Waters Wise Landscape Design

As a local landscape architect I have had the good fortune to collaborate with Michael on several projects. I have found him to be a talented designer, exceptionally knowledgeable about plants and easy to work with. For the single family residential market I believe Michael to be one of the best designers in the region.

Due to the water drought, I haven’t found a better company that’s been able to cater to the water crisis. These guy’s have the best solution to use the least amount of water. They saved me a significant amount of money from my water bill.

Left two voice mails, and filled out the contact form on the website. Nobody ever contacted me. I would at least expect a call back, even just to say they don’t have time for new projects

Called him days ago and left a message for him to call me. Really was looking forward to using his services as the reviews here were so good. Nobody has ever called me back.
Oh well, found someone else.
Cheers,

Our front yard was a boring water hungry lawn and my husband and I decided to hire Michael Waters to design a «waterwise» yard. Knowing my husband and I like flowers and hummingbirds Michael designed a most attractive oasis for hummers, butterflies and bees. Already our yard, which has only just been planted, has been consistently visited by these critters. I can’t wait to see what it looks like once the plants have had a year to grow. Michael is most knowledgeable in drought tolerant plants and was careful to choose plants that love our Mira Mesa yard’s soil and weather conditions. He was also very open to include in his design plants that we really like. Michael was at our beck and call during the entire process and kept in contact with us. I highly recommend Michael Waters as it is obvious he loves his work and is determined to ensure his customers love the results.

I’ve waited nearly six months before reviewing Waters Wise. I was happy with my service from the get go, but wanted to make sure the beautiful landscape survived and flourished as shown in design plans.
It has and more. I wanted a «courtyard feel» for a tiny front yard that was far too open to passersby and knew I was asking too much! On our first visit, I talked and talked, knowing that my wishes were unrealistic, particularly because I wanted easy care, low water scaping as well. I figured that I would ask for everything, knowing my expectations were too much to expect.
Michael delivered on all fronts. We now spend loads of time in our tiny yard that doesn’t feel tiny. Plants are filling in and it feels private already! The space will be perfect in a few months!
In addition, Michael considered and designed for factors I hadn’t considered — curb appeal and the environment. His plantings are resistant to unpleasant bugs, but attract butterflies and hummingbirds — so nice for us to see! Our neighbors compliment us about our pretty yard, too.
In addition, Michael never tried to «oversell» us. He laid out a plan that suited us, worked hard to find a good price for the right plants and was open to questions when I had a case of sticker shock. He happily provided several lower cost options, but after researching, I decided to defer to the expert –Michael– and I am glad I did. Our project might not seem huge to others, but it was very important to us. And Michael treated it that way! We are so pleased to enjoy this additional space!

What a wonderful experience to work with Michael and Waters Wise! We decided to remove three large sections of grass from our front yard which totally nearly 6000 sq.ft. and replace it with drought tolerant plantings and other architectural elements. Michael had an additional challenge to incorporate the new design spaces with the remaining planting areas. Michael put in his blood, sweat and perhaps even tears to the entire project and it turned out beautifully! We worked so well together and Michael made numerous suggestions we would not have ever considered with out him. This guys know his stuff and will pick not only appropriately sized plants but also unique and interesting selections of planing material as well. Since this time, we have continued to use him on other projects and his advice and design has proven to be a winner once again. We are looking forward to doing the same in our back yard very soon! Cheers!

An expert in plant selection, Michael Waters’ has impressive knowledge, particularly the drought-​resistant, hardy kind. He recommended what fit in well with marine conditions of La Jolla. We would’ve given him top scores if it weren’t for problems with his accuracy in scaling his drawings. His first drawing made the yard far larger than its true dimensions. He corrected it in the end. Our final landscape is gorgeous.

I live in East County San Diego. So it is hard to get good landscape work done out here. (You usually get the local yokels.) Anyway… Our property is technically in the desert highlands so that means scorching hot in the summer, freezing in the winter, and little natural fertilizer in the earth. I thought I would have to go with a desert theme since that’s what kept coming up in search results for my climate. But it was not my dream landscape theme. (BTW I tried to plant a row of trees on my own and they all died in the frost.)
Here comes Michael. He was able to give me plenty of options that were:
–drought resistant
–frost resistant
–lush looking
–critter repellant
–fire resistant
He was able to offer suggestions I’d never heard of. And he always responded to my random texts about trees I’d seen around San Diego and would tell me if they would work in my space. +++‘s for knowing their latin name too! I have a really large lot (about an acre) and he was able to come up with strategies that would be cheap for the large foot print I would be planting.
The only negatives I could think of would be he’s starting to be in demand. So I’m sure he’s getting busy.

Michael was tremendously helpful and willing to tailor his efforts to my budget. I couldn’t afford the full spectrum of consultation and diagrams that he often provides, but he was eager to sit down with me and provide concepts, specifics, and even a helpful sketch that allowed me to tackle the rest of my project on my own. He’s friendly, knowledgeable, and it’s clear that he really enjoys guiding people through their landscaping project no matter what the scope.

We had Michael make a landscape design for our backyard last year. We live in Clairemont.
Our challenges: hillside (mostly hard clay type soil), needed a ground covering (that did not attract bees) and it had be an oasis (wife requirement). He did an excellent job to incorporate all our ideas (and a great price). He also offered up many other ideas we did not originally think of. He seemed very knowledgeable on what types of plants would grow the best given our soil and angle configuration.
It was 10 times easier to get bids to beautify our backyard once we had a set plan and also allowed all the future landscaping bids to come in with the same exact outcome, which made it easier to compare.
My wife and I are super pleased with using a landsape designer. In the end we saved a lot of money going this route, ended up with an oasis and no bees.

Michael Waters is a young man who knows his plants! His enthusiasm for his work is infectious, and we relished his keen eye and his confident assurance that he could bring some order out of our cobbled together landscaping. He responded to any questions/​calls quickly, respectfully. From day one we could hardly wait to see everything in place! He had ideas we’d never considered and, while we’re at the beginning stages of growth and are waiting to see the full effect after this growing season, what we’re seeing now is so pleasing to the eye – especially as regards the coral tree in the front yard which we have been mistakenly cutting back each winter JUST BEFORE the spring blooms had a chance to flower. Now we know.

Michael did an amazing job of designing the landscaping for my South Park home. He followed my wishes exactly for a landscape that is lush but low maintenance. His design included a beautiful fire pit feature which fits into the craftsman theme of my house exactly. I would definitely recommend him to my friends and neighbors.

Superior service, superior skills, darn nice guy to work with! His design and contractor connections helped us transform an unusable hillside of weeds and dirt into a key feature of our home. We will probably be on the SD Garden Tour for xeriscape a couple of years! Michael is highly recommended! Five star rating, without reservation!

Michael has an amazing gift for selecting the right plants and design layout for your home or garden. He did an incredible job on both our interior and exterior spaces. We live in a canyon and he’s worked miracles in making our home a showplace. His fees were also very reasonable. A great deal all around.

We interviewed many landscape designers before finding Michael. Nobody was willing to tackle our seemingly impossible hillside challenge, but Michael jumped in with inspiration and enthusiasm. He helped us translate the impossible dream into a beautiful reality. He did an excellent job of listening to our wants and concerns and coming up with a design that exceeded our expectations. He demonstrated great partnership with the other contractors on the job and we appreciated his positive attitude throughout the project. Michael was a delight to work with and we happily recommend him!