Urban Botanics

I called them after being referred to them by BPN and Unilocal.Bill was great when he came out and inspected the place fully and had some great ideas; I was impressed. He told me that he would send me a plan and we could talk further. I waited a week but never heard anything. Called and was told that he would be sending me something later that week, Thursday to be exact. On Thursday, I received a message that he could not take on my project as he was too busy.
How unprofessional! Why didn’t he tell me that from the beginning? or at least when I called to check in. I waited and put stuff on hold because I was interested in his ideas. Unbelievable. I am VERY DISAPPOINTED!

With all the raving reviews I was excited for the opportunity to work with this team. They came out and I never heard from them again. No email, phone call, nothing. I tried to reach them but nothing was returned. At least tell me if my project isn’t a fit instead of wasting my time.

I agree with everything Stephen O. said and more. Urban Botanics is a true joy to work with. They transformed my backyard from useless to stunning in just one week. All I did was show Bill some photos from magazines and he did the rest. Now my backyard looks like it should be in a magazine!
The design is lovely, the workmanship is excellent, and every last detail accounted for. The work crews worked efficiently and left everything spotless. Bill is present at the work site and entirely available, even on Sundays if you need him. We stayed within the budget, but actually with Urban Botanics you get MORE than what you pay for (refreshing, right?), like in my case a trail down my backyard slope, re-​configured stairs, and a built-​in bench on my new deck. At Urban Botanics they bid like contractors, but work like artists, and it’s hassle free for you. You can’t go wrong!

Urban Botanics just finished a project at our home in Walnut Creek and we could not be happier. I called Bill after reading some of the other reviews on Unilocal and looking at pictures of his past projects on his website. Bill was very easy to work with and had great ideas that complemented the look and feel that we wanted. We simply let him know what pictures and designs that we liked and gave him the freedom to select plants, create walkways and run with the overall design. It is beautiful and exceeded our expectations.
His crew is very professional and courteous, even taking care of items that were well beyond the scope of what was planned (fixing wire on an old fence, removing old bricks/​debris from our yard, making a trip to the dump).
We will definitely use Urban Botanics for any other landscaping or home remodel projects in the future.
Oh — their price was extremely competitive as well. We met with several other designers before we hired Bill and felt that his quote was the most complete and competitive.
Call them!

Urban Botanics just completed a remodel of our backyard, which included a French door exit leading out to a deck. Working with Bill and his team was a complete pleasure. We met with Bill a few times, shared our vision and he really did the rest from there. Came up with a design within our budget, kept the project on schedule and executed what we had discussed even better than we could have imagined.
The team worked through the entire weekend and even when a hiccup arose, which is inevitable in a project of this scope, Bill made sure to immediately rectify the problem, without compromising results. He exchanged materials, redid things he didn’t feel looked right and you can tell the quality and pride of work that not only Bill, but the entire team share.
Now having just used the space during a holiday weekend, we are even more pleased with the work and the way things turned out.
I highly recommend them, pictures of our yard are on their facebook page and our neighbors have been coming by, just to see it as the curb appeal is that noticeable.
Thanks U.B. and Bill.

I already have and will absolutely continue to recommend Bill and his team to anyone in need of landscaping work. They took our high level wishes and designed and produced an incredible backyard for us. Bill is an excellent designer — he selected all the plants, trees, and ground cover. He also installed boulders, stone steps, crushed stone pathways, low-​voltage lighting, a cedar shed, and, oh yeah, a 9′ long concrete fire pit (his idea, not ours). Our backyard is completely awesome. Bill’s design seamlessly blended in with our patio and fence, which was already in place. Bill et al can do almost anything to an outdoor space. They were professional, reasonably priced, and were able to start our job within reasonable lead time. I can’t say enough about these guys. They take pride in doing great work.

My wife and had our front façade, front yard landscaping (including irrigation system install, and lighting system install) done by Urban Botanics. I could go on and on — but the main points I want to get across are that they did what they said they were going to do, when they said they were going to do it, for the amount they quoted. We really loved the process of working with them, and the end product was just gorgeous. Cars literally stop in front of our house and look, no kidding. (whereas before they would scurry past and neighbors would ask us when we were going to fix the yard).
I’m unsure what happened with the experience of the negative reviewer but that’s obviously a shame. We had work done in both areas they mention — we had tons and tons of plantings (maybe 100?) and 2 died because the watering system performed just a little differently than expected near a retaining wall drain, and was giving some dry plants more than they could take. This strikes me as normal — you don’t get 100% immediately. They brought 4 appropriate replacements and 6 months later everything’s still 100% now that it’s dialed in. We had electrical work too for the lighting, and it was done very well. We couldn’t be happier.
Thanks Bill and Ming!

I had the privilege to work with Bill on a job site. They were a friendly and hardworking crew. There great work and experience not only taught me a thing or two, but the customers were thrilled with the end result.

Bill and Jay transformed our ugly duckling of a yard into something truly spectacular. We chose them over other landscapers for their willingness to listen to our wants and work within our budgetary constraints.
They were resourceful, presenting unique solutions while keeping us in the loop throughout the whole process. We couldn’t be happier with the results.

Be wary of Bill and Ming of Urban Botanics. We had a terrible experience recently with UB. They will cut every corner that they can whenever an opportunity presents itself. 25% of the plants they planted in our yard have died only 5 months later and they have not stood by their promise of replacing plants that don’t survive. Ming the electrician should not have a license. None of the work they did was up to code and had to be totally ripped out and replaced by a certified electrician. Additionally his prices quoted were 3x what they should have been for the work. You may feel like you are getting good value on part of the work, but they will hit you hard in other areas (like electrical, wood working, irrigation etc.) to make up the price. Buyer be aware. They are not recommended.

Like some of the other reviewers, I too had a yard that was a disaster zone. However, a total reconstruction of my two unit building after a storm disaster led me to want to create a beautiful garden for my tenants downstairs to enjoy through direct access and for me to be able to appreciate through visual access from my upper unit.
Because I recognized that not all tenants have the time or inclination to take loving care of a garden, my goal was to make the garden as maintenance free as possible by using only water sparing plants like succulents and by installing a satellite controlled drip irrigation system. I hired a newly-​minted landscape architect who did a very nice job of putting together a plan with kind of a Japanese bento box appearance.
But Bill Ledford of Urban Botanics was the guy who put it all together. He found the right plants, the proper polished glass pieces to go inside the bento boxes and the correct stones to go between the bento boxes. He took care of the selection of great bamboo trees on the periphery and of uplighting for all of the plants and succulents.
Although I have had more problems with wild oxalis than Bill and I might have anticipated (Bill thinks it should be called Cialis rather than oxalis!), Bill has assigned his assistant Ken to come by my building on a monthly basis to keep this weed under control. Recently, a remnant of a bay tree that stood in part of my garden started to explode, Alien-​movie like, out of a nailed wood coffin like enclosure that Bill had created. Bill promises to come back to slay the vampire!
I was so impressed by Bill’s work in my garden that I decided to extend my urban botanics up to my decks on one side of my building and my balconies on the other side. Bill was able to extend the satellite-​controlled irrigation system up across the house and plant low water consuming plants in beautiful ceramic pots, large and small.
Urban Botanics added the fine brush strokes to provide my extensive contemporary-​look reconstruction project with just the right touch of low-​maintenance «green».

Wow… talk about overhauling a backyard space into something beautiful!
I had a cemented backyard with wooden stairs, garbage bins, a few sad potted plants, and not much more. Urban Botanics came in and drew up a plan that I had trouble imagining because the change would have to be that drastic. But they did it! Today I have a really great zen garden and deck with a water feature that everyone loves. The plants are thriving and we are very happy. You are in capable hands with Urban Botanics! Ask for Bill.

Heather and Bill are phenomenal. I can’t say enough — you guys are definitely invited to the garden party!!!
My garden had suffered 4 years of construction chaos and was pretty well devastated. My koi pond was dead and drained with serious leaking issues…
These guys totally rocked out my yard in no time flat and were respectable on the wallet too. Now if I can just train my dog from digging in the new design we are gonna be GOLD!
Can’t say enough — come bye and take a look if you don’t believe me!