Reviews

Mercy, I love Bonnie’s landscape design and how she worked with Carlos Rodríguez to implement the plan! I’m still discovering reasons to appreciate her work. She studied and mapped my entire property including multiple existing trees. Her design is excellent. The plants she recommended have been installed and I am gleefully watching hummingbirds sip nectar right outside my living room window. I would have never thought to add ornamental trees to the trees I already have but am looking forward to the fall foliage and berry loving birds coming to feast.
Bonnie seems to have thought of everything. Each and every water faucet is accessible for bare feet and the paths make it so easy to get around the place. She used nearly all existing plants that I accidentally put in the right place and rearranged the rest to be transplanted where they belong.

I’m reading her “Blue Book” now and highly recommend you do too. Her writing mirrors her personality -honest, genuine, smart and witty. She’s a real winner!

The first winter I lived in Dallas, nearly all the plants I'd brought with me from Austin died, either from freezing or disease. It was disheartening, and I realized then I was in over my head. My little house's landscaping was either badly neglected or completely wrong. I had no idea what to plant in this different climate and in mostly shaded beds, and I tend to waver between over watering and neglect. I attended Bonnie's two free classes about native North Texas landscapes and water conservation, complete with her personally written textbook and slide presentation, and left feeling informed and prepared. Bonnie's style is very relaxed and straightforward, and she was glad to answer our specific questions both during and after class. After that, the smartest thing I did was hire her for a consultation. We spent several hours in my yard discussing possibilities, and when she left I had a detailed drawing of the yard, a list of specific plants to buy, exactly where to plant them and how far apart, and instruction to turn off my sprinkler system that was drowning the yard. Later I conferred with her several times by phone. She was wonderful. My neighbor, watching all this take place, couldn't wait to ask for Bonnie's contact information. To that point I had wasted hundreds of dollars on plantings that failed. Hiring her and buying the right plants, even paying to have them planted, was very economical. And I did it all with a great deal more confidence. Bonnie Reese is a special asset to our neighborhoods.

I moved a year and half ago to a 30 yrs old house, that had 2 large trees- 1 in back and 1 in front. But no other landscaping, so luckily I had a blank canvas to work with. But between the high cost of water, hot weather and challenging soil I was very interested in water conservation and the use of native plants. Being a DIY-er I wanted some suggestions and tried and true experience so I attended 2 of Bonnie's classes that were sponsored by Dallas Water. She is very knowledgeable, had lots of pictures, and lots of examples of "do's" and "don'ts". The class was very interactive and she gladly answered a lot of questions. She was very personable and added lots of humor to her class. Her book "Common Sense Landscaping" will be an invaluable resource I'm sure I will refer to often. I would attend another class and consider a consultation in the future.

I attended two of Bonnie's classes which were sponsored by Dallas Water. I was impressed by Bonnie's extensive knowledge and her straight forward presentation style. She is approachable and down to earth so there was a line to ask her questions during the breaks. I appreciated her practical tips on plant size and landscape water conservation. It was difficult for me to know what would do well in my yard. Bonnie's experience in the Dallas area is invaluable

I believe it is better to get professional advice from someone who doesn't profit from doing the work. Bonnie shares that philosophy. This made me trust her recommendations even more.

I learned so much in Bonnie's classes that I scheduled a consultation with her. Her book, "Common Sense Landscaping", is already my go to resource for landscaping questions.

I hope Bonnie teaches more classes again soon. I would love to attend more of her classes and I'd go back to the ones I already attended.

I scheduled a walk through with Bonnie after attending two of her classes. I had a very large tree in my back yard which was rotten. I loved the tree, but I realized during class that it probably needed to be removed. Bonnie confirmed that the tree was dangerous and needed to be removed as quickly as possible. I have some other trees which will eventually need to be removed. I have heard horror stories about people spending thousands of dollars trying to save a tree which isn't salvageable. I avoided that scenario with Bonnie's help. Bonnie enabled me to prioritize my projects as part of an overall vision for the landscape.

Bonnie's common sense approach of working with my existing landscape immediately won me over. She quickly figured out the types of plants I like and steered me towards the ones which are appropriate.

By incorporating Bonnie's advice on plant spacing, I am saving money. Historically, I have planted things too closely together. I'm working to minimize my water usage. The plants Bonnie suggested are helping me achieve that goal.

Bonnie exceeded my expectations in all of our interactions. She answered my questions before, during and after our consultation. She even came back to my house to meet a landscaper and answer his questions. The walk through was a bargain. I plan to bring Bonnie back for another consultation after I finish the first phase. I highly recommend Bonnie's services

The removal of the large tree in my backyard dramatically changes the conditions. I had no idea how to proceed until my consultation with Bonnie. She helped me choose a replacement tree. She also offered advice about moving some of the bushes I currently have instead of buying new ones.

We live in a 70's ranch a had a very large front landscaped area to completely redo. We wanted something that would be low maintenance, not need a sprinkler system, and attract birds and butterflies. After having paid for two full landscape jobs (sprinkler system, bed prep, plants) at previous houses that we ended up less than satisfied with, we were determined to do it on our own. Bonnie came up with a great plan that included a sitting area incorporating a fountain and then all the native plants that would do well in our mostly shaded beds. We were very happy with the plan she came up with. We put our beds in late Spring 2016 and are just waiting for the landscape to mature. We have lots of birds and had a ton of Monarchs last fall during their migration. All in all we are happy. Just wish everything would grow to its mature size in 6 months. We spaced according to mature size, which we wanted, but it does take a while to fill in.

Over the past six years (since 2011) we mention Bonnie almost daily – more exactly every day we spend time in the back yard. We had seen beautiful photos of yards in books, and wanted to improve ours, where we only had grass and a fence. But we also wanted to go with Texas native plants, that stay healthy, require minimal water, and minimal maintenance. We were not sure we would make the right choices. We hired Bonnie for a landscape consultation, and it was one of the best decisions made since we bought the house in 2003. Bonnie walked with us around the entire property, and I took notes of everything she taught us. With much patience and wisdom, she advised on plants, the right way and the right spot to plant them, gave us the “Ok” and the “no-no” on some plants that we were considering, suggested others we hadn’t thought of, helped a lot with the design, made recommendations on watering and care taking, on edging methods, on paving stones, nurseries, and landscapers. She had patience with all my questions, and with comparing alternatives.
Then she also suggested improvements for our front yard, that was not the scope of our project at that time, but our Bermuda grass there started showing signs of distress.
Some of the things I’m mostly grateful for, are her warnings on plant spacing, and her watering methods. The results are wonderful, every advice that we followed proved to be excellent, and our beautiful backyard has Bonnie’s “wisdom-print” all over it.

Two years later, when we finally decided to do something about the deteriorating Bermuda in the front, we used Bonnie’s help again, and her experience and knowledge was again very valuable to us, in the project of transforming a water-thirsty lawn into a more water-saving landscape, with native trees, Buffalo grass, a beautiful path, and mulch and ground cover that save us water and mowing time and effort.
And those notes I took? They're still my to-go material when I need a refresher.
THANK YOU BONNIE!

Our relatively small backyard was just short of a disaster. It was grass that had been killed by disease and a natural gas leak as well as a few plants that were not at all well. Not being a gardener myself I asked Bonnie to come up with something that is mostly maintenance free with no grass. She designed a yard of beautiful perennial flowers and green plants so we have color and beauty all through the year. She also included a path that little ones love. I've yet to see a young child (and some older ones!) come to the house who could resist walking the path! She incorporated a variety of plants, color, and texture as well as an area with a park bench that is quite pleasing to the eye. I enjoy looking at the pretty colors in the backyard as I watch for birds and butterflies. Thank you, Bonnie!!

I was 6 months pregnant and my husband just had shoulder surgery when Bonnie came to our house for a consultant on our backyard. It was really a blank canvas and we wanted to make it more functional for us and our 3 year old. Bonnie was friendly, prompt, extremely helpful and easy to work with. During the installation she visited multiple times to check on its progress. I loved how committed she was and how she saw the project through from beginning to end. It was such an easy going experience that we also had her draw up a design for our front yard!!!!

About 4 years ago we bought a 50's home on a half acre lot with landscaping consisting of St Augustine grass, 8 huge live oaks and numerous other trees - in other words an urban forest. Bonnie had designed beautiful easy-care xeriscape landscaping for our former house in Northwood Hills so we called her again. She came by and identified an oak tree with heart rot that needed to be taken down (which we did) and designed two beautiful xeriscape gardens - the front garden sunny area, and the shady part of the back yard. She also designed paths that wander through. Bonnie's plans take into account the mature size of the selected plants which means you don't buy too many and they do not grow to be too tall for the space. We have lovely decorative shrubs under our front windows whose sills are only 2 feet off the ground, and the shrubs have spread wide but not tall and are gorgeous. She also suggested that we split existing liriope plants growing in our back yard and plant the sprigs in the shade under the live oaks in our front yard. The sprigs filled in in the first season! This re-use of existing plants saved us hundreds of dollars. We implemented the entire plan that Bonnie designed with great success. It is easy care xeriscape with numerous perennials that bloom at various times during the year. We always have plants blooming! Thanks to Bonnie for her inspiring garden plans!