Evangelista Floral and Landscape Studio

At first, dealing with Wanda was pleasant. She came to the house to listen to what we were looking to do and had an associate measure the space where the work was to take place. She was familiar with the landscape as she had been working on a neighbor's yard recently. I believe the first words that came out of my mouth were "no flowers". We wanted something simple and low maintenance because we were budget-conscious. Part of the formal agreement was to pay $300 upfront to begin the design process. Once the final design was provided, the remaining $275 was due. Mind you, you won't know how much the work will cost until the final design is completed. Essentially, you have to pay $575 for a quote. What I received was an over-the-top design and a quote of $20,000. What was the first feature of design? Flowers...Several of them. Part of her quote included $2600 in bushes for the back yard; there was only room for 5-6 bushes! I asked Wanda to scale back the design starting with finding an alternative to these money-sucking bushes. I wanted a new "final" design as the one provided was never practical or affordable. She went almost two weeks without responding to my inquiry while my account was accruing interest for the unpaid 2nd installment. Her emails going forward were solely regarding payment. When I confronted her with the reason why I was reluctant to make the payment, it was as if she was insulted that I did not like her design and began threatening to put a lien on my house....for $275. Most importantly, her contract stated any changes made to the final design are subject to $75/hr of labor. So, you give me a "final" design, which is the opposite of what I asked for in our first encounter, and expect me to pay you $75/hr to create a design that I can use and I do like? It seems like Wanda doesn't know how to run a business. I'd like to know how many potential clients run away once they see this contract. Unfortunately, I made a huge mistake and will be sending a note to my association regarding my experience with this company as a warning to others.

Wanda is very unpleasant and rude. She does not represent her company well. I highly recommend taking your business elsewhere.

A wonderful company run by creative and helpful people! I've known Wanda for several years since meeting her through a networking event, and had her do my wedding flower arrangements. She managed to overcome the difficulty of a wedding on Mother's Day weekend (I know I'm crazy), and still came in under cost estimate. The wedding was perfect and she and her crew are to thank- they handled everything day of and when rain threatened, they were able to improvise on the spot and go with rapidly changing ceremony plans . Would highly recommend to anyone looking for a personal touch to their wedding flowers, she is very receptive of ideas and thinks outside of the box!

I have worked with Wanda for two seasons. She's been wonderful and willing to help. We've discussed multiple issues with my landscaping and she's come up with ideas and solutions for all the issues.

She and her crew did a full yard cleanup last spring for me. It looked fabulous. One issue she addressed was that I had an expensive tree planted in the backyard by another landscaper and it wasn't doing well. Wanda and her crew ended up needing to dig up the tree and replanting it. It had been buried with the metal cage still on the root ball. The tree is doing so much better. She took the time to find the problem and fix it. She could have suggested a new tree.

I still have a child in college and Wanda understands my limited budget. She has been upfront with pricing and has been on or under budget for my jobs.

She is scheduled to work for me this season. I am thrilled to have found her.

This is a truly wonderful company: I thoroughly recommend them. They have planted over 3,000 spring-flowering bulbs during the past two autumns, and my house is now surrounded by the most fascinating and colorful display of blooms from mid spring through early summer. They have been equally adept at augmenting and improving my summer/fall perennial borders so that they look splendid throughout the year- yes, there is now lots of winter interest too! They have created a new north-facing shrub border as well as a long back border of shrubs and perennials which will send drifts of color spring through fall. Wanda Evangelista, a graduate of all four professional ornamental plant material, technique and design courses at the Chicago Botanic Garden, has a keen & sensitive eye for design possibilities. But her goal seems to be always to work with your existing landscape in order to enhance it to your taste, not hers. Her team has been unfailingly enthusiastic about each phase of my garden design and are friendly, cheerful, very hardworking, and happy to share their extensive plant knowledge with me. They are also very skilled in pruning shrubs and small trees. They arrive promptly at the time promised and clean up thoroughly after each visit. You could not do better than to hire them.