Landscape Projects with Gardenzilla, A Step-by-Step Guide

So you’ve got a landscape project in mind, and you want to know more about how we work and what to expect when you reach out. I thought I’d walk you through how we approach new landscape projects, and the steps we go through when clients need help.

A Quick Overview

Behind the scenes, we have some really exceptional long-term staff who are committed to landscaping as a career, and bring years of hands-on experience in the work we do. You can count on our teams to be well equipped, friendly, and passionate about their work.

Our half-acre Leaside yard has an on-site nursery and most basic gardening supplies, including premium Fafard mulches and soils. We handle most projects with full time, year-round staff, and can tackle projects as small as a simple plant replacement or hedge pruning, or as complex as a garden design, patio or deck.

Step 1. The Meeting

Most projects start with an online or video meeting, booked through our office with our general manager (that’s me, Mike) or our softscapes manager Simon. Both of us have years of experience designing and building gardens of all types, and love meeting and working with new clients.

Meetings are typically fifteen minutes or less. We’ll get a high-level view of what you’re looking for and answer specific questions about the work you want done. We finish every meeting by summarizing the project and the next steps, and sharing that summary with you in an email.

Step 2. The Site Visit

In some cases, we can send you a quote based on our initial conversation, but most of the time we follow up the next day by visiting your property. For some projects, we coordinate a time on site to meet you and review the work. For others, there’s no need for you to be home – we just drop by to take measurements and photos.

Step 3. The Quote

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After the meeting, we’ll confirm the next steps for your project, and send you an email summarizing everything we talked about. In most cases, we’ll arrange to drop by and visit your property the next day. Sometimes we meet you on site – other times, that’s not necessary, and you don’t have to be home when we stop by. Either way, we’ll take photos and

Lawns require a lot of upkeep – weekly mowing, fertilizer and weed control, seeding and occasional pest control. They are resource-intensive and offer few benefits to native wildlife, so they aren’t the best choice ecologically. And while lawns have their place, the front lawn is no longer the first choice for many homeowners.

Handy Links

Current Availability lists the current wait times for different types of work, updated every Friday.

Types of Garden

Although the range of planting options is truly limitless, we find there are a few groups and features that clients generally look for. When I’m speaking with clients about a front lawn replacement, I’ll try to understand the features that are most important to them, and incorporate that into the design.

Pollinator Gardens work best on sunny locations, but offer wonderful visual and ecological benefits. A pollinator garden is one with successive blooming plants that attract and support local pollinators like bees and butterflies.

Native Plant Gardens can work in any location, and feature plants that are native to Ontario so that they best support native wildlife and aren’t invasive in the local community.

Modern Plantings

Low Maintenance Gardens

Ground Covers

One of my favorite client projects is replacing a front lawn with a mulched garden – a cost effective way to give your yard a

One of the most frequent requests we get is from clients look to move away from having a front lawn. C

One of the most frequent requests we get from clients is to replace their front lawn with a beautiful, low maintenance garden. These “front lawn conversions” are one of our favourite projects.

Types of Gardens

Our team is comfortable working with a range of styles, but the most common options include –

Who will I be working with?

At the time of writing, there are seven of us on the planting team – our two lead installers Lee and Lauren, our two experienced softscape gardeners Gab and Jordan, our small hardscapes specialist Graeme, and our two softscape designers, Simon and Mike. You can see our team on the About Page of our website here.

How much does it cost?

For a typical smaller Toronto semi-detached or detached home, the cost of converting a front lawn to garden typically lands between $2500 and $6000. This includes the labour, materials and disposal required to remove the front lawn, amend the soil, and plant the new gardens. Although more expensive than sodding, it typically reduces overall maintenance costs, and saves money over the long term.