The best landscapers in Canberra

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Elliot Rehwinkle from Botanica Landscapes

Elliot Rehwinkel from Botanica Landscapes, one of Canberra’s most recommended landscapers. Photo: Supplied.

As boundaries between inside and outside living continue to blur, many Canberrans are seeking ways to improve the use of their outdoor space.

Benefits of well-conceived green spaces are documented the world over. They provide engaging social settings; improve air quality and decrease noise; offer privacy and a welcomed natural surround for relaxation.

With landscaped gardens increasing property value and curb appeal; it is no surprise that residents from Forrest to Fadden are finessing their green thumbs. There are however some drawbacks with the do-it-yourself approach.

Landscaping is serious business; seemingly minor tweaks can require licensed construction under the watchful eye of trades. Canberra also has a distinct climate with vast seasonal variances which makes plant selection challenging.

This is where experienced landscapers can help. Great landscapers take your brief and cues from your surrounds to conceptualise, design, and construct your space. They are also expert horticulturalists, with an innate knowledge of plant species, ensuring that you reap the seeds of what you sow.

With the market awash with gardeners come landscapers; finding an experienced and qualified professional with all the right credentials can be challenging. To help you navigate we’ve provided some points to keep in mind along with our recommendations for the best landscapers in the Canberra region.

What makes a great landscaper?

The best Canberra landscapers create breathtaking surrounds with strong structural form that speaks to soul of its inhabitants. Great landscaping not only expands liveable space, it also adds significant value to any property.

Here are some things to keep in mind when selecting a landscaper:

  • Green philosophy. In many ways landscape design is an art form, with artists a plenty and equally as many styles. Understand your own style, and seek a landscaper who specialises in this area. Is your landscaper a classicist embracing formal tradition; are they innovators creating sculptural delights; or do they prefer natural organic flows? A shared philosophy and clear expectations will ensure your vision is aptly translated into a living reality.
  • Qualified, licensed, and insured. The best landscapers have completed formal training in horticulture and all aspects of landscaping including construction and design. Whilst a landscaping licence is not currently required in Canberra, a licensed tradesperson will be required for any projects which need planning or permits; structures like patios, porches, and decks; electrical; and pools. Importantly, ensure your landscaper is professionally insured.
  • Impeccable project management. A fully landscaped space is a feat in production, dealing with live assets and subject to Canberra’s extreme climate. A great landscaper will have superior project management skills, including clear timelines, agile delivery, and will be prepared for contingencies. Request references from past clients for peace of mind that your project will be delivered on time, and on budget.
  • Quality installations. Years of experience set the best landscapers aside from the rest. Look for evidence of quality installations that have been delivered to the highest standards. Also ensure your landscaper is well versed with the variances in Canberra’s climate, and is prepared to guarantee their products and their work. Enquire about the locations of their past projects and be sure to pay them a visit.
  • Contracts & maintenance. Good landscapers provide clear contracts details all terms. Ensure you agree upon inclusions, responsibilities, prices, payment terms, and guarantees. Caring for a newly planted landscape in Canberra’s early summer can make even the most confident gardeners uneasy. Agreeing on a maintenance plan beforehand will ensure your garden will be nurtured once laid. Also check on liability for any plants that do not survive as replacement can be a costly exercise.

Important essentials to check before engaging a landscaper

To ensure a quality installation that will stand the test of time a couple of minutes spent checking the following will help to give you peace of mind; and ensure you avoid a mediocre landscaper:

  1. Confirm that the landscaper runs a registered business through the Australian Business Registration website.
  2. If you or your landscaper are contracting individual trades for planning or permits; non-habitable structures like patios, porches, and decks; electrical; and any pools or water features; ensure they are appropriately licensed.
  3. Verify that the landscaper, and any additional trades are professionally insured with public liability insurance.
  4. Be clear on contracted inclusions, terms, and conditions.

The best landscapers in Canberra

Riotact’s editorial team has combed through 20 years of on-site comments to compile a list of the most recommended businesses according to you.

To be listed in our Best of Canberra series, each business needs to have consistently received positive feedback on Riotact and Facebook as well as maintain a minimum of 4/5 stars on Google.

Landculture

Design. Build. Grow. This is what Landculture—a passionate full design and construction company—is all about.

Landculture offers custom landscape design and construction solutions. Specialising in residential and commercial landscape, Landculture takes great pride in its showstopper projects.

Landculture’s fully and passionate trained and experienced team has been creating bespoke landscaping dreams for clients for over 10 years. The team is highly skilled in landscaping and horticulture across all styles and sizes of projects. Landculture makes gardens and land more attractive by altering existing design, adding ornamental features and planting trees and shrubs.

The team works on small-scale projects for homeowners to large-scale architectural projects of all shapes, forms and functions. Landscape design and construction includes all steel fabrication, retaining walls, paving, decks, irrigation and other aspects of soft works.

The build phase is as important as design, with Landculture adopting a specialised approach to every project. The maintenance team supports clients to keep up appearances.

In addition to working with private residences, Landculture works with body corporates, architects and property designers.

Landculture is a member of The Landscape Association. Managing Director, Jarrod Poole, holds a BLArch (UC) DipAppSci (HORT).

On Google, Gayle Roche wrote, “Landculture was assigned the mammoth task of landscaping my disaster of a backyard they came up trumps …”

Botanica Landscapes

Botanica Landscapes is an award-winning family business with an experienced team of innovative designers and professional landscapers focused on delivering high-quality residential design and construction projects.

The company offers a complete start-to-finish landscape service, from initial consultation through to design and final construction. This ensures a smooth transition at every step.

Owned by the Rehwinkel family, Botanica Landscapes has a long and respected reputation on the horticultural scene in Canberra and region. Managing Director and landscaper Elliot Rehwinkel and his team use their deep local horticultural knowledge, combined with innovative design skills and expertise in construction, to bring landscaping visions to fruition.

Botanica Landscapes excels at tailoring landscape solutions which combine creativity with quality materials and workmanship.

With more than 40 years of industry experience, Botanica Landscapes continually exceeds client expectations. Services include paving, artificial turf, flagstone, planting and mulching, edging, garden beds, turf, irrigation, ponds and water features, retaining walls, as well as granite paths and driveways.

Satisfied client Alivio Tourist Park wrote on RiotACT, "Alivio Tourist Park Canberra, located in O’Connor has recently engaged Elliot from Botanica Landscapes to design and build a significant native feature garden at the entry of the property. The recently completed work speaks for itself and Elliot was a considerate and talented professional to work with. We are thrilled with the result and have no hesitation in recommending Botanica Landscapes for future projects. Please feel free to visit our park and see Elliot’s work for yourself."

In-Depth Landscape Construction

Transforming Canberra’s landscape, one yard at a time. That’s In-Depth Landscape Construction’s aspiration. True landscaping experts, In-Depth Landscape Construction makes outdoor spaces more comfortable, increases curb appeal and boosts property values.

A locally owned and operated family business, In-Depth Landscape Construction services homes and business across the ACT and surrounding region. Its wide range of services include high-end landscaping, paving, fencing, decks, pool scaping and irrigation, all designed to create a unique outdoor oasis and maximise use of space.

In-depth Landscape and Construction team photo

Qualified tradespersons—all masters of their trade—deliver soft and hard landscape projects as if they were their own. In-Depth Landscape Construction is a one-stop shop for all project management, masonry, plumbing and timber work, a unique offering in the crowded landscaping space. Experts are skilled and experienced in providing ideas and advice. They work in harmony to fully manage and complete all projects with honesty and to the highest standards.

In-Depth Landscape Construction handles design concepts through to approvals, construction and completion, with great care, attention and dedication. Work is continually reviewed and analysed throughout each project to bring outdoor visions to life.

Fully insured, In-Depth Landscape Constructions is a member of both the Landscape Association and the Housing Industry Association. Free quotes are available.

Linda and Al from Monash wrote, "We would highly recommend In-Depth Landscape Construction for any landscaping requirements you may have. We had them do a makeover of our front yard and backyard which included an overgrown pool area. We are extremely happy with the results. Our job was completed on time by the very hard-working team and we couldn’t be happier with the final results."

Dust To Lawn

Dust To Lawn Landscape and Construction, family-owned and operated has 22 years of experience servicing the ACT and NSW. Specialising in landscaping, hardscaping, and structures, Dust To Lawn works with private projects, council projects, body corporates, and public schools.

Creative landscaping includes design across diverse projects and no landscaping problem is too difficult. The team at Dust To Lawn manages complex layouts, landscaping across multiple levels, areas challenging to tackle, and whole-yard solutions. Talented landscapers create striking, beautiful results while providing outstanding customer service. They also manage hardscaping projects – patios, decks, retaining walls, and more. Solutions are always amazing.

Dust To Lawn provides detailed quotes and detailed implementation, working with dedication until each job is completed to the highest standards. Safety standards are strictly followed.

As Debby Lang wrote, “Adam and the team did a wonderful job both on our front and back areas. Competitive pricing too. We recommend Dust to Lawn to anyone.”

Panacea Landscapes

With total passion, Panacea Landscapes provides complete garden maintenance and soft landscaping services for private, commercial, strata and real estate projects.

With friendly, personalised service and attention to detail, Panacea Landscapes offers full landscape maintenance services for every type of garden, one-off or ongoing. It also provides small-scale landscape design and construction services, as well as planting advice. No job is too small or too hard.

Panacea Landscapes is run by a qualified Horticulturist and Landscape Designer with over 15 years' experience in the industry. Quality is assured by forming close client relationships, to determine needs, and following best-practice guidelines.

Free consultation and quotes available.

Clive Rodger wrote on Google, “Shannon has been our gardener for the last five years. Initially this was at in our award-winning, two-acre garden in Red Hill and more recently at our new house in Ainslie. She is fantastic: hard working; totally reliable; knowledgeable …”

Gardengigs

Gardengigs creates bespoke landscapes to suit all lifestyles and budgets, in the ACT and surrounds. Qualified designers, horticulturists and tradesman design and construct beautiful spaces to be enjoyed. Well designed and finished to the highest standards, qualified professionals work on domestic and commercial projects. Owner Greg Clues has nearly 20 years of experience in the landscaping industry.

Each project, no matter how large or small, begins with a landscape consultation. Services extend to design, excavation, paving, decks pergolas, retaining walls, general soft and hard landscaping, horticultural services, privacy screening, irrigation, lighting, and water features.

Gardengigs is professional, responsive and guarantees attention to detail with all projects, whether transforming spaces into a private sanctuary, entertainer’s dream or a practical, functional and productive garden.

On Google, Marcia Capon wrote, “Our backyard is absolutely beautiful and has changed the whole house. We now live outside … worth every penny.

ACT Landscape Construction

Award-winning ACT Landscape Construction specialises in stunning, functional and sustainable outdoor spaces. Residential landscaping and trade professionals provide detailed services such as garden design and plant selection, landscaping, retaining walls, paving, turf laying, irrigation systems, fencing, decks, pergolas, patios and poolscapes. Only premium landscaping products are used from reputable suppliers. Communication is open throughout each project, for a quality experience.

On Google, Nick Peyiotou wrote, “… ACT

Landscape Construction adding the finishing touches to a project in Garran. Photo: Thomas Lucraft.

Landscape Construction did a great job at my place at a reasonable price. Highly recommend!”

If your backyard just needs a tidy up, check out our article on the best gardening services in Canberra. Or, if you prefer to do it yourself, check out our article on the best landscaping supplies stores. You may also like our articles on the best bricklayers or the best concreters Canberra has to offer.

Your experience with landscapers in Canberra

Thanks to our commenters who have provided insightful feedback. If you believe we have got it wrong, please let us know.

Have you had experience with any of the landscaping companies listed above? If so, share your feedback in the comments below.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is landscape design?

Landscape design is the integration of planning and construction phases of a garden, with its overarching design and plant selection therein.

What should a landscape plan include?

Landscape plans should include any required structural aspects such as retaining walls, pavers, irrigation, and lighting; along with natural elements like flowers, trees, and grasses; and any introduced elements such as benches, fountains or sheds.

What are the basic principles of landscape design?

A visually aesthetic landscape can be created by following six core principles of landscape design: balance, focalisation, simplicity, line, proportion, and unity.

How much does landscaping cost in Canberra?

Landscaping costs vary significantly based on the scale, complexity, and ease of access for the works. Minor work on existing landscapes can cost from $20/hr up to $350+/hr for those which are more complex.

How much should I budget for landscaping?

A general rule of thumb when budgeting for complete landscaping services is to set aside between 5% to 10% of your property’s value.

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Daniel Coates10:42 am 10 Dec 23

John over at Heaven on Earth Landscaping is the best quality for price you can get in a landscaper. It’s the special attention and bespoke designs that you can only get from a one-man army who takes the job from concepts and designs to your own slice of heaven. Check him out! https://www.canberralandscaper.com

Joel Black Horticulture & Garden Design provided us with a full written brief of our landscaping plans, working with our vision & building upon it. He gave us a 3D model of our front and backyard plans after doing another consultation. He visited our yard twice during this process and reflected our ideas well, while also using his knowledge of horticulture and permaculture to create a great design.

If you’re looking for garden design ideas that don’t require large scale hard-landscaping, Joel Black Horticulture and Garden Design is fantastic for designs and advice for soft-landscaping. Working with what you already have. He’s great to talk through options with and gave me a very well considered and clear plan for our yard.

KIMBERLY INGRAM8:30 pm 14 Mar 23

TPL Landscaping is definitely worth the wait. Because of Covid we waited over a year and we are so happy we did. Every aspect of landscaping-the execution, the knowledge, the work ethic, the design, and even down to cleaning up went beyond my expectations. And I have very high expectations! A really enjoyable part of the project was everyone at TPL is really, really nice and incredibly easy to work with. It has been the easiest reno in close to 45 years of renovations.

KIMBERLY INGRAM8:29 pm 14 Mar 23

TPL Landscaping is definitely worth the wait. I researched landscapers and determined that TPL were the landscaper that we wanted to work with. Because of Covid we waited over a year and we are so happy we did. Every aspect of landscaping-the execution, the knowledge, the work ethic, the design, and even down to cleaning up went beyond my expectations. And I have very high expectations! A really enjoyable part of the project was everyone at TPL is really, really nice and incredibly easy to work with. It has been the easiest reno in close to 45 years of renovations.

Shannon from Panacea is amazing. A lovely person, that works bloody hard to achieve great results. Highly recommended.

Street Appeal do a fantastic job. Professional, value for money and excellent workmanship.

stevefestive7:25 pm 01 Jul 22

Ive got only 2 words for “STREET APPEAL LANDSCAPING” :
Honest, Reliable, Prompt & Quality.

New Leaf Landscaping were excellent. Matt and his team are friendly, thorough and were really understanding of our budget. They gave us an incredible backyard at a great price. We hired Dinah from Canberra Gardens for our stunning design.

Michael Richards10:19 pm 18 May 22

Would strongly recommend Local Landscaping ACT Canberra Co, they do a great job.

https://www.landscapingactcanberra.com

https://www.facebook.com/Local-Landscaping-ACT-Canberra-Co-107334621958189

Viik Sangørs11:09 pm 29 Oct 20

Botanica Landscapes
First time making an effort to do an online review but only because these guys really deserve the recognition!
I’m very glad to have chosen Elliot and his team to work on my home. From my first call to inquire and throughout the job, Elliot and his team were very professional, clean and demonstrated their strong experience in customer service and the landscaping industry.
They communicated genuine interest and care to deliver high quality work. Clean finish and very happy with their attention to detail.
If only all trades operate this professionally.
Great work! 5/5.

heavenonearth10:19 pm 08 Jul 20

Heaven on Earth is a local landscaping business. We’ve been helping Canberrans to create beautiful gardens and landscapes for over 20 years.

There are a bunch of comments here about landscaping being expensive in Canberra – so if anyone is looking for a more affordable price, give us a call! We love coming up with creative ideas to helps clients achieve a great result – even when on a tight budget.

You can check out our work here: http://www.canberralandscaper.com and here: http://www.facebook.com/heavenonearthcanberra

aliviotouristparkcanberra12:23 pm 23 Jun 20

Alivio Tourist Park Canberra, located in O’Connor has recently engaged Elliot from Botanica Landscapes to design and build a significant native feature garden at the entry of the property. The recently completed work speaks for itself and Elliot was a considerate and talented professional to work with. We are thrilled with the result and have no hesitation in recommending Botanica Landscapes for future projects. Please feel free to visit our park and see Elliot’s work for yourself.

burgesslandscapingcanberra12:41 pm 14 Nov 19

Burgess Landscaping has over three decades of experience in providing incredible landscaping and gardening services to give you the perfect design and the look for your project. All our staff at Burgess Landscaping are trained to be reliable and experienced landscapers who have been working in this industry for over 10 years.

I would highly recommend Burgess Landscaping. They are local and a family business.

https://burgesslandscaping.com.au

I recommend Marco at Territory Landscapes. 0416525929

FB said :

We used Evan @ Lifestyle Landscaping. Reasonable Price, Great Work and was prompt & reliable. We will be getting him back for more work soon.

https://www.facebook.com/lifestylelandscapingcanberra

I had a quick look their ABN and Licence details and couldnt find anything.
Are they registered, licensed, insured and qualified?

We used Evan @ Lifestyle Landscaping. Reasonable Price, Great Work and was prompt & reliable. We will be getting him back for more work soon.

https://www.facebook.com/lifestylelandscapingcanberra

VYBerlinaV8_is_back said :

Landscaping is crazy expensive in Canberra. Have a few days off work, put on a bbq and beers and get all your friends around for a backyard blitz. It will cost literally 1/10th the price and be a better job?

Its not just Landscaping thats crazy expensive in Canberra, in fact everything has the Canberra prremium built into its cost. Mind you it does take a bit of cash to keep a business flowing smoothly.

Furthermore i was facinated by the last series of House Rules, if you listened carefully you could pick up onthe tradesman rates – I was surprised when i heard the chippy break down that bathroom in the Tassie place. $150 bucks an hour plug GST for the apprentice. MMMM made me think, thats up there near canberra prices so maybe its just the way it is in Australia nowadays.

VYBerlinaV8_is_back11:44 am 10 Jul 15

Landscaping is crazy expensive in Canberra. Have a few days off work, put on a bbq and beers and get all your friends around for a backyard blitz. It will cost literally 1/10th the price and be a better job?

Just be careful. For some reason there are tonnes of people running around Canberra pretending to be Landscapers, when in fact they are not.

I am thinking they started out mowing lawns and then stared doing landscaping jobs without realising they needed TAFE training and certification as well as Licensing.

Pick someone who is Registered, Licenced, Holds a relevant Trade Qualification (Statement of Attainment or Competancy from a Registered Training Organisation), who has an ABN, and hold personal and professional liability insurance.

There is alot of money in landscaping so make sure you get a quality job.

Heres a link to those licensed in Canberra.
http://www.licensedtrades.com.au/licensed/landscaper/canberra

Street Appeal Landscaping, give Rob a call. He recently did my backyard and extremely happy with the results !

http://streetappeallandscaping . com . au

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