Green Alchemy

Over the past eight years, Deborah and Mamfred of the Green Alchemy team breathed new life into our barren hillside home! They designed and executed a low-maintenance landscape, including a beautiful array of native plants, planted with gopher wire (a must in our area) and a water-wise irrigation system... although our favorite landscape feature might be the artificial grass, which instantly added a sense of calm to the yard. Beyond plants, Green Alchemy restored our home -- they built a new fence, repaired drooping fences, built retaining walls, and constructed utility stairs (160 new steps in total!) which now provide much needed access and safety -- all integrated and matched to the house. Their collective experience also makes them well-suited to detect and solve unexpected problems -- they once uncovered an area with extensive dry rot (which turned out to be a big deal), and they were able to pivot from the original plan to perform the repairs. They are indeed a full-service group, but the reason we invite them back year after year is the crew. They are great to work with -- pleasant, tidy, on-time, good attention to detail, great communication, and they work fast. They were professional and understanding when we asked them to relocate some new plants and rework some hardscape features. We are delighted to continue to recommend Green Alchemy to our neighbors and friends.

We worked with Deborah and the Green Alchemy crew to redesign our front yard. Deborah worked with us on the design process, and her capable crew did the work. Deborah and the crew were great to work with. Deborah listened carefully to our ideas/hopes for the project. She was patient with us during several moments of indecision and back and forth about what plants we wanted to use, mulch color, etc. The design process was a back and forth exchange that really helped us to think through our wishes and develop a clear plan. When it was time to do the actual work, the Green Alchemy crew was terrific. They were fast and efficient and pleasant to have on site. After the work was done, we had a few problems with the irrigation system. The crew was very responsive about addressing the problems and making small adjustments to get everything working. We're very happy with our new outdoor space and would recommend Green Alchemy to others looking to redesign their yard!

Working with Deborah and her team was a great experience! We started our backyard project in January 2020, and despite the COVID lockdown getting in our way, she was able to safely deliver the project in a timely manner. We are very happy with the outcome -- having a thoughtfully designed and well executed backyard has been a real treat especially during this pandemic. I highly recommend Green Alchemy for anyone looking to reimagine their outdoor space.

Deborah and her team were great to work with! She was easily able to engage the experts needed for the job; she has great connections. The structural and design ideas were excellent, and she was open to new ideas and concepts. The team was extremely dependable and the project outcome was amazing - our whole space was transformed. Looking forward to doing more work together in the future.

Deborah from Green Alchemy was so attentive to the details that were important in this project. She was flexible about revising plans as needed to accommodate my budgeting needs as well as my priorities for the renovation of my front and backyard. I am just thrilled with how the yards look and feel very rewarded looking out my back kitchen window on my blooming yard with all th new useable outdoor space I now have.

Deborah and the Green Alchemy team were fantastic - they saw our backyard renovation through from design to completion quickly and in line with our budget. Deborah’s designs were responsive to our family's needs. She was considerate of our feedback and proactive with information on things we wouldn’t have otherwise considered. Responses were timely and communication was easy. The whole team showed great professionalism and experience throughout the project. They did a stunning job completing the project with great attention to detail. Small things like the way the boards lined up across the fence line, planning irrigation for future garden growth, and the consideration for what wood would make a stunning bench exceeded my expectations from our initial design discussions. We had multiple neighbors remark on the quality or work, and how friendly, tidy, and considerate the team was while working on our small street. We’d happily refer (and have already) the Green Alchemy team to our friends.

We sought Green Alchemy's help building a patio in our front yard to replace what used to be a sloping piece of concrete. This started out as a fairly small project but became fairly substantial, as we expanded the space we were working with, added new plants, and installed drip irrigation throughout. Deborah was very patient and accommodating as our ideas evolved, and she was capable of taking many of our half-baked thoughts and turning them into a beautiful vision for the space. We began working with her on the design in early summer, when she was very busy, so we were not able to begin construction for several months -- but Deborah was wonderful about keeping us in the loop and was even able to squeeze our project in a few weeks earlier than expected. Once the work began, we were blown away by Deborah and her team -- everyone was prompt, professional, and kept the work space super neat and clean. We can tell that their attention to detail and the high level of skill and craftsmanship they brought to the job will ensure that our space will look beautiful for years to come. We can't recommend Green Alchemy highly enough!

We hired Deborah and her team to design and execute a plan to give us some outdoor space. We had a small sloped area and weren't sure what we wanted other than space to sit outside and be with our kids. Deborah designed a plan for a tiled deck, requiring little maintenance (a major plus for us) and landscaping around the edges. She and her crew did an excellent job and we are enjoying our new outdoor living space!

We worked with Deborah of Green Alchemy for our first home. When we purchased our second home, we knew we would call on Deborah and her team again to help us transform our overgrown backyard. Our project was challenging: we live on a sloping hill and access to the backyard is logistically difficult. Deborah assured me that this wasn't an issue and it wasn't, at least for her team. I can't praise her team enough! They were not only extremely professional and hardworking, but so pleasant to be around. I'm an interior designer myself, so the overall aesthetic and design of the yard was extremely important to me. Additionally, I was also very particular about the use of different finishes and materials. Deborah worked with me on every step of the design process to make sure the overall vision was a collaboration. We were aiming for a California-like English garden and she made that vision into a reality. Deborah was also flexible throughout the progress as edits needed to be made, keeping me updated each week with any changes to the plan or timeline. I was a bit nervous stepping out of my designer mindset and into the client's shoes, but Deborah's sound advice and vast amount of knowledge always put me at ease. We are absolutely ecstatic about our backyard and are so looking forward to it growing into itself as time passes. We've already received so many compliments and we can't wait to live out there this summer.

Deborah of Green Alchemy and her team have dramatically improved our home. They solved our hillside irrigation leaks, adjusted watering schedules depending on the types of plants, installed a rain sensor to save water, and updated our yard with interesting California natives. We also used Green Alchemy to install a beautiful custom fence and garbage enclosure. Their most significant work was replacing exterior wood stairs affected with dry rot. Overall, we found Green Alchemy to be professional, thoughtful, and clean. We look forward to our next engagement with Green Alchemy.

We are really pleased with the work of Deborah, owner of Green Alchemy. We wanted to upgrade our small backyard that has been neglected for a decade. Per friend’s recommendation, we contacted Deborah. From the first phone call to finally completing the whole project, Deborah has demonstrated high professionalism, responsibility and caring for her clients. She listened to our needs and was conscious about our budget. We needed to put new irrigation system and were not sure if the plants we selected would grow in the hillside hard soil. She is very knowledgeable about irrigation, soil and plants, and recommended to us the most economic ones that would work. Her crew was fantastic: they were very courteous, hard-working and always on time. When it turned out that we had to rebuild the entire retaining wall and install all drain pipes, her expertise came into play. She directed her crew, expanded the project and completed everything in a timely fashion. Deborah is an excellent communicator and always responds to our email or phone call quickly. She was very efficient in planning and completing our project. Given her talents and competency, we were concerned that our backyard project might be too small. But she worked with us as if it were one of the big projects in her portfolio. Altogether, Deborah and her crew installed irrigation and drain pipes, rebuilt the retaining wall, cleaned the backyard and planted two new plants within two weeks. It’s back breaking because the backyard is on a slope, with no easy access to bring the new materials in and carry the old stuff out. But it did not slow them down. Last but not least, Deborah followed through thoroughly. When we found a few new plants didn’t grow well, she quickly came to investigate. They readjusted the drip heads and replaced the plants. Based on our experience, we would highly recommend Deborah to our friends.

Deborah is the consummate professional and we highly recommend her and her crew. We’ve worked with her and Green Alchemy twice now and won’t hesitate to use her a third time. She really takes the time to listen to your needs and takes into account many factors to design the perfect garden; good layout, appropriate scale and the right materials/plants!