John Nelson Landscape Services

About John Nelson Landscape Services

Marin Avenue climbs out of the flats at a grade that makes visitors laugh, and the houses on the streets above it hold their gardens on ledges and switchbacks. John Nelson Landscape Services takes on that kind of ground — narrow gates, stairs where a path ought to be, a lawn on the level with beds falling away below it. Late afternoon the sun bounces back off the Bay and everything up there turns warm-colored for an hour, which is a fine time to be finishing a cut. Slope work is all footing and patience: shorter passes, more hand trimming, care about what rolls downhill. The lawns come out even and the edges honest, and the whole terrace reads level even though nothing up there really is.