Xericstyle Design and Coaching
I would love the opportunity to help you XERICSTYLE your garden! I can re-design existing beds, expand them, or completely design a new xeric garden that will increase the beauty and value of your landscape while decreasing your water use.
An attractive xericstyle garden can save you money, and decrease your footprint on the earth. Through consultation and mentorship I would like to help you reach these goals by suggesting appropriate plants, placement and maintenance scheduling. My goal is to empower you to tackle the implementation of the design yourself, saving money, or for you to feel confident contracting out your project or select pieces of your project. I do not do installation, but can recommend someone.
Most people over-prune, over-water and over-fertilize when their plants simply don’t need it. In addition, they grow plants that struggle to survive in our climate or waste money buying trees and plants in larger sizes from the nursery when smaller sizes will work just fine. Hire me, and you can save yourself many common mistakes and get yourself ahead of the learning curve.
The focus of my consultations are to help people to use beautiful, low-maintenance plants that are adapted to this area and learn how to take care of them. I enjoy designing landscapes that are functional and beautiful for you, and/or your family.
SERVICES OFFERED:
BASIC CONSULTATION: I visit your property and we do a walk-thru together to determine how you currently use your space(s) and what your needs are. I also like to get an idea of your personal style and taste – modern, eclectic, low-maintenance, color, wildlife, etc. This will take approximately one to two hours and my fee is $100. If you are ready to go ahead with the design, I can provide you with an on the spot estimate. I require 50% up front, and I will apply the $100 consultation fee towards your design. In other words, if you go ahead with the design the day of your consultation, your consult is free.
LANDSCAPE DESIGN: I would love to help create spaces that inspire you, and are highly functional. Many yards today do not get used because they don’t include comfortable areas for you and your family to enjoy. I build your personalized design off of photos of your landscape so you can see what your gardens will actually look like! My clients love this option! Detailed instructions on what plants to remove (if applicable) is also included. $600 for front OR back (Large properties may cost more). Half-down required.
This is great option and user-friendly for the homeowner and/or landscaper to implement without having to figure out complicated landscape designs. It is also much easier to visually picture how your landscape will look. You can hire the installer of your choice, or I can give a recommendation.
Current special!!!!… I am currently offering verbal design services at my coaching rate! So get your paper and pen ready – for a limited time only.
ORGANIC GARDEN COACHING: Maybe all you need is someone to help you with what you already got? I am available for garden coaching (ornamental or vegetable gardens) on an hourly basis. $75 per hour (one hour minimum)
VEGETABLE/HERB GARDENS AND OTHER SPECIALTY GARDENS: Want to create a butterfly garden? How about planting your own vegetable garden or herb garden? Perhaps a childrens garden for your kids to experiment in? I would be happy to create a design and written guidelines on how to create your own specialty garden at your home/school/business. Cost for the design and guidelines are dependent on the size of the project and starts at $300. Depending on the size of your desired specialty garden, I may be able to help you implement it, purchase plants, as well as plant and teach you and/or your children how to care for your new garden. In addition to my design business, I work as a therapeutic gardener, and I would love the opportunity to work with your family or group and mentor you on an ongoing, or as needed basis, to be gardeners! (price of teaching and implementation completely dependent on scope of desired project – I will charge materials separately and a flat hourly fee for my time)
NURSERY VISIT: Ever feel overwhelmed at the nursery? Do you wonder what plants will do best in your garden? I will accompany you to a nursery to help acquaint you with the many beautiful plants that will grow and thrive in your garden conditions. Don’t waste money on buying plants in a larger size then you need. I’ll help you determine when it is worth buying the larger plant or when you can save money by purchasing a smaller one that will grow quickly. Learn which plants are low-maintenance, yet beautiful. Lets face it…many nursery plants that look great there, will not work at your location. And many plants that look terrible there, are actually the perfect plants for you and are just not in their prime yet! $95
YEARLY OR SEASONAL FOLLOW-UP VISIT:
I will re-visit your garden and make verbal suggestions for edits needed including any recommended changes in maintenance, plant replacement, etc. $100
I currently work in the San Antonio area only.
Please e-mail me to set up an appointment, I look forward to meeting you!
Heather
xericstyle(at)gmail(dot)com
Xericstyle 
8-3-13: Heather came out to our home for a “basic consultation.” We have a large lot with many empty areas, some plants are growing well, and some are barely hanging on. Initially, Heather listened well and then we walked the yard together. She was able to immediately identify reasons why plants struggle and offer do-able solutions. Additionally, she made some specific plant recommendations for next steps (including when and what to plant in some individual locations). After the consult, when we were overwhelmed and dazzled, she emailed us a “next steps” priority list that recapped what we needed to do now and what should wait for cooler weather. Overall, my husband and I found Heather to be very knowledgeable and the consultation professional exceeding our expectations. We look forward to engaging Heather for some follow-up visits and landscape design. I would highly recommend Heather’s work to anyone struggling with problem areas in their yard, looking for direction in how to optimize their garden, and for anyone who prefers to work from a plan but does not know how to plan for a garden or improving on existing landscape. Thanks Heather!
The pleasure was all mine, Jodi! -xericstyle
Heather mobilized several volunteers and created a spectacular nature garden at the JCC Block and Dreeben School for Young Children. She used native plants with a variety of textures and colors to create a manificent garden. Children, adults, hummingbirds and butterflies all delight in this beautiful space. The garden has changed the whole feeling as you enter our school as it represents a sense of joy and wonder! Thank you, Heather!
Alissa Levey Baugh
Director, Early Childhood Services
JCC Block and Dreeben School for Young Children
I am thrilled the wildlife, and the humans, are all enjoying it. That is what it is all about! Thank you for the opportunity. -xericstyle
I am extremely impressed with our garden consultation and I highly recommend Heathers Xericstyle coaching services. We asked her to coach us on some problem areas in our yard. We have a large patch in the front of our home that gets full sun, is quite an eye sore, doesn’t hold water very well, and contains only weeds. We have had other landscapers mention we should just cover it with rocks. Heather gave us a plan beginning with a creative and cost effective solution to improve our soil and drainage. She then suggested a variety of plants that would work well with that particular spot. She took into consideration our gardening style and habits and gave us tips to make our current plants healthier. In other parts of our yard she had great suggestions for planting projects with our kids, plants that would attract butterflies and hummingbirds, and ways to encourage play using the basic structure of our yard. As Heather walked around our yard she shared multiple tips for increasing the natural beauty of our yard without feeling like we needed to start from scratch. She gave us tips on how to economically find plants, their care, weed removal, soil care, and maintenance. With her coaching we are so much more prepared to achieve the yard we want within our budget.
Everyone,
My wife and I hosted Heather today for a garden coaching session. We covered our front and back yards and she gave us extremely helpful information — from helping us simply identify plants/trees in our yard all the way to specific suggestions for new plantings, landscaping, and fertilizing/watering issues. She also saved us a good amount of money by highlighting where we might spend too much money on some things. We came away from today confident in what we’ve been doing and confident in what we will do in the near future. We highly recommend Heather!!
Heather — Thanks for a great consultation today! It was a pleasure having you at our home.
– Jeff and Julie
Helotes, TX
The water-saver tour is coming up and it should be no surprise that Heather’s home has won a spot on the tour. Heather is an amazingly talented, creative, and ‘tuned-in’ landscape professional…or xericscape professional who works from her heart as well as her head. She has much to be proud of in this home and, if you ask her, she just might show you the ‘before’ photos. She takes the time to listen to what homeowners want…and don’t want. She makes exciting suggestions and provides plans that can be implemented in stages, if desired. She even tries to include personal touches if she has clues that enable her to do that. Her work is truly unparalleled in San Antonio, in this area and affordable, too. Looking for a modified plan or a full-on xericscaped plan, you cannot go wrong contacting Heather…..ever. I love posting recommendations for quality, honest, dependable, delightful people. Heather wins! 100%
Lisa & Phillip Abramson
Whispering Oaks
Sent from my iPad
It was lovely working with you and Phillip…thank you for your kind words, Lisa. I am thrilled you enjoyed your xericstyle experience. -xericstyle
We recently moved into a 17 year old home in Stone Oak which now has the original shrubs badly overgrown, a bald strip between the street and sidewalk and a well designed drought tolerant garden out back, thanks to the previous owner. All our experience as gardeners comes from wetter, colder East Coast states so we asked Heather to come out for a “Texas Gardening 101”. Heather took all of our concerns and questions and systematically addressed them as we toured the yard. She offered suggestions on pruning techniques and timing, with realistic cautions about those older, overgrown shrubs. Her knowledge of native and acclimated plants is exceptional and we received many, many suggestions to replace existing plants, introduce new plants to add color through the year and interesting foliage contrast. She was most helpful in her knowledge of the plants full size and growth habits and was able to recommend varieties that were most likely to grow successfully at a scale appropriate to each space we considered. Lastly, Heather was able to assess a water run-off problem and recommend changes to our garden path that would direct more water to our turf grass area during heavy rains. She even followed up a day later with recommended vendors for the crushed stone we discussed. She and my wife really hit it off as fellow gardeners. The entire experience was a pleasure and we consider her consultation fee to be a wise investment that will save us much more as we will now select plants with the greatest likelihood of success for our yard.
Kathy and Gerry
Stone Valley
We forgot to mention that the next day we received an email with photos of plants we discussed to make our plant purchases easier. Kathy and Gerry Caron Stone Valley
I am thrilled that helped, guys! – xericstyle
I love your garden immensely, and it was a treat to be in it. Your experience and vision is going to make your garden one of the prettiest in San Antonio! Welcome to San Antone…and I look forward to your garden updates! – xericstyle
Shades of Green turned me on to Heather and it was very helpful in my church project. Large and under maintained grounds. She gave good advice and moral support to give it a graceful face-lift, on plants that were water wise and beautiful. My thanks to her and continued support will get us a special look. My grateful thanks to her. Michael
I enjoyed meeting you, Michael. Thank you for allowing me into your beautiful vision. – xericstyle