Our Mission

We design each garden to be an expression of the homeowner’s lifestyle, the home’s architecture, as well as complements its interior design. Our goal is to make all of these important elements flow together seamlessly . . . with our unique Zeterre contemporary twist.

We have long been recognized as one of the leading firms in the Bay Area region, working with clients that have (and deserve to have) very high expectations. It is our goal to think out-of-the-box for our clients because we know so many of them are in the forefront of the Silicon Valley leading industries, who obviously are expected to think out-of-the-box.

What you can expect from Zeterre

A collaborative approach, award-winning creativity & aesthetic, as well as technical expertise and experience.

No matter the size of your project, Zeterre will listen to you -  every step of the way - to ensure that the end product (your gardens) exceeds your expectations, is completed on time & on budget, as well as adds value to your home.

 
 
 

The Zeterre Landscape Architecture Team


 
 

CEO and Founding Landscape Architect

PRINCIPAL OF DESIGN

Jarrod Ryan Baumann

Licensed Landscape Architect
(California License #5613)
(Massachusetts License #4326)

Jarrod draws upon his 20 years of experience developing projects ranging from jewel box cottage gardens to expansive estates, massive civic parks and boutique luxury resorts. His work has gained national and international acclaim with projects completed throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. His work has been published in countless magazines and books. While formally educated in Landscape Architecture at Cal Polytechnic University, Jarrod has continued his education over the past 15 years through consistent yearly travels back to study masterful gardens and art in Europe and Asia.

His greatest inspiration comes from the gardens he frequents around Lakes Maggiore and Como, as well as Lotusland Garden and Estate in Montecito. This passion for design started at a young age, growing up in the foothills below Yosemite - riding horses and studying California native plants in their natural habitat. His teen years were spent working with his Grandfather in the family development and real estate companies. He is also an accomplished and published artist, furniture designer, equestrian, and jewelery designer.

 

Landscape Designer/
Design Principal

STEPHEN

Stephen Suzman has been practicing landscape design for over 22 years and has created some of the greatest gardens and estates of our time. With projects throughout the United States Mr. Suzman’s project experience also spans internationally to include Mexico, England, France,South Africa and the Middle East. Previously residing in France, Italy, England and South Africa, working with our experienced design team, Mr. Suzman excels in locating and obtaining such specialty items as antique statuary, newly commissioned sculpture, ornamental metalwork, custom tiles and paving, fountains, unique site furnishings, heirloom roses, exotic plant materials and hard-to-find specimen trees. Mr. Suzman’s designs have received numerous awards and publications from such prestigious organizations as the American Society of Landscape Architects, Architectural Digest, Sunset Publications, Northern California Home & Design, Elle Décor, Garden Design and Restoration Magazine.

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Landscape Designer
Project Manager

WILL

Will Saltenberger has over eight years experience working on projects all over the Bay Area, Northern California, and Hawaii. He earned his bachelor of landscape architecture from Cal Poly SLO in 2006 and has since worked on and managed a large list of projects of varying sizes and scope focusing on high-end residential with some public and private works mixed in. Project work includes award winning LEED rated projects, for which will is accredited, and he strives to incorporate responsible practices into his work when there is opportunity. Will has an extensive knowledge of the technical aspects of a design that is needed to see a project realized from conceptual design through to the completion of construction.

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Landscape Designer
Project Manager

TONI

Toni Kramer has professional degrees in both architecture and landscape architecture from the University of Oregon, an undergraduate background in art and over 25 years of experience in the design field. Her work has encompassed a variety of project types and scales from residential landscape design to urban design, master planning and architectural projects. Most recently her work has focused on high end residential projects in the Bay Area. These projects have ranged from smaller urban gardens to large estates on the Peninsula and in Napa Valley. Toni has traveled widely in Europe and Southeast Asia and enjoys the opportunity to integrate these experiences with her design work. Toni enjoys the collaborative design process of working with clients, the design team and contractors, from the initial design phase through construction to bring a project to fruition in the final built form.

Landscape Designer/
Design Principal

CHRIS

Christopher Lawrie earned his Bachelors of Arts at UC Davis’s comprehensive design program. While there, he refined his mixed media art, and blended his love of the creative and graphic design with a marketing and branding skillset. His love of traveling the world, art history and contemporary art has reinforced education and given him a unique and knowledgeable perspective on design styles and aesthetics. This experience allows him to push the limits of his fountain, fire feature and landscape mosaic designs, and expand on the finer details in our designs. His desire and drive to keep up with the technological advances of Silicon Valley and the greater bay area are a part of what keeps Zeterre constantly innovating in their design process, but also their architectural execution.

 
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Landscape Architect
Project Manager

JEAN

Jean Schaffeld received her Master of Landscape Architecture from Utah State University, and has worked as a California Licensed Landscape Architect for numerous recognized landscape architectural offices in the San Francisco Bay Area for over thirty years. She has provided a comprehensive range of professional services for both public and private sector clients, through all phases of planning, design and construction. Her work has ranged in scale from small private gardens to estate residential properties, and has included public open space planning and design, community revitalization, and moderate scale institutional, housing and commercial planning and design projects.

Landscape Designer
Project Manager

NELA

Marianela Rullán was born in Tabasco, Mexico. She earned her Bachelor of Architecture in Mexico City. Then moved to San Francisco in 2018, where she obtained a master’s degree in Landscape Architecture at the Academy of Art University. She has also done courses in Canada, Spain, Germany, and Haiti. She loves getting involved in different cultures and working in broader scenarios where she could open her mind to new design ideas and practices. She’s gained experience working in architecture and Landscape architecture offices, as well as in community-based non-profit offices. She loves getting around the city, water coloring and, above all, travelling the world. Nela enjoys working collaboratively with the Zeterre team, as well as with the clients, to achieve the greater results for the projects. She loves going to site and nursery visits, where she expands her knowledge in Bay Area surroundings and plants.

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Landscape
Designer

ALEX

Alex Nowak was born and raised in San Francisco. Growing up, Alex was constantly around design, art, and Landscape Architecture itself; so from a young age, Alex knew he wanted to have a career in design. After spending time at the University of Oregon and then transferring to San Francisco’s own Academy of Art University, in the Fall of 2018, Alex graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Landscape Architecture. While at the Academy he was exposed to a plethora of scales of work and types of design. Alex has always loved the design and innovation that can come out of the Bay Area, and really gets excited about new and groundbreaking ways of expressing design and art. He can not wait to really dive into the ways of the professional world of design.

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Executive Assistant
Operations

OPHELIA

Ophelia Mationg moved to Guam from the Philippines at a very early age. She holds a B.A. in Accounting from the University of Guam. Right after graduation, she moved to California to join her parents and siblings. Ophelia works closely with Jarrod to ensure deadlines are met. She has vast experience in all facts of Accounting, including billing, financial forecasting, budgeting, payroll and tax preparation. Ophelia resides in Daly City with her husband Alex.

 
 
 

Testimonials

There are so many striking and exceptional details…I have rarely seen such stunning landscaping.
— Margaret Leighton, Head of Pebble Beach Co. Architectural Review
When we chose a design firm we had a “feeling” in mind for our home created from the best of our experiences from all over the world. We chose Zeterre because they listened and then worked with us to uniquely bring our ideas together in a new world 3D design. The real magic however is in the old world quality, elegance and beauty. From their personal selection of mature hedges, handpicked trees and an articulate eye for layers, color and texture, to the integration of art, light and space, we are very happy and will enjoy for generations the gardens that Zeterre created.
— Michael J. Cyrus, Atherton
Jarrod is an artist, a creator, and a true gentleman whom my family and I had the pleasure and the privilege to work with. He was able to translate our ideas and dreams of a garden and turn them into a beautiful reality. Along with his talented team, our garden was transformed into a work of art with intricate details and lovely surprises around every corner. We open our windows, doors, and gates everyday to enjoy his exceptional vision, and exquisite interpretation of art into landscape.
— Noha Al-Kadhi, Palo Alto
The garden is just beautiful. You have created such a happy place. Its easy to brag about Zeterre! Thank you.
— Penny Reyes, Saratoga
When interviewing landscape architects for our garden remodel, I was looking for someone who could understand and interpret our vision of creating a contemporary outdoor space which would work with the architecture of our traditional 1885 Queen Anne Victorian house. From our very first meeting, Jarrod “got” it, and created both a hard- and soft-scape design which exceeded our expectations; it combined the old and the new in perfect harmony. It really has the “wow” factor, but in a timeless, elegant way that both stands out from and blends in with our neighborhood of historical homes. During the whole installation process, Jarrod was often on-site to ensure that every detail was exactly how he envisioned it. We loved this attention to detail, his meticulousness, and his creativity.
— Martha & Mario Queiroz, Los Gatos
If you were trying to create a garden with a wealth of variety and constant surprises, you succeeded wonderfully!
— Shawn Mclaren, Los Altos Hills
Jarrod Baumann is a very talented landscape architect. He has superb abilities of weaving the nature into our home environment by creating beautiful and unique design concepts. He has tremendous passion for his work and is fun to work with.
— Reshma & Tushar Dave, Saratoga
Jarrod is refreshingly creative. He has both great architectural design sense and depth in plant knowledge. Jarrod is and will be known as one of the very best
— Jon Singley, Owner of Blue Spruce Landscape & Construction
2004 State President of California Landscape Contractors Association
Jarrod was a pleasure to work with. He had a lot of enthusiasm and interesting ideas. Jarrod was very responsive and happy to incorporate our ideas into the landscape design. We are delighted with our garden, something is always in bloom. Thanks.
— Susan & Mark Reinstra, Menlo Park
It is now over a year since our garden has been transformed. Your redesign of our garden has proved to be just perfect and the positioning of the pool looks like it was part of the original design of the house. The roses this summer were truly magnificient and we loved the scent from them and the blossoms of the fruit trees. Thanks for all of your patience, it was well worth it in the end.
— Sally Onetto, Atherton
We retained Jarrod Bauman to redesign the plantings in the garden of a house we recently purchased. The garden was heavily planted incorporating a lot of old material, some of which was retained and other disposed of to make the appearance more consistent. Jarrod was very capable in giving our garden a cleaner better organized feel which met our goals; plus, we were very happy with his ideas and found him easy to work with throughout the process.
— Norah & Graeme Bretall, Menlo Park
I am ecstatically pleased with my design. Jarrod Baumann is the personification of landscape design excellence! He is a creator of beauty and a man of consummate skills. His services are exceptionally superior, efficient, professional and accessible. For me, he met and far exceeded all of my requests and expectations. 100% of the time he was there for me. Thanks to Jarrod Baumann, my home and the land which it is located are more beautiful and more valuable.
Jarrod Baumann is a name to remember!
— Mary Mason, Redlands
Walked though the garden last night... well early evening and I must say it looked rather fabulous... I have never seen our garden look so prettied up as though she is going to a ball... I feel sad to leave this beauty at the moment but knowing that you will be watching over it is comforting... so enjoy our garden whist we are away and of course you may bask in the splendor of your endeavour in making it so. Thank you Jarrod.
— Mrs. Doreen Mclaren, Los Altos Hills
It was a pleasure to work with you on our landscape project at Comer Drive, Saratoga. When we started with you we were not expecting the results as we see now. We are extremely happy with our project. As you know, due to terrain contours, it was not as easy as we had thought! You gave lots of fresh ideas and you spent time giving fine details to landscape and hardscape contractors. You were punctual with your appointments and we appreciated the prompt response. And therefore we were able to finish the project as planned. Nucci and I are happy to give our best recommendation to you and Zeterre.
— Kumar & Nucci Patel, Saratoga
I’ve been in business since 1973 and have enjoyed working with many talented landscape architects over the years, but no one peaks by enthusiasm for a new project more than Jarrod. Jarrod has been a breath of fresh air for me and my clients. First and foremost he is “extremely” innovative with each and every garden design, smaller scale to larger estates. Because of his enthusiasm and energy he brings some real fun into the projects. Jarrod’s knowledge of plant material in extensive, this is reflected in each project, using plant varieties not commonly used, but which “really” separate your garden from the norm. Besides being talented and creative, he has an uncanny ability to not only relate to the clients, but he also establishes relationships with the workers on the job, and this mean a lot to me as a contractor.
— Rick Myers, President of Myers Landscaping, Inc.
I worked with Jarrod Baumann on a large residential project from November of 2004 to November 2006. The home is an estate on an acre in Los Altos Hills. Since the home is a spec house, I was very concerned that the landscaping should be very impressive. Jarrod came up with some very interesting and creative ideas for the project. The overall landscaping provided outdoor living areas, a roman style pool and spa, terraces, water features, and parking areas. He optimized the use of the parcel, while adhering to the style and character of the house. The results were very impressive. In addition, he made sure that the ideas were within my budget. He was on schedule, and met his commitments. I would highly recommend Jarrod for any landscape project.
— Saila Kariat, Los Altos Hills
Finding the right landscape architect is not an easy task. You must take into consideration the artist’s background, reputation and history for honesty and truth. Jarrod Baumann is the person we chose, after much investigation, to make all of our dreams come true as to how they relate to our home. Jarrod takes pride in his work. After speaking with some of his clients, we were convinced that he would be around after his drawings were approved and accepted. Jarrod not only has experience in landscape design, he also has a wealth of knowledge in all areas as they relate to design strategy and knowing what his clients expect. He not only takes into consideration the drea, he also helps determine the financial plan that will get you where you want to be when your plans have been executed. Jarrod is multi-talented and truthful, and we recommend him without hesitation.
— Mary Ellen Daniels, Riverside
We gave Jarrod the challenge to create a unified landscape design for two adjacent properties with very different houses. One is the modern looking Eichler where we live. The other is a more old-fashioned 1950’s California ranch house, which we are using as a guest house. The two properties shared a back fence, which we removed to create a common back yard. Jarrod’s design succeeded beyond anything we could imagine. It is beautiful, modern, unique without being pretentious, and simultaneously exciting and serene. It works for both houses, enhancing the appearance of each from the other. Through every stage of the project Jarrod has been incredible to work with. He is an artist with a strong vision, and at the same time he was able to listen to our desires and vision to create a landscape that works for us. It felt like we were all working as a team. We absolutely love the result!
— Greg & Sharon Nelson, Palo Alto
As a licensed landscape contractor for 40 years with projects throughout the State of California, recently a former client contacted me to “touch up” their new home. When I saw the new home, I realized the site had needed a complete renovation. I had heard of Zeterre from some respected peers, both past-presidents of the local chapter of the California Landscape Contractors Association. Knowing the level of quality they demand on their projects and after investigating Jarrod’s web site, I set a meeting up with Jarrod and my clients. We all left that meeting feeling we had a common goal: a one-of-a-kind renovation effort of the highest quality possible. Now, almost a year later, I realize how blessed and fortunate I have been, exceptional clients and an architect totally committed to and able to create a site that is equally exceptional. As the other testimonials relate, Jarrod has an extensive plant palette knowledge, pulling in scores of species I have never been exposed to. He makes a point of making everyone feel part of the team and key to reaching the common goal, from the lowest laborer to the busy clients. I am glad I spent the last 40 years preparing to work with a man of his talent and can assure you that if your goal is an exceptional landscape, you will be contacting one of the brightest stars in our industry.
— James P. Everett, Owner EvLand LLC
Past President of Bay Area and State CLCA
Jarrod, I want to compliment you on the growth and success of your design business. I have not seen someone rise to such a high level of success as quickly as you have. This is a true testament of your professionalism, work ethic, and passion for landscaping. Your creativity, innovation, and 1st class landscape designs are an asset to any homeowner’s estate. From a contractor’s point of view, you bring new and inventive design ideas into the landscape and I will always look forward to the challenge of building one of your creative landscape visions.
When we are awarded the contract on a landscape designed by Zeterre, we know we have the opportunity to build a truly exceptional landscape. Jarrod has a unique eye and thoughtful creativity for landscaping that rivals some of the best landscape architects in the Bay Area. His attention to detail and ability to design in the needs of the client are remarkable. He is a true study of the art using his plant knowledge and experience to create innovative and amazing one-of-a-kind landscapes.
With his ability to design landscapes that will compliment any type of home or property, coupled with his unique style and original approach, Jarrod Baumann has become the landscape architect to watch in the residential estate and custom home arena.
Jarrod takes personal interest in the outcomes of his designs. He works closely with the landscape contractor, general contractor, and architect to ensure the quality in the field is matched by the quality in the design. As a contractor, I appreciate that he is willing to work through field situations quickly and succinctly when questions surface. I have not worked with a landscape architect so willing to “jump into the trenches”. Not only does he care for the landscape, but he cares for the people building it. This hands-on approach really earns respect from the contractors and craftsmen building the job.
I would highly recommend Zeterre (or Jarrod Baumann) to anyone looking for a landscape architect that has a vision for creating distinctively innovative landscapes.
— Rodney Whitacre Morimoto, Vice President Jensen Landscape & Construction Company