Verified record
Gardens by Ruth is a Somerville-based garden design and care business built around ecological, native-plant gardening — the kind of work reviewers describe as turning dirt patches and rock ledges into thriving perennial, shade, and native gardens rather than a standard mow-and-trim service. Reviewers consistently name Ruth directly, along with crew members like Riley, and several have worked with her across multiple years and projects. The written record is entirely positive and specific. A cluster of 2024 reviews describe transformations from a dustbowl front yard into a native perennial garden and an L-shaped corner-lot plot rebuilt around existing plants and a small tree. Two 2025 reviews add more: one describes a multi-zone garden — a terraced perennial bed, a shade garden, and an English garden — built up over several years, and another describes eliminating swallow-wort, a difficult invasive vine, from a front garden. A review from earlier this year describes her starting a native-garden transformation of a small, weed-overrun front yard this past spring, with clear communication and a quote well below competitors. Her Houzz profile lists garden design, organic and edible gardens, and drought-tolerant landscaping as areas of focus across Somerville, Cambridge, Arlington, Belmont, and Waltham. One thing worth asking about directly: her Angi profile notes that free estimates and written warranties aren't offered there, so it's worth confirming pricing and any guarantees up front. For someone who wants a garden built around native and drought-tolerant plants rather than a conventional lawn-service look, the specific, repeat-client praise here is substantial.
Typical Greater Boston range for this kind of work, from regional averages — not a quote from Gardens by Ruth. Use it to sanity-check bids, then get the real number in writing.
Estimated range
$50 – $70
Typical landscaping service around $60
We started working with Ruth this spring to transform our front yard into a native garden. We have a small front yard that had started getting overrun with weeds. Ruth was incredibly communicative from the start and came in with a very reasonable quote, well below some of the others we received. We had a general idea of what we wanted, but Ruth took those ideas and turned them into something even better than we imagined. She was thoughtful with the plant selection, choosing a variety of native plants with staggered bloom times so we have flowers and different colors throughout the season. It's been amazing watching the garden come to life this summer. We continue to get compliments from neighbors walking by who tell us how much they love what we've done with the front yard. We couldn't be happier with the results and would absolutely recommend Ruth to anyone looking for a thoughtfully designed native garden.
What wonderful people! They've taken beautiful care of my front garden, and eliminated all the swallow-wort (not so easy to do).
Ruth and her team transformed my Gardens over many years. Once rock ledge and weeds, my gardens became a thriving terraced perennial garden on the east side, a shade garden on the north, and an English garden on the South. She cares deeply about the earth she transforms focusing on natural techniques and native plants. I could not recommend her more highly.
We loved Ruth’s work and we loved working with her and her crew. We hired her to put in a garden to fill the L-shaped plot in front and along the side of our corner house. There were a few plants and shrubs left from a previous garden and a small tree to work around. Ruth was knowledgeable, responsive, and a good communicator in the conversations we had about our priorities. She selected a wonderful mix of plants and was instructive about their needs and characteristics. Ruth and her crew worked hard and efficiently to install the garden, and replant a bit when rabbits destroyed a number of plantings as they began to flower. (It was an unusually tough year with rabbits). Ruth and her crew were a pleasure to have around. I’d hire her again and have, to maintain the garden this year.
Ruth and her team are great to work with and we are so pleased with the results. I can enthusiastically recommend!
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Established 4.2 rating
Green roof specialist4.2