CULTIVAR, INC.

We started working with Laura when we began building our house a few years ago. Laura has a strong creative intuition for the client and is a joy to be around. The schematics felt creative and flowing as we worked closely to design a wild garden grown almost entirely from seed. This involved a lot of learning on my part! Along the way, Laura offered a depth of knowledge and insight while also listening very carefully. If there was a tree or plant that was unfamiliar to me, we would go see it in person. If either of us were inspired out in the world, we would exchange texts. Our vision ultimately turned into the most beautiful garden I could imagine - wild, complex, bountiful, native and balanced. It is without a doubt my family's favorite place to be. With each season, Laura and her team show up regularly to nurture the garden and sprinkle in new seed. Every time we see the truck, it makes our day!

I hired Cultivar to work on my front yard. I live on a street that is used for parking in a Newton village and I always felt like I lived in a parking lot! I wanted to create some privacy. I also had a giant sugar maple in the center of my yard which was beautiful but posed some challenges for creating privacy. Laura suggested moving the walkway and carefully chose and positioned a variety of small trees and shrubs along the front edge of my yard to block the cars. She also managed to create an extremely natural and friendly feeling as well. I was so amazed! I cant wait to see how she handles the rest of my landscaping challeges. She also thoughtfully repositioned some of my existing plants, helping to cut down on project costs, which I appreciated. She is also a genius with planters and railing boxes! Everything is always interesting, natural looking and beautiful!

My daughter first recommended Laura McGrath, the owner of Cultivar, to me when we moved to Lexington in 2002. She worked closely with us to redo and expand all our gardens in our rather shady front and back yards, teaching us a lot about native species and how they can flourish. She and her team maintain the existing gardens and we with her advice continue to add more planted space, cutting down on the lawn that needs to be mowed. It's really beautiful; Laura is so responsive and her team industrious and friendly. I can't recommend their work highly enough. Since we've done it bit by bit over the years, I can't give a specific date or project cost, but she is careful to buy plants and trees when they are least expensive, and we find the labor costs very reasonable.

Laura helped me design a garden from scratch, creating the roll of land, stone work, and then the plantings. (Ours is 'Winchester Garden with Asian Influences,' pictured under gardens.) She was fantastic to work with--both having suggestions, and also really encouraging me to explore my own vision. I feel as if we were able to bring it alive from my deepest sense of how it could be. Over the years since, she has been there as much or as little as I wanted--some years, I have done most of care myself, other years, I ask her to step in. She is available, reliable, reasonable in price--can't say enough!

Laura and her Cultivar team did an outstanding job for us as we did a full outdoor renovation: new plants and beds, trees, replaced the lawn, added an irrigation and drainage system, patio and pergola install, deck work, stone walls and paths and outdoor lighting. We are thrilled with the results and continue to work with Cultivar for maintenance. Laura knows her stuff and is very approachable and easy to work with. She listens to what you want but also offers ideas and suggestions that are spot on. I HIGHLY recommend Cultivar for any outdoor projects you are considering.