What to Ask a Landscaping Company Before Work Begins on Your Garden

Most people type "landscapers near me", look at a handful of photographs, and then call the firm whose pictures they liked. Photographs are easy. What decides whether a garden still looks composed in its third August is the conversation that happens before anyone lifts a spade.

So here is the list we would hand to a friend buying a house in Cyprus. Use it on us, and use it on anyone else you speak to.

1. Which part of Cyprus do you actually work in, and what changes there?

"Cyprus-wide" should come with detail, because the island is not one growing environment. Green Planet Gardening is based in Paphos and works across the island, including Limassol, Larnaca, Nicosia and the surrounding areas, with its own maintenance service running in Limassol and Larnaca (source: greenplanetgardening.eu homepage, FAQ "Do you serve all areas of Cyprus?").

The same FAQ is specific about why that matters. Larnaca is described as the driest of the regions served, with around 330 mm of rainfall a year, irrigation restrictions in 2026, and slightly saline groundwater on plots near the salt lake. Limassol brings a different set of problems: humidity, roof terraces, and the red palm weevil (same source).

If a contractor cannot tell you how your postcode differs from the one twenty kilometres away, they are quoting on a generic garden, not on yours.

2. Who is responsible for what, and who answers when something goes wrong?

Ask who plans, who builds, who maintains, and who you ring. Green Planet Gardening is a family business founded by the Knodaritis brothers, three brothers with, in the company's own words, "10+ Years of Excellence" and "5★ Client Reviews" (source: greenplanetgardening.eu homepage, Our Story and the statistics bar under the hero). A small team is an advantage only if the responsibilities inside it are clear, so ask for that clarity in writing.

Ask also about workload. A boutique approach means a deliberately limited number of simultaneous projects, which is worth confirming out loud: how many sites will be live while mine is?

3. How long will it take, and what counts as finished?

Timings should be given as ranges, not promises. On the Green Planet Gardening homepage FAQ "How long does a typical landscaping project take?", a terrace or small garden is given as usually one to two weeks, while larger villa projects involving hardscaping, irrigation and mature planting are typically three to six weeks (source: greenplanetgardening.eu homepage FAQ).

Then push further. Does "finished" include the irrigation commissioned and tested, the planting watered in through its first weeks, the soil levels corrected after settlement? Write down what completion means while everyone is still friendly about it.

4. Where does the water come from, and who holds the permit?

This is the question most people forget, and in Cyprus it is the one with legal teeth. Rainwater harvesting and boreholes are subject to permitting, and abstraction and irrigation are regulated; the Water Development Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment is the body to check with (source: https://www.moa.gov.cy/wdd). Local restrictions apply on top of that, and the Green Planet Gardening FAQ itself flags irrigation restrictions in Larnaca for 2026.

A responsible answer sounds like: here is what the current rules allow, here is who confirms it, and here is a planting plan that lives inside those limits. Any answer that offers a way around a restriction is a reason to stop the conversation.

5. Which plants are proposed, and on what reasoning?

Ask for the plant list before you see the render. Green Planet Gardening works with drought-tolerant Mediterranean species: bougainvillea, oleander, olive, lavender and jasmine (source: greenplanetgardening.eu homepage FAQ "What plants work best in the Cyprus climate?"). Those are plants chosen for how little they ask of a Cypriot summer, which is a reasoning you can test. Ask why each species is on your list, where it sits in relation to shade and wind, and what it will look like in year three rather than on handover day.

Ask which plants are deliberately absent, too. That answer tells you more about experience than the list itself.

6. If the garden is near Limassol, ask about palms specifically

The red palm weevil is named on the Green Planet Gardening homepage FAQ as one of the Limassol-specific concerns, and it is a pest regulated at EU level, listed as Rhynchophorus ferrugineus in the EPPO Global Database and covered by the Union quarantine pest framework of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072 (sources: https://gd.eppo.int/taxon/RHYNFE and https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg_impl/2019/2072/oj).

What this means for you as an owner is procedural, not botanical. Suspected infestations and treatment are matters for the current Cypriot rules, including any duty to report and any restriction on who may apply which product; the Department of Agriculture is the authority to confirm with (source: https://www.moa.gov.cy/da). Ask your contractor whether they check the current regulation before recommending anything, and treat a confident on-the-spot treatment recipe as a warning sign rather than expertise. Plant protection products in the EU may only be recommended where they are authorised, and some may only be applied by certified operators.

7. What does aftercare look like, and who does it?

A planting plan is a promise about future labour. Professional maintenance is one of the three service blocks listed on the Green Planet Gardening homepage, alongside luxury garden design and tailored consulting for architects (source: greenplanetgardening.eu homepage, "What We Do" section). Ask how often someone visits, in which months the work changes, what happens during a heat event, and who notices a failing dripper before you do.

If you are an architect, a developer or running a hospitality property, the site keeps separate pages for those relationships, so ask for the version of the process that matches your role (source: https://greenplanetgardening.eu/sitemap.xml, which lists /for-architects/, /for-hospitality/ and /for-developers/).

8. If AI tools are part of the pitch, ask what they are and what they are not

Green Planet Gardening uses its own tools. Plant AI 2.0 gives instant identification from a photograph with name, family and a match figure, and care guidance written for the Cypriot climate; the example shown on the site is a bougainvillea at a 94 % match (source: greenplanetgardening.eu homepage, "AI Technology" section). The AI assistant Gaia can discuss plants, produce design mock-ups from your photographs and help with booking.

Useful questions: is this output an indication or a decision? A machine reading of a leaf is a non-binding assessment, not a diagnosis, and a mock-up is a generated image, not a photograph of a garden the team has built. Ask that these two categories stay visibly separate in whatever you are shown, and ask what happens to the photographs you upload.

9. The quiet administrative questions

They sound dull and they prevent most disputes. Who is on site each day. How access and gate keys are handled. Where materials are stored. What happens to spoil and green waste. Whether photographs of your garden may be published, and whether your consent is being asked for separately; under the GDPR, recognisable private property should not appear in marketing without it.

And on figures: expect a quotation after a consultation, not a number over the phone. Green Planet Gardening offers a free consultation with no obligation and states a response within 24 hours, with the phone number +357 99 245 332 given on the homepage hero (source: greenplanetgardening.eu homepage, hero section). Every project is calculated on its own, which is the honest way round when hardscaping, irrigation and mature planting are involved.

Searching for a landscaper in Cyprus

"Landscapers near me" is a thin search term for a thick decision. The firms worth your time will answer the nine questions above without flinching, will tell you which regulations they check rather than which rules they can bend, and will give you ranges where ranges are the truth.

If you want to run this list past us, including the awkward parts, the consultation costs nothing and commits you to nothing. Bring photographs, bring your plot boundary, and bring the questions you think we would rather not hear.