Urban Oasis Landscape Design

Alev Brown

10 months ago

We worked with Debbie on our landscaping project, in Highland Park. She designed a beautiful native garden plan, involving a multi-level terraced land on a hill and transformed our concrete dominant outdoor space into a lush paradise filled with layers of biodiversity. She is innovative and creative, thoughtful and budget conscious, and very skilled and knowledgeable. The sophisticated end product included a stunning wood deck, a flagstone pavement, a water feature, an intricate irrigation system, light installation, a rain garden and an array of native plants. Working with her was such a joyful experience. We shared what we envisioned with our budget in mind. She studied our yard, visiting it multiple times. Then taking our budget into consideration, she proposed three different design options. She communicated the different components of the design plans clearly with us, answered all our questions and concerns during this period. The level of professionalism and the ease of communication at the same time made this entire process flow very smooth. Once we decided on the design and signed the contract, her team started working on the project within two weeks. They were extremely reliable, professional and skillful. While the team was working on the yard, Debbie was frequently visiting the site to check on the progress. We didn’t need to worry about anything because she literally was on top of everything. Due to the complexity of the land, occasionally a challenge emerged. Debbie and her team discussed the problem each time and found a logical solution very quickly. We only have wonderful things to say about our experience with Debbie. She was the perfect designer for us and upgraded our land to its highest potential. She has given us the oasis we envisioned all along!

Parker David

3 years ago

looks great

Ken Sackman

5 years ago

I wrote the wonderful review below of Urban Oasis/Debbie Gliksman 4 years ago. My view hasn’t changed. Everyone who comes into my backyard is astonished as to how beautiful it is and we love to look at it every day. I retained Urban Oasis (Debbie Gliksman) to first design a complete redo of my backyard – water feature including “creek” and waterfalls, raised planter beds, pergola and eating area, redo of concrete block walls with stone, a fire pit and all new landscaping (trees, bushes, plants etc.) and some landscaping in the front. Debbie and I talked over my ideas and her suggestions at length. I thought the design was taking a bit of time until I got the plans. I was amazed. They included a complete layout of the project with exact measurements for each feature, detailed drawings and pictures and even what plants would go where. Then, when I decided to proceed, things got even better. This was a very large job with at least 11 separate trades and subcontractors – laborers, stone masons, brick masons, irrigation, steel fabricators for the raised beds, carpenter for the pergola and matching side fence, lighting designer, electrician, tree trimmer, landscape installation and waterway/falls company. She had to deal also with many different suppliers. Debbie coordinated and supervised all the trades and the timing of when they would work, even to the extent of deciding where to put individual stones in the proper design for the retaining walls and the waterway, finding logs for seating for the fire pit, designing the pergola and fence and then even changing things to improve on original design. I think, while all aspects of the job were done to high perfectionism, Debbie’s ability to listen to my ideas and improve them in theory and then to improve even her plans on the fly as the job was progressing was quite remarkable. She has a great “eye” and vision and is quite knowledgable. The job was done almost within the original time estimate even though we added many significant items and made changes as the work went on. The only “delay” was, that after 98% of the job was done, the lighting supply company closed for 3 weeks over the holidays so we couldn’t get the extra lighting (over and above the original design) right away. That slight (and comical) problem shows how well the major issues were handled so that the job could be done within the time forecasted. I could go on and on about the details of this job but sufficed to say I now have an astonishingly beautiful yard and would strongly recommend Urban Oasis for landscaping projects.

Julie Drucker

5 years ago

Debbie planned and designed a substantial area of my garden, connecting the front courtyard to the back garden with extensive, beautiful landscaping. The project entailed planting all alongside our house and integrating the front and back outdoor spaces. The result is beautiful and I always get inquires about who did my landscaping… I also know a few of Debbie’s clients and have seen their gardens. The work is beautiful and well integrated into the natural, so cal landscape. I highly recommend Debbie.”

Judi Scott

5 years ago

We contacted Debbie from Urban Oasis on the basis of her reviews and photos here. When we met her, we immediately felt that she understood our goals, even though we had a very limited idea of what we wanted, ourselves. Debbie designed and oversaw installation of our entire yard, which consists of 4 distinct areas, most of which we previously had not used. She is meticulous in her work, hired quality construction people and really took our wishes into consideration. We love our new yard and now we really utilize all areas.