Alina Gardens Inc.

When I purchased my home last year I was in love with the house but horrified by the garden. It was just concrete, grass and cedar hedges. The back deck and fencing was rotten too. I did not know where to begin, but I did know what I wanted. When I contacted Alina we hit it off right away. We were both passionate about creating a bee friendly garden full of flowers, stepping stones and a small stream-like water feature. We both appreciated the need to use natural materials and create flow - all the way around the house. One of my concerns was that there were so many steps required to get from what I had - to what I wanted. Concrete, deck, fence and hedge removal, stone wall and stair repairs, new irrigation, lighting, carpentry for fence and deck, stone footpath installation, flowers, trees, garden beds and lawn replacement. It overwhelmed me but Alina was not daunted at all! She has all her own trades for each step of the process and managed to have them work around each other to do the work seamlessly. I left town to visit my daughter for a few weeks to get away from the stress of it all, and left everything in her hands. Alina's communication with me throughout the process was fantastic. I always knew what was happening from day to day and any changes were communicated right away with lots of options provided. When I look at my garden today I am absolutely blown away by how beautiful it is. It will only get more and more lovely as the years go by as everything grows up and fills in. The beauty of the garden is now a match for the beauty of the house and I know with certainty that my property value increased considerably as a result of the work that was done. I recommend Alina to everyone who asks, and I am getting asked a lot because everyone loves my garden!

We hired Alina to design our backyard retreat and could not be happier with the result! Alina laid out a beautiful concept design, taking the time to listen to our wish list and by addressing all of our concerns. We can hardly wait for our garden to mature and see what comes over the seasons! We would recommend Alina to transform your space. She's very creative and a pleasure to work with.

Working with Alina Gardens Inc has been my best professional experience so far. Alina is committed to the flourishing of the gardens she designs as well as the people she works with. She is committed to integrity and doing things with purpose, and taking the time to do things right.

Our journey to the most beautiful garden and front yard started over 2 years ago. We were completely unprepared. We had no idea what budget we should have. Our first design made for our budget was OK, it was functional. However we could not find any company who could build it within the budget. The closest quote was 50% over the budget. We were desperate. Through our friend we met Alina and she brought hope. Not only her estimate was the closest to our budget but she brought one thing which we didn’t have – beauty – to our front yard. Either she read our minds or we were aligned. Our front yard changed into a beautiful garden from beyond my dreams. We gave Alina only general directions: a path among trees, new driveway, all year round color and fragrance. She had a completely free hand in selecting plants and their organization. This is her top skill – creating garden and exposing beauty even in the most difficult terrain. She created for us a natural environment in harmony with west coast nature which attracts birds, butterflies and bees. Whole project was exactly on time and on budget as initial estimate predicted. Actually it was under the budget and Alina purchased additional plants. It took 6 weeks and started with Alina advising all our neighbours about work and pointing out which days will be loud. She connected with one of our neighbours and discussed a fence separating our properties. It was important to us that we maintain or improve our relationship with neighbours and Alina made sure that this was the case. She is very skilled in communicating with people. Our property is on the hill. We have now a replaced granite retaining wall, new driveway, new live hedge fence, new stone porch and a beautiful path between trees leading to it. We've also got new lights and irrigation. All plants and trees are new. She took care of our privacy, privacy of our neighbours and added beauty to our place. I can’t wait to see how the garden will look in the spring. Overall we are very happy and there is no week when someone living on our street doesn’t stop me to congratulate me having a beautiful garden.

We had planned an extensive landscaping project to update and make-over the front and side yard of our residential property. This involved both hard-scaping, and varied requirements for soft-scaping and plantings. Alina was very prompt both in responding to our request, and in meeting to review the project. She was very knowledgeable in regard to various facets of the design and installation, and was able to answer all of our questions. In particular, she was very insightful into the types of plants that would do best for our project, with special attention to native plants and pollinator species, which we were quite keen on including. Having interviewed many landscape companies for this project, Alina Gardens was one of the few that stood out, and I would definitely recommend her to anyone looking for a project designer.

Our Strata Council contracted Alina Gardens to design and re-plant a portion of our landscaping which was neither effectively designed or properly installed by the developer. In order to minimize maintenance and watering costs, we needed to undergo a substantial renovation. Alina was able to understand our needs of reducing maintenance costs along with recommending a plan that included trees, shrubs and bushes that are native to the west coast and will thrive in our climate. The result is astounding with a wonderful variety of deciduous and coniferous trees, colourful shrubs and berries, and suitable low growth ground cover that are planted to allow for a lush appearance and privacy for our homes. Alina's thorough and professional approach included several initial meetings and visits to discuss and agree upon the most viable and cost effective plan. She also was very careful to ensure that post-install care instructions were clearly laid for us and for our landscaping maintenance contractors. As a result of Alina's understanding of our needs and the greatly improved design, plant selection, soil and fertilizer application, and follow up service, we can now enjoy an attractive and low maintenance view that encourages all , including the local birds and bees, to enjoy our property.

Alina Gardens ! What a wonderful experience. The planning and professionalism let you know immediately that you are in great and talented hands. The end result was just spectacular. Brilliant planning and execution. Customer service is above and beyond.. just great. I am thrilled with the results . Very happy.. I give Alina and her team my highest recommendation. Thank you Alina, Dawn Gray

I've had the pleasure of working alongside this very ambitious and energetic lady. She's takes her work very serious and is very passionate to better people's lives through connection with plants and people. She is a great directional leader and embodies her integrity through her work and her passion. Communication is her strength and if something isn't working out the way the customer or employees expect it too she works it out immediately. Her finished projects are nothing short of spectacular and everyone who works with her feels empowered and the standard of work is very professional from start to finish and completed on time and within the customers budget. I highly recommend to anyone looking to restore their yards into a place they'll truly love then hire Alina Gardens Inc.

Alina was most professional, knowledgeable and easy to work with. She understood our vision, and created a spectacular landscape that was featured in a national magazine, as well as an award winner. I would use Alina again if the opportunity arose.

Alina listened to what we wanted and then came back with a plan that was perfect for our needs. She really took the time to figure out our style and find plants that we loved that would also be easy to maintain.

Alina transformed our front yard into a beautiful nature retreat. Not only are we enjoying it, but our resident frogs, birds, butterflies and bees are loving it too! Alina is enthusiastic, creative and knowledgeable. She and her staff are professional, friendly, hard working and a joy to collaborate with. We are very pleased with with our beautiful new yard and would recommend Alina Gardens to anyone looking for an innovative and talented landscape designer who works with nature and who cares about the environment. - Patti Walker and Bob Page

How gratuitous meeting Alina, who then took my simple plan of a backyard putting green to a beautiful garden incorporating my passion for golf. Alina was most accommodating to my various design modifications ensuring we got it right before breaking ground. We managed a sunken trampoline, with flat stone retaining wall, to pacify kids back yard hobby, two patio areas appeasing my wife’s desires for afternoon tea in the garden and my passion for golf, including a 20’X40’ putting green, a large sand trap and a well disguised 10x 15 golf hitting cage, all nestled around the large stone pathways and the strategic selections of plants and trees. It truly makes for a wonderful place to play or relax. The detailed design proved invaluable in ensuing contractor did not deviate from the design plan and her continued engagement with contractor ensured all the technical (drainage, soil etc.) and the above ground details were performed as required. Great vision, excellent aesthetic result, hopefully better golf.