My experience as a client of Geared for Growing has been exceptional. I worked with the Designer, Austin Parnow who more than allowed me to participate in the planning and final design. At times this meant changing my mind about things I originally requested.
I found Austin to be highly skilled in his profession. He has a wide range of knowledge and a sound creative sense. Nevertheless, he encouraged me to verbalize my desires, my vision of the final product. We worked together. (I suspect I was more participatory than most.) On several occasions Austin patiently led me through hands-on examination of the materials: stones, boulders, plants so I could choose what I liked and what I could afford.
In the actual production and execution, the foreman and workers were beyond competent and thorough. They knew their craft, executed Austin’s design plan, worked hard and always left a clean and tidy site at the end of the day. Austin often visited the site and gave input.
I was impressed by the detailed invoices I received throughout the project….above and beyond the level I expected.
I highly recommend their services. Geared for Growing is a firm of quality and integrity.

Geared for Growing did an excellent job transforming the small, overgrown, mostly useless backyard at our Healdsburg vacation home into a beautifully paved and landscaped patio space, complete with a small bocce ball court.
We live on the East coast so Austin Parnow and his remarkable team of hard-working, tidy and trustworthy professionals handled the entire project while we were away, keeping us updated as the project progressed.
We could not have been more pleased with the work Geared for Growing did. We highly recommend their services.

Project Site: We had a very difficult and challenging site that not all the landscapers we interviewed were willing to take on or could have handled to our satisfaction. It was a sloping site in two directions, and the soil was hard clay and very rocky.

The Project: We had an idea of what we wanted, the size of the project and a rough estimate of what we wanted to spend. We provided Geared for Growing (G4G) with a very rough concept of our ideas and proceeded to work with them from concept design to final construction. They had the experience, ability and knowledge to help us develop an acceptable overall design and budget. The project consisted of design & consultation, plant and tree selection & placement, site grading, design & construction of fencing, retaining walls, rock design & placement, pathways, steps, swale, planter boxes, irrigation and lighting.

We are a “hands-on” owner/project manager and worked very closely with the G4G design and construction team. We made minor changes during the project and the G4G team, from the owner (Richard Plaxco) to the designer/estimator to the forman/construction guys, were great to work with. They were all very accommodating and their professional experience, attitude, and knowledge helped us make the right decisions during the course of the project. Not only were we happy with the results of our project but also thoroughly enjoyed the process of working with the whole G4G project team.

We have received many complements on our garden from our friends and neighbors and have recommended G4G to them and others. We would not hesitate to hire them again for future projects. If you have a difficult or challenging project they are the team that you want.

I hired Geared for Growing to design and install the landscaping in my backyard. I met with Richard to discuss design. He took my ideas and preferences and turned them into a beautiful design. I then met with Austin to select plants and finally Dario and team brought it to life. At all times the team was professional, timely, and efficient. The end product is a garden sanctuary that I love. Not only would I recommend them, but I am in the process of having them tear out the front lawn and replace it with a drought tollerant garden.

Geared for Growing also provides weekly maintenance. I would recommend the Geared for Growing team without hesitation.

I have been using Geared for Growing for many years both to improve the landscaping (add new, replace) as well as to do a few regular maintenance visits a year. My landscape was originally designed by a professional and they have been able to provide excellent ideas to maintain and improve the landscape in our yard. Their crews are conscience, knowledgeable and fast and provide all the services needed. Every project is completed as requested, at or under budget. Maintenance is completed quickly and with high quality work. Great company!

Very respectful workers–Valarie knows the business well.
She Went over the maintenance plan with the workers very thoroughly.
Cleaned up as if they were never there.
They installed our landscaping–Half Acre– 12 years ago and have maintained ever since.

We worked with Austin, who was incredibly patient over the long process during which we individually and collaboratively thought about our project. As our vision evolved, he was able to capture our ideas and make them work for our space and budget, and get them done on a short time-line. Our water feature and planters have the contemporary California resort-feel we wanted after living 30 years in the Midwest!

We had drainage issues in our bland, L-shaped backyard. Additionally we are on a small hill and had a retaining wall running through a portion of the yard, so there was a lot of wasted space. We wanted the backyard to be an extension of our internal living space in summer months but we had no idea how to achieve it or if we had enough space to incorporate a small swimming pool that we really desired. That is when we called Geared for Growing.

Richard returned our call within a couple of hours and came over the same day, so we were off to an excellent start! We had called other landscape designers and architects who weren’t as prompt and/or couldn’t really take on the full scope of our project. For us it was important to work with someone who could handle the entire job as my husband and I both work extended hours and didn’t have the time to manage a project and various contractors.

During our initial visit with Richard it was clear he was the right person for us. He listened to what we wanted and instantly had ideas on how to achieve it. Within a week we had a draft of the overall plan and his vision for our yard. It incorporated a pool, firepit, dining and lounge area, and raised beds for a small garden. All the things that were important to us. He added a water feature, arbor for privacy and some redwood screens to mask the pool equipment and air conditioning unit. We loved what we saw and decided to move forward.

From start to finish, Richard and his team were reliable, professional and a pleasure to work with. We kept waiting for something to come up or go wrong with the project, cost, etc. but that never happened. When the transformation of our backyard was complete, we were thrilled with what we saw. We knew it was going to be very nice, but it was more beautiful and useable than we could have imagined. The pool, plants and landscaping, outdoor lighting, waterfall, and overall having full use of our yard with no wasted space, exceeded our expectations. It took us a while to realize this was “our backyard” we were lounging and relaxing in.

We highly recommend Richard and his team. We would work with them again on any landscape project and will use them for semi-annual landscape maintenance.

I would recommend Geared for Growing for your landscaping projects. They did a wonderful job. I appreciated the planning process, and felt that I was heard, and that the plants used took into consideration of the type of yard I envisioned. They worked incredibly hard throughout the project, had the site cleaned at the end of each day, responded promptly to requested revisions to our original plans, and were very easy to work with. I am loving my yard, and any questions that I have had, have been addressed promptly. Geared for Growing was very professional, and I would highly recommend this company.

Geared for Growing did a large landscape job for our property including infrastructure, retaining walls, irrigation and plantings. Everyone involved were very experienced and respectful of time & budget. We were always well informed and involved with even small decisions. Attention to detail was wonderful with Austin catching small things before we even noticed!
I would highly recommend this company for any landscape design & work.

I did not have a positive experience with Geared for Growing and will direct you to the photos I posted as evidence of the work (concrete pads and rock wall). According to the company this is acceptable work that they refuse to rectify. Additionally the job was riddled with mistakes and it is left up to the homeowner to point it out. a 80ft concrete seating wall had to be completely pulled out due to the faulty design and curing. It took an enormous amount of debate before they did the right thing and then they charged me extra to replace the wall with another material–there is no accountability! Other mistakes included: building a terrace that was off plan by nearly 12″, creating planting areas where base rock was less that 4″ under the dirt, building a dry stack wall that has is crumbling (even after they supposedly fixed it) designing an irrigation plan that could not service the planting area (we had to hire another firm to add more zones to sufficiently cover the area), designing a drainage system that flooded paths and terraces, shorting a veneer wall by 70sq ft. yet charging for that quantity and clear cutting landscaping that was not to be touched. The list could go on. In addition to the poor workmanship it can be difficult communicating with the team. Finally, their markup on plants can be 50-100%—don’t throw your money away! It is very easy to order on your own, especially in Sonoma County

It was a pleasure to work with Valerie from Geared for Growing. She has extensive plant knowledge and she made the whole design process fun and stress free! She created a beautiful and functional landscape design for us and addressed a couple of issues we had. One was a noise issue we had with our neighbors air conditioner which was very close to our back fence, she put in a fountain in a strategic spot that has helped with the noise and planted plants that will eventually muffle the noise even more as they grow. We stayed on budget and the project was completed within the time frame Valerie gave us. We get wonderful compliments from people as they walk by our front yard, everyone loves it. We will definitely use Valerie again if we ever need her expertise.

Geared For Growing and Valerie Bunting in particular have done a great job for us for over 20 years in Santa Rosa. Valerie is extremely knowledgeable and helpful in all aspects of landscape design, planning, and maintenance. Geared for Growing is not inexpensive, but they do a superior job and back up their work. They’ve done design and landscaping installation and maintenance for us at three homes over the last 23 years, and all have garnered many compliments from our neighbors. Valerie in particular has been wonderful to work with – professional, knowledgeable and intuitive as far as understanding our needs.

Note: Info below is for last project only.