sunny location is unfortunately now dead (although I’m still holding out hope).
My other two maples are alive & I’m grateful for that.
This is in stark contrast to the response I got, when I called asking after buying one. (returned calls within 30 minutes).
Since MFAS operates out of their home, there is little recourse if they choose not to respond back to a you, unlike a store where you can ask after issues face to face.
I am disappointed, since Barry came across as very customer service oriented.

These guys know their business and are honest, straightforward professionals. Highly recommended.

We contacted «Maples for All Seasons» about two years ago to put in a maple tree in our backyard. My wife suggested just going to Home Depot or Lowes to pick up a maple tree but I thought things would go more smoothly if we worked with a «professional». Anyway, we went over to talk to Barry of Maples for All Seasons. He seemed very knowledgeable and friendly and helped select a tree which was supposed to be just right for the sunny area of the backyard where we wanted a tree. Everything seemed to be going well, and I was quite satisfied at that time.
After the tree was planted, however, things started to go wrong. Leaves started soon «burning» to a crisp in the hot and sunny Pleasanton summer. I contacted Barry, and he suggested making sure that the roots were well watered and that we use a certain chemical supplement to help prevent leaf burning. Well, we did that but — again — for a 2^nd summer the leaves quickly burned and turned to a crisp. I have no desire to spend a 3^rd summer looking at a poor maple tree with leaves burned to a crisp, so I’ll be cutting down and pulling out the tree myself, and going to Home Depot or Lowes to get another type of tree.
I am bit a disappointed with Maples for All Seasons. I was happy to pay a little bit of a premium in order to work with a professional who would ensure a successful planting. Well, I did indeed pay a premium as opposed to just getting a tree from Home Depot or Lowes, but I don’t think that the results were any better than I could have done on my own. From now on, I’ll be either planting my own trees or be working with professionals from some other nursery.

I was looking for Maple trees for my landscaping project when I came across MFAS. Barry answered the phone and was very informative on everything I would ever want to know about Maples. We weren’t sure as to the exposure or placement so Barry asked for some photos which I sent him. He was able to tell me that my maple of choice (Fireglow) would work perfect.
I ordered a matching set of 6 foot trees which Barry delivered to the house. They looked very healthy with nice thick trunks and perfectly trimmed. He said he would have to come back the following day as he wanted to make sure they were planted correctly and also treat them with SuperThrive which helps the roots take hold quickly and strong.
Sure enough the next day he returned with his wife who is also a maple expert and we had a great conversation. He checked the trees, did the treatment for the roots and was very nice and helpful. I am going to be planting maples next year on a hill and will definitely be calling Barry again.
Once my trees are leafed out, I will upload some photos. I am sure they will be stunning. If you have any questions about Maples, you need not search any further. Thanks MFAS!

We were looking for an Acer p. Shaina and Maples for All Seasons was the only place we found in the area that actually had that specific kind of maple. We visited Barry to see the trees and he was extremely helpful, answered all our questions and patiently showed us many maple trees so we could choose the one we liked the most. We came back home with a cute round shaped Shaina and all the information needed to plant It right away. Great place, I’d definitely recommend It!

By chance I just saw an old comment posted to my review from Barry with excerpts from the visiting Arborist who inspected my maple. I’m posting this update because I also got a rude threatening comment from an individual who is now blocked.
The Arborist was connected to Maples for all seasons by way of being referred by them. Barry also told me that he occasionally trained under his guidance.
I find Barry’s response misleading. The post left out was the fact that I only had the broken pipe-​water-​leak for two weeks. I told the arborist that the leak was recent and being repaired. It lasted for about 2 weeks. When the pipe leaked it was noticeable, the water ran down the driveway until the leak was fixed. The repairmen showed how the leak effected our water pressure. We would have noticed if it were a longer period of time because we had very poor water pressure during the leak. In fact, I was hoping this would all at least be covered by homeowner’s insurance so I had every aspect checked out thoroughly and professionally. The pipe leak was not long enough to cause the demise of the tree.
BTW, the arborist asked me «How did Barry say you should water?». He pointed out it was incorrect & too much. Why didn’t he mention that in the excerpt? He did not tell me it was due to the leak — he specifically said over-​pruning caused sun burn. As a result that really compromised the tree. Combined with the over-​watering for 2 years it was a perfect environment for the fungus to take hold, which it did.
I failed to mention earlier that 1 year after the pruning I had paid Barry to come out and asses what was wrong. The tree was not blooming normally. He said nothing was, just wait for the second bloom in early fall, it should look better. LOL
Regardless of who said what or to whom, I did my part and tried to communicate with Barry. He made a post on Unilocal this month to try and discredit me. I consider that bad communication from a business owner. At this point after all this Unilocal stuff, I would not discuss anything further with Barry.
I would still not recommend Maples For All Seasons because:
#1– their part in the loss of our very beautiful large maple (the focal point of our landscape)
#2 — their reaction or lack of follow up, poor communication
#3 — their lack of expertise in proper maintenance for our tree
That’s my experience, my opinion and posted for others to review. The loss of a 60 yr old maple that was 25′ high and thriving before Barry & Sue got hold of it is still a great loss.

I bought a little Japanese maple about 10 years ago at Target for probably $ 15, which grew into a stunningly beautiful 20 foot tree for the brick patio of my condo. For the last two years it’s been suffering from the heat, losing all of its leaves mid summer, so I went to Home Depot for advice and was referred to Barry. He came to my rescue, giving me advice, and coming up with a plan to plant it into the ground. That didn’t work out and I really didn’t want to use an enormous ugly plastic pot for $ 500, so he actually built me one out of wood which will give the roots plenty of space to grow into the soil below and looks great for $ 325 which included pruning: a creative solution which hopefully will save the tree! I won’t know that for a while but I do know that he’s an expert, he takes pride in his work, and he charges reasonable prices. What more could you want in an arborist? …or any businessperson for that matter!

We met Sue (co owner & wife) at the home & garden show at Alameda Co. Fairgrounds. She was real helpful & we set up an appt. right there for Barry to come see our tree. We were able to text them a few photos of our «crown jewel» we call her, maple, she’s real big & we wanted to do her right for our yard. She is the absolute ‘value’ of our back yard. He gave us an estimate, what we thought was ‘fair’. He did a great job, had great suggestions since she was getting too much sun & burning because a tree behind her had died. We reached the conclusion she needed besides the proper trim, a protector shade tree behind her. He came out & planted it on a different day after trim & tipped us off to more ideas & the care. Very helpful, knowledgeable & also local. He gives talks at Alden Lane Nursery, I found out when I called them for a referral. Very happy we found someone to help us care for our beautiful Maple tree.

We hired Barry Hoffer of Maples for all Seasons 3 years ago to prune my large Japanese Maple in the front yard. We had been referred to his company from close friends that have worked with Barry on all their Japanese Maples.
Our maple had been hacked by a maintenance gardener and thus and was not thriving at all and looked unattractive, After calling Barry Hoffer. he came over and first assessed the Japanese Maple and recommended a pruning to restore the proper branch structure and to remove damaged branches from our gardener terrible pruining. Barry had to do some major pruning to get the tree back into shape. I was really impressed with all the attention to detail he had. He even disinfecting all his pruning tools before starting to make sure no diseases could be spread.
Now, three years later the tree looks fabulous and is in the best health. Barry also checks in with us to see how things are going and reminds us on proper Japanese Maple nutrition. He definitely shows how much he cares.
Thank you so much Barry for not only returning the beauty of my Japanese Maple back to it’s elegant form but keeping it healthy. I highly recommend Maples for all Seasons. You can trust Barry for any of your Japanese Maple needs.

We have not purchased trees from MfAS but the one star rating is why. We went to the 2013 Sunset event and were looking for more information on Japanese Maples, amongst other plants that our landscape designer had put on the back yard plans.
After browsing the front of their booth and looking through the leaflets, we still had questions. The problem was the staff was inside out of the sun and ignoring us. We even made eye contact with one of the badged people having the «private» conversation inside, but were still ignored. We left.
I later wrote a quick email to the company telling them of the inattentive service and their reply was I had the wrong booth and was wrong, they always have great service. So unless I was suffering from heat stroke (you know how hot the Sunset event gets) and somehow managed to grab another companies Japanese Maple flier, the only one wrong here is Maples for All Seasons.
Regardless whether this small company thinks they provide great service and individual attention to all interested browsers and customers, their failure to acknowledge an unhappy visitor of their booth makes me think that if I were to work with them, I would get the same holier than thou attitude. In a service world where I am paying as much for the expertise and customer rapport as the physical product, I expect better.
We will find another Japanese Maple nursery to do business with. I’d suggest you save yourself the headache and do the same.

Contacted them and got an estimate, agreed to the price, and then we never heard from them again. We emailed three times. I understand that sometimes things come up that delay people form responding, but it’s been several weeks and multiple emails. Not good.

Barry and his wife Sue worked on my two Japanese maples and they did a terrific job to layer the trees and allow some much needed sunlight to finally shine through them. They are very knowledgeable and I’ll definitely see them again to do some additional maintenance.

After years of frustration over poor and amateur pruning attempts on our 8 mature maples in the front of our Montclair home, I happened on Barry and Sue at a Home& Garden show. After one call and a prompt response they appeared and assessed our needs, started a thorough and AMAZING trim and transformed our scraggly but wonderful trees into sculptured works of nature.
Then, after some discussion we took out a couple of competing maples and they planted a more appropriately sized tree with color to accent the location.
I am ecstatic over the job, the professionalism, the concern that these two have for Japanese maples and highly recommend them.

I had the pleasure of meeting Barry and Sue at Art on the Avenue in Burlingame. I was drawn to their booth of lovely Japanese Maples and found that Barry and Sue are Arborists and specialize in pruning these magnificent trees. Two weeks later they were expertly at work on pruning the heart of our home and very old Japanese Maple. This team is exceptional in their work ethic and have true passion and love for their trade. Wow… the end result is just spectacular and we are very happy to have found Maples For All Seasons. They will return soon to prune our Magnolia tulip trees. I highly recommend this down to earth couple to take care of your precious trees. A bonus… their prices are quite reasonable too.

Barry and his wife Sue were down here in the south bay on Thursday to take care of my out of control green Japanese maple. They started working on it last year and all they did was make it mad and it grew another four feet. So we are going to let it stretch its wings and allow some of the branches to grow thicker. We will keep the sides down and allow the height to increase. It look beautiful.
Barry and Sue also put in a nine foot red maple to take the place of a fruitless mulberry that I removed in the front yard. I was lucky. I found Barry and Sue by going to one of the garden roadshows last year. It is a shame that people in the south bay cannot do a search for help with their Japanese maples and have Maples for All Seasons come up.
They have excellent prices and you can do very well at the shows when Barry has «show» prices.

This little secret gem is the best place in the Bay Area to purchase Japanese maples. The quality of their product is worth 3 times the price, as you will see shopping at retail nurseries for «specimen» grade pre-​pruned and shaped Japanese maples.
This nursery does not sell to retail nurseries so you will only find them selling wholesale direct to the public, a real find!
And, they will properly place, plant and prune your maples as an add-​value service that makes it easy to have gorgeous maples. I tell all my clients looking for the best trees about this resource.

Have loved working with Barry. He know his Maples and knows about many other trees too. He also is an expert pruner. Highly recommend him. A+ in service and dependability, and A+ knowledge of Japanese Maples as well as many other trees. Also, If you need ides as to what to do in your backyard, he’s the guy. Reasonably priced too!