Landscaping reviews in Decatur, Georgia

Daniel and his crew are super knowledgeable and have a love for what they do. I appreciate their focus on native plants for ecological and aesthetic purposes. They created the beginnings of a great landscape that I look forward to tending. They were able to spot some drainage issues and solved them in a way that also added beauty to the yard.

In 2016 my wife and I purchased our first home which had many landscaping eye sores. Daniel was highly recommended from our neighbors. We were immediately impressed by Daniel's vision for the front and back of our property. Now our property is beaming with colors and songbirds! You will not be disappointed with Daniel's services!

Daniel and his team were amazing to work with-- they had the vision to turn my side yard that was suffering from drainage issues and overrun with weeds into a functional and beautiful wildlife haven. He worked with me to come up with a tiered plan that was in my budget. His knowledge of native plants is fantastic and his solution oriented approach has made our yard's eyesore into my favorite place to be.

Daniel is extremely knowledgeable and detail-oriented. He helped us see many new possibilities in our mature landscape - working with the existing flora and making aesthetically complementary additions. He taught us how to prune properly so that our plants and shrubs could thrive and best strategies for preventing the return of invasive species that had been removed. I can't overstate how impressed we were with his services and fair prices!

We have been one of Convivial Landscape’s educational partners for several years. Daniel Ballard and his team are always available for advice and lesson support for our students. The regular maintenance visits are always helpful to me. I learn about what is blooming/sprouting in the garden and I get a mini-lesson on the pollinators and wildlife that come to visit. Throughout the years our garden has transformed from a non-native boring “business park” garden to a mostly native garden full of fruit trees and native flowers and grasses. It is a gorgeous and sustainable garden full of wonder for our elementary students.

I don't use a landscaping company (I'm sure my neighbors wish I did!), but my wife and I walk our neighborhood (Kirkwood) daily and are constantly bombarded by the noise and terrible smell of gas powered blowers. We passed the team at Convivial Landscapes working on a neighbor's yard yesterday (we'd seen them many times before) and my wife and I remarked how nice it was to hear/see an electric blower being used. It was plenty powerful and the yard looked great. So nice to see a company care about the environment they are working in every day and to not be disturbed by those nasty nasty nasty gas-powered landscaping tools. Way to go Convivial and way to go concientious and thoughtful neighbors!!

We engaged Daniel to design and implement solutions for storm water runoff at a local park. Daniel came up with a design that was both attractive and functional. We had a limited budget so Daniel also provided us some items we could implement on our own. We have had several heavy rains since the installation and everything is working as designed.

Daniel and his team have been working with us to maintain and enhance the landscaping of our Oakhurst yard for the past several years. During that time, our yard has become more beautiful, has better drainage, is more filled with native plants, and is more biodiverse. Indeed, the number and diversity of pollinators and birds visiting our yard has almost doubled as we have worked with Daniel and followed his recommendations. We could not be happier!

Yesterday, Daniel spent two hours consulting me about my property (.2 wooded acres in Decatur, GA). Having taken care of the property myself for nearly twenty years, I was able to provide him with a history of how the landscape had evolved, what worked well and what did not, how and where the water flows, and what my current needs and interests are. I felt that Daniel listened very well and made numerous suggestions for suitable plants, appropriate mulches, design options, and long-term planning. I took several pages of notes that included the names of books, authors, and organizations to further my education about the elements of landscapes that create habitats for native wildlife. I'm really excited to learn more and to slowly change my landscape at a pace that my time, energy, and budget will allow. I look forward to receiving more guidance from Daniel, and I have already highly recommended him to a nearby neighbor whose vision for her landscape is similar to mine.

We absolutely LOVED working with Daniel, Liz and all of the Convivial crew. Our backyard was a wasteland of sadness and now it is the magical fairy garden of our dreams. Every idea that I shared with Daniel, he took and made it 20 times better. At the end he was practically finishing my sentences. They are careful to use every scrap of material and stay within your budget. Highly HIGHLY recommend this company. <3

Thank you, Daniel! Druid Hills Middle School was blessed to have Daniel consult and design our Deloitte Impact Day. Daniel designed the front entrance area and recommended plant material and mulch. On the day of the event, he came and taught the volunteers how to implement the vision. Thank you for lending us your expertise. Looks amazing!

Daniel and his team are great! They’ve been maintaining our garden and yard for over a year now, with an eye towards sustaining and planting things that are native (low maintenance!) and that attract birds and wildlife. I now have a woodpecker and cardinal family I see regularly. Hoping for hummingbirds this year! Our property also has had serious water drainage issues forever. Completely solved with some drains and a water garden installed. Highly recommend these guys. And new addition Liz Sherman is awesome about updating on what they did with maintenance and what is going on in your yard.

Update a year later. We just experienced Hurricane Helene and had a much better outcome than expected. Daniel's suggestions worked!! Even without a rain garden, the berms and plantings slowed the 12 inches of rain to a very manageable flow. Continuing to thank Daniel for his expertise.

See below for original review:
Daniel Ballard of Convivial Landscapes consulted with The Friends of Springbrook Park regarding an erosion issue at our park. He met with us on Sept. 9, 2023. We were amazed and pleased at his original ideas for solving our problem. He began by telling us about the importance of using water to benefit the park rather than allowing it to run through and erode the natural habitat. He clearly explained the reasons for erosion and demonstrated how we could use “water hugs” (u-shaped berms) and a rain garden to slow, spread and sink water. His explanation of the reasons for the erosion was clear and his solution was not only feasible but cheap, especially if we use volunteer labor.

He suggested ways we could educate the community about the benefits of “planting water” and how microhabitats (essentially brush piles) support animal life at the park, create carbon sinks and establish bird cover.

Daniel’s approach is very different from that of most landscape architects. For one, he sees the process of handling erosion as taking place over time rather than in a single day. For another, he focused on what is best for the environment demonstrating how replacing grass (which requires chemicals, water, mowing and blowing) with carbon sinks and leaf litter will not only look nicer, but would benefit the natural composition of the park and encourage animal life.

Daniel also showed his playful nature when he told us before we cut a limb from our elderberry trees we must ask the elderberry fairies for permission.

We were most grateful for Daniel Ballard’s expertise and gentle instructional manner.

Daniel and his crew did such an amazing job to our yard that had a lot of overgrowth. We knew there was lots of good, mature plants but had no clue how to prune them and make our yard look and feel more inviting. During our initial consultation, Daniel walked us through our space naming every single plant and telling us what would help it to flourish and grow. Once he and his team began work, we were so impressed to see how attentive and intentional they were. Almost everything was hand pruned. Our yard looks and feels so lovely and everything is growing nicely! We have used the space so much more now. Thank you so much to Convivial Landscapes!!

It was great working with Daniel as we installed plantings to combat erosion along a bend in a stream bank. We did this for my Boy Scouts Eagle Project with Troop 77. He has impressive expertise about every plant we were working with and took time to teach our group about plants in the area during the installation. His emphasis on installing native plants and trees that benefit wildlife and aesthetics of the area were on target and greatly appreciated.

For over 8 years, Daniel Ballard has been our go to for landscape advice, and installing lasting plantings appropriate for our garden. Recently, we asked him to take on a big project with us to prepare for an outdoor family event. As he has on many occasions, he carefully listened to what we wanted and through his expertise and creativity, he brought our vision to life in ways we hadn't imagined. He is a landscape architect artist. We are thrilled with the results and would highly recommend their services to anyone seeking a talented and dedicated landscape architect.

Daniel Ballard did a great job of designing a low maintenance landscape plan for my backyard. Daniel listened to my concerns about my yard’s drainage issues and designed a plan to mitigate runoff using berms and a French drain. With his extensive knowledge of native plants, Daniel transformed my overgrown backyard into a woodland habitat to attract birds and other pollinators. Daniel and his team worked hard pulling ivy and removing invasive plants. Convivial’s philosophy of ecological landscaping is unique. I recommend them to anyone looking to create a natural, sustainable and beautiful habitat.

Update: In the year since the yard was landscaped I've had the front landscaped by Convivial Landscapes as well and it looks fantastic. Neighbors have stopped me to say how nice it looks. It serves as a kind of bird corridor with plants with berries, drawing more birds to the backyard. All the plants have proven to be hardy even through the summer drought. Daniel has always responded to my questions, even a year later, about the care for some specific plants, and he's offered advice for other landscape-related questions. Can't recommend Convivial Landscapes enough.

Original review"
I reached out to Daniel to explore transforming my backyard into a bird sanctuary as a memorial to my wife. Daniel took my rough idea and somewhat limited budget and created a bird paradise of berry bushes and trees that will, in time, provide plenty of cover from predators. He had my property registered as an official wildlife sanctuary, provided plenty of resources for learning more about birds, and taught me to "think like a bird" when placing water sources, bird feeders, and bird houses. All of the work was of the highest professionalism and I could not be more happy with the result.

We were thrilled to find Daniel Ballard and his team. Daniel was recommended to us by a friend and turned out to have exactly the combination of skills and talents we were looking for. We’ve been planning to shift our yard toward natives for several years and needed to find the right person to help us. Daniel completely understands the rationale behind going with native plants and has a deep knowledge of our local native ecosystem and which plants thrive here and how they benefit wildlife and pollinators. He complements that with extensive experience and training in horticultural design. That combination leads to creation of native installations with a beautiful design aesthetic. Further, he is a good listener and teacher, and his passion is contagious. His team is efficient in executing the plans, and they even did some extra touches elsewhere in our yard while they were here. The end result is exactly what we’d been hoping for in this first phase of our yard’s transition. We look forward to continuing to work with Daniel on the rest of the yard. We highly recommend Daniel -- he’s a gem!

We have a great relationship with Convivial. Daniel Ballard came highly recommended by our landscape architect who provided a great design for our yard. But, Daniel is not simply a landscape installer, nor did he just "paint by the numbers" from the design. He has his own artist's eye for light, shading, time of day, colors, angles, materials, views, textures, space, usability, elevation, functionality, design, drainage, ecological landscaping, cost, you name it. It was a pleasure watching him bring the plan to fruition and make our yard a pleasure to live in.

Daniel and his amazing team have nurtured our yard and gardens for several years. We have relied on his expertise in horticulture and environmentally responsible practices. I would highly recommend Convivial Landscapes as a trustworthy and conscientious caretaker.