Frequently Asked Questions

I’m not a gardener but I want my outdoor space to shine, can you help?

Absolutely! We offer one on one consultations in your space to ensure that both you and your garden’s needs are specifically addressed. We can offer suggestions on existing needs, inherent challenges with the site in consideration to desired use, as well as various ways to implement positive and immediate benefits for your space. 

We also offer regular garden care, if you need some help to get the garden there – or keep it looking top notch and healthy. If a total or area specific re-vamp is needed, we also offer design and installation services to help recreate your landscape so it is beautiful all year and perfectly meets your needs.  

Do you haul yard waste?

Yes, we do haul garden waste and can remove any green waste you have as needed. 

That said, we are trying to transition away from hauling yard waste from our clients’ properties in favour of more functional, sustainable and economic options like building in house compost systems or working with community composting programs. 

Do you mow lawns?

Unfortunately, we do not. We do however work with a local sustainable lawn care company that can look after this for you (and for us). This can be easily integrated into our garden maintenance services so you don’t have to worry about keeping up with two different companies. 

What areas do you service?

We primarily service the Capital Regional District; we are based out of Victoria BC. We regularly visit clients from North Saanich to Oakbay and as far west as Metchosin in terms of maintenance work. For design and installation projects we also service East Sooke and the southern Gulf Islands. 

What are your business hours?

We work Monday – Friday 8 am – 5 pm. We take stat holidays off and usually a slightly longer holiday in the winter. The best way to reach us any time of the year or day is by email! 

What makes Terra Vita different than other garden companies?

Terra Vita was built out of a deep passion and curiosity for nature and how to actively participate with and care for ones’ environment. When you hire us, you are getting a small group of people who genuinely care about what they do and how they do it. We employ horticultural techniques, informed design principles, site specific plant selections and organic land care practices paired with expert installation and craftsmanship to ensure quality results. We actively engage with you and your garden to offer services that are custom tailored to your landscape’s exact needs while emphasizing sustainability in all attributes of our company. We are here because we want to make a positive impact in our community and contribute to helping you and your garden thrive!

What makes Terra Vita a sustainable company? How does this impact how you do business?

Sustainability is at the core of everything we do. It is both inherent in how we operate daily in working with plants and the land, as well as how we operate as a business. We are an organic company that focuses on regenerative practices; our actions with plants and landscapes seek to promote environmental resiliency and diversity and proudly upheld through locally educated and certified horticulturists . Within our design work, sustainability is an ever-present component of how we design new landscapes. It is also a strong consideration in the materials we use for installations; what types of plants we source and how we source them, the types of materials used on projects and their life cycle, trying to recycle or up cycle whenever possible. As a business operation, we track our carbon and reduce waste and continue to evaluate and lessen our environmental impacts aiming to be net positive whenever possible. We use electric equipment and hand tools. We are focused on building strong lasting connections in our community built out of continuous effort, integrity and quality work because we live here

What does future friendly land care mean and what does that look like?

Future Friendly land care means that we take every opportunity to reduce our impacts on the planet through the course of our work as well as support like-minded, local and community driven ways of operating for a better tomorrow.  We actively reduce the number of resources required and carbon emissions to keep a productive garden by: 

1. Focusing on reducing maintenance through the use of horticultural techniques, regenerative practices and beneficial native plantings to create hardy ecosystems in and out of your yard

2. Building and maintaining fertile and resistant organic soils that reduce fertilization and watering needs naturally

3. Employing beneficial biodegradable mulches that feed and protect your soil

4. Selecting appropriate plantings specific to the soil, the location and level of care required  

5. Primarily employing hand or electric powered tools

Do you offer seasonal garden maintenance or help with one-off garden projects?

Yes – we can help with most any garden task or project we have. We work with lots of clients with different needs and are happy to design a visit specific to your exact needs. Examples of such projects could be restoring old neglected gardens to a renewed state to seasonal pruning work to amending gardens to a more functional state for the client to then care for themselves to revitalizing a garden before a house sale. We are most passionate about projects where we get to make a positive impact, be it helping someone in need or helping build a better environment through sustainable garden care.  

I want to grow food year-round for my family/community, how can you help?

We often help our clients grow food in various ways depending on their desired level of assistance. For some, this comes in the form of us taking total control of the space and in turn we plan, plant, maintain and harvest fresh fruit and vegetables or simply remind them of what is ready to harvest or coming up soon. For others we simply take on the tasks they are not able or willing to do which comes in the forms of mulching, weeding, flipping beds, watering, supplying starts or other supporting tasks to their efforts in the garden. Finally, we often design systems with integrated crop plans so that you can make efficient use of your time, leverage your locations inherent benefits and take charge of your own food all by yourself! We can provide the structures or soil needed to grow in, a workable outlook and specialized help at your disposal if ever you are off track.

I have established invasive plants in my garden, can you help?

We certainly can! We have diverse experience with a variety of tenacious, fast spreading and otherwise difficult to manage species including but not limited to Bind Weed, Morning glory, Houttuynia, Ivies, Himalayan blackberry, Thistles, Daphne, Hog weed, Knot Weed, Saint John’s Wort, Vinka, and many others.  We employ holistic approaches from removing and managing the affected area(s) including solarization, occultation, stale seed bedding, root depletion, and/or targeted treatments specific to the species at hand. With tenacity and some of the added tools in our tool belt you can absolutely reclaim your growing space without the use of herbicides.

What design services do you offer?

We offer a broad range of design services from consultations to concept drafts to full scale planting plans and project management. We work with you to offer the best type of design service for your goals and project.  We see designing as a collaborative process build on good communication and understanding you and your landscapes needs. Our preference is always to see designs through to their final construction in order to ensure the quality of vision be translated through to the end product. Our design and installs are primarily residential. 

What does the design process look like? 

Not all designs are made the same, however usually there are a number of phases to the design process:

 1) Consultation 

 We begin every design with an in-depth meeting in your garden (or soon to be garden) where we can discuss your goals, needs, expectation, likes and dislikes, budget, and intended use of the space. This is our designer’s chance to learn about you, your lifestyle, priorities, personal aesthetic and how you want to use your outdoor space. We also conduct a site assessment noting the physical conditions of your landscape. From this information, we build a design proposal which we will send to you following this initial meeting.

 2) Concept Draft

 After the proposal is sent and approved, we begin building a concept draft outlining the basic elements of your new landscape including hardscaping, bed placement, tree planting, and any other major feature. 

 3) Planting Plan

 Once we have the concept plan sorted, we move on to our final draft, a planting plan, and any additional drawings that may be needed. This draft outlines the type and placement of all plantings, designation of hardscaping needs and a final site layout. This can include 3-D modelling of the site and other sketches. 

 4) Project Management and Curation

 Now that we have a set design, we can go ahead and select all the pieces and people needed to bring your project to life! We are thoughtful in our curation of all your project elements from plants to materials to the partners we work with. We work with you throughout this process to ensure we build a clear budget, timeline, and take care of all the logistics needed to ensure a wonderful lifecycle of your project and fantastic end result. 

How long from start to finish does the design and installation process take?

On average the whole design process from start to finish usually takes 2 – 3 months. For some smaller projects the timeline can be much quicker, however generally from the first garden consult meeting to the final day walking through your new garden together, budgeting a month for the design process and a month for installation process is a good starting point.  

P{ease note, we often book a season or two ahead for all our design and installation projects. 

What sort of considerations inform your design processes?    

We feel a well-designed garden should marry beauty, function, and sustainability. Our designs seamlessly incorporating the natural world into your every day to build greater connection and meaning. We look to install gardens that not only look stunning visually but are also functional and contribute to social and environmental well-being! Our designs work with the inherent conditions of your landscape and your lifestyle to inform a design where every detail and element in the design works for you and functions with your landscape. Our designs tend to blend modern design principles with classic tried and true plantings with a focus on building textures and seasonal interest. Our design work is intentional and detail oriented; we feel every attribute or plantings in a design should serves multiple functions and culminate to building a vibrant landscape that continues to evolve and flourish over time!

What types of gardens do you specialize in?

Drought tolerant gardens, deer resistant and low maintenance designs, pollinator gardens, edible gardens, rain gardens, medicinal meadows, modern sustainable design. 

Why do your designs focus on drought tolerant plantings?

If you were to ask us what the greatest challenge we face in Victoria as gardeners is, it would be drought. It is evident not only to us in working with the land but clear in scientific studies. As the drought season in Victoria is getting worse, ensuring our gardens can not only compete with climate change but be as asset toward environmental resiliency is deeply important to us. When we design or install a new garden, we want it to be beautiful but also last through time, function well in the face of environmental challenges and offer something back to the greater ecosystem it is a part of. Planting drought tolerant plant is one of many actions we can take toward this overall goal. As an added bonus, it can also reduce costs to maintain a garden by reducing your water bill and reduce impacts on our local watershed. 

Why re-design your garden?

There are many reasons to re-design your garden: to better utilize your space, to reduce garden maintenance, to support pollinators and climate resiliency, to offer greater beauty and aesthetic all year round, to contribute to local food supply security, to transition your landscape to a more sustainable ecosystem, to engage with nature and your outdoor space in a new way, to add curb appeal and increase your property value. Everyone’s reasons are different, and sometimes there are many reasons; or many years building toward deciding a redesign is right for you. 

How long does it take for a new garden to establish itself?

There’s a fun little saying that goes: “in year one they sleep, in year two they creep and in year they leap.” It’s natural to see some growth from your plants in the first year of planting, but really all the significant growth won’t happen until the roots of the plants are fully established. Year three of a new garden is the “wow” moment where everything really takes off. It’s worth the wait – we promise! 

Deer are eating my garden, can you help me?

Deer seem to be in every neighbourhood these days, and can be quite the hungry nibblers and pests in the garden. There are lots of different strategies that can be used to reduce the deer’s’ impact on your garden from choosing deer resistant plantings to using deterrents like scents and fences.  We are happy to provide advice and do our best keep up to date on what the deer are nibbling in what neighbourhood.  

I want to remove my lawn in favour of something more sustainable, is this something you do?

Heck yes! We love removing lawns and providing more ecologically robust alternatives. There are lots of great lawn alternatives these days from clover to thyme that function similarly but are less needy. Other options are converting your lawn into a meadow or pollinator bed or food forest – the opportunities are endless when you are ready re-envisioned use of space entirely. 

Tell me more about your upcoming educational services?

We have found education to be an unsuspecting and wonderful attribute to our work as gardeners. There is lots of knowledge we have to share with clients and endless learning we receive in working with wonderful people, plants and our environment. We are aiming to have more designated services to offer specific education around food production, medicinal plants, learning more about specific plants and garden skills. These are still in the works so stay tuned to our social media for upcoming classes and offerings. And, in the meantime, join our newsletter for interesting free plant and gardening related offerings!