Hawthorne Garden Design

HGD’s design fees and estimate came in highest of the three proposals I solicited. I chose HGD because I was looking for someone to help navigate and manage the entire process and Tamara did not deliver. There were significant issues with permitting requiring design changes, not getting the slope right on the patio, the quality of some of her plants were subpar, and her responsiveness after project completion despite the «one year warranty» was poor.
After receiving a stop work order on the patio, Tamara could not secure the right permits and it took me five months to get them without much help or guidance from HGD. Also, Tamara initially would not admit to the patio being graded incorrectly, but finally conceded when I showed her measurements and put out some furniture to sit in. Her sub was able to improve it slightly, but the slope is still too steep where you could both feel and see how unlevel it is. Most recently, all of the knockout roses HGD put in developed rose rosette shortly after being planted. Despite the fact that all of the same roses in the neighborhood are healthy and the roses on different sides of my home showed symptoms at the same time, HGD denies any responsibility as it’s an airborne disease and Tamara claimed all of other knockout roses from the same nursery were fine.
In response to my recent email communicating my dissatisfaction, Tamara’s wrote:
«Thanks for you email. I’m sorry that you’re disappointed. I felt that I made every effort to go over and above given the complexities of your project.
Good luck in your next project.»
With that response, it’s obvious Tamara does not care about her clients. I will admit the permitting process was complicated and painful, but I did most of the legwork in the end to get the permits. It’s hardly going over and above to get a small patio graded correctly and standing behind your work.

Our backyard needed serious help. It was small, for one. And shady. And very ugly. A friend recommended Tamara very highly so I called Hawthorne Garden Design and made an appointment. Tamara was lovely and very smart. She listened to our concerns. We wanted a very low maintenance garden as well as some sort of stone patio. Tamara came up with wonderful ideas, a gorgeous plan, and a beautiful pink-​hued stone. We also needed to install a drainage system and Tamara knew exactly what to do. She and her workers were friendly and punctual. Our backyard was a bit tricky because of our American elm. We were concerned about cutting off roots. No problem. She knew how to deal with this issue.
Her pricing is very fair. We paid $ 25,000 total for labor and materials.
Thanks to Tamara, our backyard has been transformed into a peaceful, vibrant place. The stone work is very impressive as well. She didn’t just order square stone pieces and set them into the ground. Her approach was very organic – and the end result was one of true beauty. Extremely durable as well.
Hawthorne Design is about to start work on our front yard now! I recommend Hawthorne very highly.