Actual Art Landscape Design

Actual Art’s proprietor, Carol, stresses the artistic nature of her landscape designs. I can’t know her thoughts, but my impression is that Carol “sees” completed gardens while viewing a blank slate of dirt and weeds, perhaps as a sculptor sees his creation before he picks up the chisel. Harmony, proportion, cohesiveness, I get the relevance of all that in a somewhat abstract way, from a firmly rational perspective.

But this art comes with something that speaks to my left-brained personality — a healthy dose of engineering.A garden is a living thing. Plants grow, seasons change. Carol’s meticulously detailed sets of design plans are serious architectural blueprints. That “retaining wall” is going to move with the dirt if it isn’t anchored to a legitimate foundation. That brick path or flagstone patio is going to turn to ruins in a short time if it isn’t laid on a proper bed. Those 250 plants aren’t going to thrive if they’ve been chosen and installed without regard to soil conditions, sunlight, irrigation details, and evolving proximity to neighboring plants and structures as they grow. A comprehensive new landscape, even for a modest residential property, is a serious and surprisingly complex undertaking. If you think starting with an unimpeachably solid design plan is time and money well-spent, then I think you’d be hard pressed to do better than to work with Actual Art. More...

Reviewed on Google Maps

We’ve been working with Actual Art Landscape Design for a few weeks now, and we have to say, we are glad we are. Carol is an artist. We are an artist/designer couple, now living in our new modular prefabricated sustainable home (by the wonderful folks at Method Homes) in the Westside of Santa Barbara. We appreciate her knowledgeable thoughtful, considered advice, and we also appreciate her flexibility when we have requests or differences in design. Her fun quirky ways are still so professional. She’s the real thing, hands-on with a healthy dose of art. Actual art! She can handle our creative bandwidth! I’m a versatile and capable designer, and I have a clear vision of what we want, and that vision is shared by my artistic and perceptive wife. My expertise does NOT extend to landscaping, so I tend to see it as set design, and experience design. This jibes well with Carol’s methods. We collaborate well, and her encyclopedic knowledge of plants and habitats has been truly delightful. Shes has had many great ideas! She’s keeping us from making the mistakes we see so commonly here, where people plant things willy-nilly, ill-suited to the environs, and the ragged chaos that results is unappealing. She’s the opposite, seeing the future and knowing how to orchestrate the plants and settings for the effect we desire. We are installing areas of California natives, a Succulent garden, an area for Tuscan Dining al fresco, a Japanese garden with grey water and rain catchment in a microclimate... these challenging settings are what we are executing now. Another HUGE PLUs has been the excellent people she has brought in for stone work, earth work and other trades. GREAT people! We look forward to a long and “fruitful” collaboration with Actual Art Landscape Design, and Carol too. I found her searching local landscape designers websites. Her work, and her art, resonated with us. WYSIWYG, and it’s good!Leslie and Diane, building a house for the future... More...

Reviewed on Google Maps

As a Landscape Contractor I greatly appreciate working with Carol Ondrey. She is a true artist and goes to all ends to achieve her vision of beauty. From working with myself, my men or our clients, Carol always creates inspiring and sustainable outdoor spaces. More...

Reviewed on Google Maps