CLIENT SATISFACTION:
Garden Arts Custom Landscapes is an eight-year old full service design, install, and maintentance resource for all of Southwestern Vermont. Our only goal is complete satisfaction for our clients. In the summer of 2008, we employed a Vermont Technical College intern to implement a mail survey designed to measure our client satisfaction performance over the past three years. In August, we mailed 105 surveys with a self addressed first class envelope for responses. Happily we received more than a 30% response with 92% of respondents indicating that Garden Arts, or its related companies -- Manchester Fence and Northshire Paver and Wallstone - “met or exceeded expectations’. A similar number indicated that they would recommend Garden Arts without hesitation. No wonder our overall business and client base continues to grow!

GARDEN AND LANDSCAPE DESIGN:
We are often asked to create designs for gardens and landscapes of all kinds which we do at reasonable cost -- especially if we are also engaged to do the installation of these designs as well. Try us for garden design of all kinds from English Cottage Gardens customized to our Northern New England environment to American Country Gardens. We are known for our work with conifer gardens, rock gardens, and water gardens. The initial design consultation is given without charge so feel free to call us to set up an appointment.

COMMERCIAL GARDEN DESIGN:
We would like to expand our design service to include more work for commercial and retail clients. We have a design style that is perfectly adaptable and suited to any business located in Northern New England that needs to maintain a welcoming appearance no matter the time of day or night and no matter the season of the year. With a few projects now completed, we believe that we have found a formula that can work at almost any site and we welcome your inquiry.

VERMONT ALL SEASON COLOR GARDENS:
During the first few years we grew steadily adding landscaping crew persons , machinery, and a broader client base to our young business. Soon, we began making many different kinds of gardens including rock gardens, perennial gardens, and conifer gardens. It is at this time that we invented another garden form; i.e. the Vermont All Season Color Garden©. This unique and unusually practical design style relies heavily on dwarf and slow growing conifers in subtle shades of blue, green and yellow; sculptural stones; earth shapes; garden lighting; and other features which are durable throughout the winter and brilliant in summer. Practicing what we preach at home, we have created a remarkable demonstration garden here at our office and landscaping yard which we use to demonstrate our talents and style to clients who come to see us by appointment. Make yours today!

FENCING:
We have been making and installing fencing of all kinds since 2001. In 2007 in response to a need for a local fencing company to serve the needs of clients located in Southwestern Vermont, we created a new entity called the Manchester Fence Company. Like many of the other services that we have offered, the marketplace reaction to this organizational move was positive and immediate. Through Manchester Fence, we create custom and reproduction fencing in our own shop for installation on residential and commercial sites. We also sell and install premanufactured fencing. We do split rail fences, picket fences, privacy fences, pasture fences, and fences for pool enclosures. We install wooden fencing in cedar, pressure treated pine, hemlock and other woods. We install PVC fencing and are a complete resource for all kinds of high quality vinyl fencing products. We install metal fencing in powder coated aluminum, steel, and in other weather resistent metals. No job is too large or small. In 2008 we custom fabricated 1850 running feet of a custom design reproduction picket fence and installed it in Manchester, Vermont. In previous years we have reproduced wooden paddock fencing and picket fencing for installation in Dorset, Vermont. Photos of these artisinal fencing jobs are available for your inspection.

RESIDENTIAL AND COMMERCIAL LAWN AND GARDEN MAINTENANCE:
As our client base grew we began offering Lawn and Garden Maintenance. Our residential and commercial maintenance accounts are primarily located in Pawlet, Dorset, Danby, and Manchester. This has been one of the fastest growing parts of our business as our people and equipment are top notch. Beginning in 2009 we are contracted to provide a Contract Groundskeeping Crew for one of the largest and most prestigious homeowner’s associations in the area -- the Equinox-on-the-Battenkill development in Manchester Village. In this relationship we are providing full time employees who will be on the client’s property full time throughout the landscaping season. We are now able to serve our maintenance clients from two locations -- one in Danby and one in Manchester.

TREES AND SHRUBS / IN STOCK AND READY TO PLANT:
In 2006, we created our landmark web based tree and shrub retail operation which has become a mainstay of our business. Marketed as the Garden Arts Nursery Outlet....Trees and Shrubs at Almost Wholesale©; this modern business offers hundreds of varieties of trees and shrubs in all sizes with an on-line inventory larger than that of any nursery or garden center in New England! The Garden Arts Nursery Outlet does not maintain an in stock inventory of trees and shrubs. We rely on our network of quality wholesalers to maintain that inventory for us and to deliver the trees and shrubs that we select for our clients on a quick ship basis. By eliminating the costs of purchasing and maintaining an inventory like a bricks and mortar garden center or nursery would do, we can offer prices on balled and burlapped and container stock which are much lower than regular retail. Our plant materials are fresher and more robust than the material seen at a traditional nursery. Try us for a fabulous selection of Conifers (Evergreens) and Deciduous Trees of all kinds. Sugar Maples, Autumn Blaze Maples, Birch Trees and every other variety are always available in a wide range of

TREES AND SHRUBS / FRESHLY DUG TO YOUR ORDER:
For the 2009 season we will inaugerate a new program offering a huge selection of Northern-grown Evergreen and Deciduous trees which can be personally selected by our clients while they are still in the ground and growing in their native soils. In order to participate in this program, a Garden Arts client can arrange for us to accompany them to our supplier’s growing fields located just across the border from Arlington, Vermont in nearby New York State. Here, we can walk any part of a 1000 acre tree and shrub growing paradise to pick exactly the right living addition for your home or business garden or landscape. Once we pick the tree or shrub, it is tagged in your presense, dug and prepared for transport by one of our ‘tree’ trailers to your site where we expertly plant it for you. This program also offers trees in unusually large sizes if that is what you want. Some of the trees are available in trunk calipers of 12” or more. Whether it be a large tree, or somethig smaller, no transplanted tree will perform better than one that is fresh dug for you and then immediately planted for you by our expert planting technicians.

TREE SERVICES:
We are able to provide tree services such as expert pruning, transplanting, root collaring, root ball conditioning, and planting. We have been schooled in various techniques that are necessary to creating an environment for the long term health of your trees. We always tell the our clients that there is an art to tree planting. It is so much more than digging a hole and popping the tree or shrub in with some backfill, water and mulch. From the original soil test to the determination of the proper depth of the hole to the final job of mulching and staking the newly planted tree, we bring a world of knowledge and training to your project.

PATIOS, WALL, PATHWAYS:
We work with a crew of talented workmen and women who have many different kinds of skills. Some are good at plants and gardens. Some are skilled carpenters and fence builders. Some do an outstanding job of maintaining lawns. And some of our people are outstanding stone masons who can lay a wall or patio that is more a work of art, than a construction project. For the past several years, we have been perfecting our skills in working with a wonderful new array of man-made stone materials that are perfectly suited to the new economy. The materials are less expensive than natural stone and the labor to build a specific size of wall or patio is less as well. Our favorite supplier is a company called Techo-Bloc (www.techo-bloc.com) who provides us with excellent service whether we are building a Segmental Retaining Wall (SRW) or a patio built from Interlocking Pavers. During the winter of 2008/9 we have gone to a special school to earn our installer certification from the Interlocking Concrete Paver Institute (ICPI) and the National Concrete Masonry Association (NCMA). You will be able to find us listed as a Techo-Pro on the Techo-Bloc site.

DRIVEWAY REPAIR, DRAINAGE DITCH CONSTRUCTION:
We own special equipment that enables us to resurface dirt or gravel driveways by planing them smooth and adding materials necessary to fill holes. We are also able to re-edge the driveway and then add a customer’s choice of crushed stone materials in a variety of colors and textures to please any taste. We use varying grades of crushed Vermont Blue Ledgestone which makes a beautiful and durable surface. We also have successfully resurfaced with crushed slate in varying colors from red, to green, to grey, and to multicolor. We have also developed excellent techniques for creating drainage for driveways and wet areas.

PONDS, STREAMS AND WATERFALLS:
At our core we perceive ourselves to be garden and landscape artists and one of the highest purposes of our art is found in the creation of garden ponds and waterfalls that we create in a variety of locations. We have much experience in the process of siting, digging, and constructing low maintenance, environmentally responsible, and gorgeous water features of almost any reasonable size. For ponds and streams that require rubber bottoms, we use state-of-the-art durable equipment including fish-safe pond liners and hard-working pumps that come with long term warrantees. We also make ponds that have a natural bottom augmented with a pond-fill kind of sand.

POND REPAIR AND RESCUE:
Many home and business properties in Vermont have problem ponds where there are large seasonal variations in water levels; ior where there are problems with Algae and pond scum. We can reverse these problems and create a clear and beautiful scene and we can do it without the use of harmful chemicals. We also can install certain kinds of aeration equipment that increases the oxygen level in ‘dead’ ponds. With the increase in oxygen and water turbidity comes a decrease in the bad elements in a pond and the increase of the good ones. We can refer you to clients where we have performed these minor ‘miracles’.

OUTDOOR, LANDSCAPE, GARDEN LIGHTING:
One of the best investments one can make in a garden or landscape is the installation and operation of well designed low-voltage outdoor lighting system. With a 12 volt system in operation activated by a timer or a photocell, one can enjoy a garden in the evening hours as well as in daytime. We are trained by experts to create a system that is safe, economical, and subtle. We do not like systems that illuminate pathways like airport runways and that illuminate buildings and trees like you see on the strip in Las Vegas. We also believe that a well designed system can work to ‘warm-up’ a cold night in winter, and make your return home a better experience. Another arguement for a system like the ones that we install is that the right amount of light in the right place makes you home safer in every season. We also know that our systems provide just the right amount of heat to allow the light to shine through a pile of fresh fallen snow.

GARDEN AND UNDERGROUND IRRIGATION:
Most Vermont locations are blessed with ample moisture for the good health of plants, trees, and lawns, however if there is a need for regular irrigation due to location or the occassional drought, people can come to us for expert design, installation and maintenance of automatic irrigations systems. We purchase and install equipment specified for each location by factory-trained engineers who work with us on behalf of our clients. We also winterize each system we install and set them back up again in spring, so your system is indeed carefree for you.

JAPANESE GARDENS:
We launched the company in 2001 specializing in Japanese Garden and Zen Garden design. Since we live in Southern Vermont and not Japan, we fused into the Asian designs all of the elements of a Vermont Garden including our native trees, plants, stones, water, art, sculpture, and mountains. We created a successful and often imitated design style that we call ‘Vermont Asia’. There are several examples of our work in the Manchester, Dorset, Bennington areas of Vermont. We also have done a Vermont Asian garden in York Harbor, Maine.

SOIL TESTS AND SOIL TESTING SERVICE:
The most experienced gardners and landscapers will tell you that it rarely makes sense to invest in new plantings without understanding the chemistry of the soils at the site. Same thing with lawns. Perhaps they are just right in terms of nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, ph, calcium and other vital ingredients and conditions for growth; or perhaps the soil should be ammended to make up for certain deficiencies or surpluses. “One cannot just grow tomatoes anywhere....it takes the right soils.” Garden Arts has a contract with one of the nation’s finest soil and water testing labs and you can make an appointment with us to visit your property, take a proper sample, and report back to you with your present soil condition and a recipe for altering your soil with just the right ammendments to grow the plants you want.

GARDEN SCULPTURE / LANDSCAPE ART:
We are one of the best resources in Northern New England for Asian-style and authentic Asian Garden Art. We have a collection of Buddha figures, Japanese Lanterns, Gongs, and other artifacts for outdoor use in any New England and Vermont garden. Our clients are always surprised at how wonderful this style of art works in any setting. We also have a collection of more traditional European style garden statuary that is surprisingly inexpensive. When we began Garden Arts we wanted to collect and market handcrafted outdoor art made by Vermont artisans. From lighted garden figures to a unique style of red Adirondack Chairs with circular backs, check with us for what is available at any time. We can either find or make any art that you want for your garden or landscape.

GARDEN CLUB, GARDEN EDUCATION, SEMINARS AND LECTURES:
In the past we have made appearances in front of many garden clubs in Vermont including the Manchester Garden Club, the Rutland Garden Club, and the Green Mountain Garden Club. We have appeared for many years as a featured speaker at the Vermont Flower Show in the Burlington, Vermont area; and we have appeared at New England Grows - the prestigious professional landscape and gardening trade show held every year in Boston. We have one illustrated talk on designing gardens and landscapes in Northern New England using Asian influences to make them more interesting, lower in maintenance, and more long lasting througout the long cold weather seasons in Northern New England. We also have another sparkling presentation on gardening with Conifers in all their subtle colors and dramatic shapes as a means to create what we call..”The Vermont All-Season Color Garden©”

GRANITE, MARBLE, AND SLATE STONE SLABS:
Over the years we have collected a potporri of large flat stones in varying materials that are ideal for large steps. Some of the stones are finished square on all the edges; and some are rough. Many of them are perfectly sized to make large stone tables for picnics. Others are so naturally interestingthat when planted vertically outdoors present an imposing and ultimately interesting architectural and sculptural shape. Make an appointment with us to come up to our yard in Danby Four Corners to select the stone you would like. We can deliver and install it for you.

DECORATIVE CRUSHED STONE:
We can be a resource for all kinds of crushed stone including the common kinds such as those used for drainage, fill, and septic purposes; however beyond trucking them for our clients, we do not list them on our site. What we do list and have is an entire variety of unique crushed stone products in varying colors and textures. We always carry a crushed slate product that comes in a variety of colors including a very interesting multi-colored variety. We also deal in crushed Vermont Ledge stone which is always available in varying shades of blue. Our larger screens - such as 4-6” - contain absolutely beautiful blue stones with white striations. Another product that we have is a black and white crushed stone that makes a very interesting and indestructable garden mulch. Call us anytime for what is available.

TOPSOIL, GARDEN LOAM, COMPOST, MULCH:
During the past seven years we have purchased, loaded, delivered, spread, planted, and worked with garden loams, composts, and mulches originating from many places in Vermont and processed by many different suppliers. We have been relentless in our search for great materials available at resonable prices. And recently we have found them all. We carry a wonderfully rich multi-purpose garden loam that is great for growing trees and shrubs. We also carry a special ‘Horticultural Topsoil’ that is a combination of loam, peat, and organic compost. This is the best growing medium for any plant however it is pricier than our regular grade of loam. We also carry a variety of mulches at different price points and for different purposes. We have hardwood, softwood, and mixed grades of mulch for different purposes; and all --like our loam products - are available for bulk delivery. We also carry a full line of MooDoo Brands bagged garden soils at competitive prices.