Welcome to Green Willow Gardens!

is now Green Willow Gardens, CA Contractor’s license #C-27-814813

We have undergone a name change, effective June 1, 2003. We loved our old name, but the California State License Board ruled that we could not use the word “Door” in our name if we wanted a Contractor’s License. Well, we could have become Carpenters or Door Installers and kept it, but since we know a lot more about plants than pilasters, we came up with Green Willow. We hope you like it. It’s grown on us. Willow is a beautiful, tenacious, and flexible plant with multiple uses. In our practice, we hope to emulate these wonderful qualities.

Over the years, we have evolved and grown, but we remain a small company dedicated to quality design, installation, and maintenance of residential gardens, with an emphasis on planting. We also design complete residential gardens for installation by licensed landscape contractors, often teaming up for the planting installation and maintenance. To see the results of one of our recent award-winning collaborations, please click here. For more information about Maureen, and horticulturists Julia Könye, Larry Soares, Belinda Florio, and Luis Ibarra, please scroll to the bottom of this page.

Though we are committed through the fall of 2008 for new garden design and planting projects, we offer a limited number of hourly garden consultations each month. The minimum for garden consultations is two hours, at the rate of $125 per hour. Please email maureen@greenwillowgardens.com, or call 510-962-4456 to inquire about our availability for consultation.

NEW! EDIBLE LANDSCAPE BIBLIOGRAPHY!

OUR VISION

To create and maintain beautiful, thriving landscapes using sustainable garden design and management techniques.

To creatively and intelligently approach every landscape challenge with solutions that maximize the effectiveness of the client's investment, respect the environment, and promote healthy gardens.

To inspire garden owners to contribute to plant biodiversity, provide a haven for wildlife and the human spirit, while doing no harm to the earth, wildlife, or those who maintain the garden.

To encourage the health, vigor, natural growth patterns and vitality of our plantings.

To encourage the evolution of balanced ecosystems in each garden, making room for wildlife, plants, and people to thrive and mutually benefit from each other.

To plant and garden for the future, so that the garden spaces we install and maintain will live out their natural lives in fullness and bring joy to all who encounter them.

To fulfill the client's functional needs with creative approaches that address real-world problems with practical and beautiful solutions.

To continually learn from the natural world, other gardeners, and the scientific community about new, effective techniques for sustainable garden management and design.

To continually teach other gardeners and potential gardeners about sustainable garden management and its benefits to the earth and their gardens.

To fully engage our knowledge, experience and spirit toward achieving our vision.

OUR PEOPLE

Maureen Decombe: maureen@greenwillowgardens.com (resume) The Palo Alto Weekly has featured Maureen Decombe in an article in the Home and Garden section. A version with images is also available in PDF.
Maureen’s background in public gardens, agricultural research, and greenhouse management led her to create Green Willow Gardens, a company dedicated to quality horticultural and garden design services with a focus on sustainability and edible plantings. Our lead designer, Maureen teaches and lectures frequently on garden design and horticulture. Maureen holds a BS in Government from the University of Maryland, and an AS in Horticulture from Foothill College.

Larry Soares: larry@greenwillowgardens.com Larry was "discovered" in one of Maureen's Edible Landscaping classes, when his active mind constantly questioned the instructor's brilliant statements. The instructor thought, "What a pain in the neck, I've GOT to hire this guy!" Larry's wide-ranging horticultural interests include edible landscaping and sustainable garden design and maintenance. His energetic and creative approach to garden management has resulted in the continual improvement of the systems we use to efficiently maintain our gardens. Our resident irrigation guru, Larry applies his ever-expanding troubleshooting skills to make our irrigation systems run reliably. Larry has also recently begun creating and installing beautiful lighting designs in our gardens. Larry holds an AS in Horticulture from Foothill College.

Julia Könye: julia@greenwillowgardens.com Julia’s keen eye for detail, color, and texture was developed through years of creating gorgeous, sumptuous floral arrangements for numerous talented floral designers. Prior to Green Willow, as a project manager for a mid-size fine garden maintenance firm, Julia honed her project management skills. She now applies her artistry and experience to our gardens, and the results are stunning. Julia holds an AS in Horticulture from Foothill College, and a BS in Environmental Studies from San Francisco State University. Her new passion is gardening with people and plants of all kinds, but especially children with whom she can share her extensive knowledge of ecological systems and her infectious laugh. Julia's rare talent for the creation of striking plant combinations in containers and planting beds has become the foundation of the GWG planting style- lush, full, and generous plantings with dramatic interplay between foliage and flower.

Luis Ibarra: luis@greenwillowgardens.com Luis' seven years of horticultural experience began with mowin' & blowin'. Gradually, his ambition, reliability and dedication led him to take on more and more of the tasks that required greater sensitivity to the ultimate, mature, plant in the right place. We can even sometimes get him to let us depart a garden with a few carefully arranged leaves on the ground if they are kind of pretty. His energy and enthusiasm for quality garden maintenance informs his approach to a wide range of pruning, planting, and garden detailing tasks. Luis continues to strengthen his knowledge of plants and horticultural practices.

Belinda Florio: belinda@greenwillowgardens.com Belinda is the newest member of the GWG team, and over the last year, she has wowed everyone with her commitment to quality and detail applied to a wide array of fine gardening tasks, all the while carefully maintaining custom maintenance records for our gardens. Belinda has recently made the foray into designing and installing creative plantings, concentrating particularly on exciting container displays with dramatic plant combinations. Belinda is pursuing an AS in Horticulture from Foothill College.