Red Fern Brooklyn Garden & Landscape Design — Local services in New York

A mixed experience. Sera herself was respectful and friendly. Emailed when she was late. She seemed knowledgeable and passionate. However, working with the business itself was a nightmare.

TLDR: The communication was mixed to poor. I felt led on after over a month of exchanges in which I had detailed the work early on with photos, and even received starting quotes, and then was told at the very end that they it was not a good fit. Exchanges with the assistant felt shady. In the end I am where I started, but almost two months into growing season. This business is probably not a good fit for anyone looking for something other than a cookie cutter package (aka pruning and mulching), or a $$$ total design/redo.

The long version: I emailed an inquiry April 24th for maintenance. Sera replied promptly with pricing packages and availability in the 2nd week of May. I agreed to the timing and asked about drip irrigation, and her assistant sent me a starting quote. They also requested detailed photos and description of the work, which I emailed to them May 1st. May 7th I still had not heard from them about a time to come by, so I circled back. May 15th, I circled back again. I asked for recommendations if they were swamped or not interested in the work anymore. No hard feelings. Later that day I got a response from Sera and her assistant set up a time with me for Thursday the 25th at 5pm. I agreed to the date. It's a week after the agreed upon time frame, but progress?

May 23rd rolls around and the assistant "circles back" to me about the same day an hour later. I ask if they received my email confirming the original date, not wanting to assume the scheduling was poor. The assistant doubles down saying 6pm is the only possible time and there have been schedule shifts. It's starting to feel shady now. Why are you circling back on a confirmed appointment with a change in timing? If you didn't see my email, why not just tell the truth? But fine. We all have our moments.

Sera comes on the appointed day. We chat about all the work that needs to be done. It is now the end of May, so I have done the spring pruning and mulching. My focus is on big picture maintenance. Controlling bamboo, pruning vines, weeding beds, replacing dead bushes, redoing the drip irrigation. Sera tells me she will be in touch with an estimate after the weekend. All seems fine.

Except I never heard from her or the assistant. By thursday of the next week I emailed to see if she had had a chance to make the estimate. I received this response June 2nd, " Thank you for following up. We have a fine gardening maintenance program that focuses on the health of the total garden. We offer package services. Unfortunately, we don’t do piecemeal projects, especially those unrelated to plants. A good place to seek help for the work you need help with is TaskRabbit or another freelance manual labor service. Best of luck with your garden this season!"

Piecemeal projects unrelated to plants? Is this in regards to the drip irrigation they clearly do, seeing as they sent a quote to me in April? Is it piecemeal because I did the spring pruning and mulching myself (Fellow gardeners, remember it's June 2nd at this point). Am I being gaslit?

I gave them the benefit of the doubt again. I emailed saying perhaps there was a mistake, Sera and I had come up with a plan, and perhaps they were thinking of someone else. At this point Sera intervened and explained that Red Fern looks for jobs with ongoing maintenance. Her email was cordial and she was generous to send me a link for material I would need to handle the bamboo.

My question is this - if I sent photos and detailed descriptions of everything that was left after the initial spring clean up May 1st, and received a quote for the drip irrigation April 27th, why was it June 2nd that my garden is not a match for the business and I must start over again? I'm still not even sure how the work is outside the scope of their package. Also if it was a good working relationship, I would have come back for...

Sera and her company Red Fern Brooklyn are the definition of excellence on every level. Sera is a true artist with a passion for every aspect of her work and her creations are masterpieces. She's also a pleasure to work and it's abundantly clear from the very first interaction that she cares deeply about her clients and projects and she goes above and beyond to exceed expectations. I cannot recommend Sera and Red Fern...

This is the actual rating of the quality of Red Fern’s work. It is artistic, thoughtful and serene. The, now blank review from the spite-filled, unhinged one star reviewer did not even have work done by this company. This is how quality businesses are impacted by...