Call: (650) 391-7109

About Petrus

Bay Area's premier estate landscape atelier.

From initial concept through decades of stewardship. Petrus Landscape is your singular, trusted estate landscape partner.

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Origin

Founded to serve clients who demand the exceptional.

Petrus Landscape was founded by Ward Dilmore and Gabe Thomas, who combined their deep expertise in private estate horticulture, landscape design, and estate management into a singular firm committed to serving clients who demand the exceptional.

What distinguishes Petrus Landscape from every other landscape firm in the Bay Area is the depth of Ward’s creative vision a design vocabulary built over decades of immersion in the world’s great landscape traditions and the firm’s deliberate decision to remain small and focused, accepting only a curated number of new estate clients each year to ensure the quality of every engagement.

With a team of 30+ master craftsmen, a dedication to sustainable practice, and a philosophy that every landscape should deepen in beauty over decades, Petrus Landscape has built a reputation among Silicon Valley’s most influential families, top Bay Area real estate agents, and the family offices managing the region’s most extraordinary private properties.

Petrus Landscape maintains and builds landscapes for some of the most extraordinary homes in the United States from tech giants of Silicon Valley to celebrities of Pacific Heights.

FOUNDED2015, Bay Area California
FOUNDERSWard Dilmore & Gabe Thomas
TEAM SIZE30+ Master Craftsmen & Horticulturalists
LICENSECSLB #1132139 · Bonded & Insured
SPECIALITYUltra-High-Net-Worth Estate Landscapes
CLIENTSEstate Owners, Real Estate Agents, Family Offices
NOTABLE PROJECTSTaj Palace, Vista Verde, Horseshoe
DESIGN INFLUENCESFrench, English, Mughal, Mediterranean, California Native
Team

The people behind Petrus.

Ward Dilmore Founder of Petrus Landscape

Ward Dilmore

Founder

Gabe Thomas Petrus Landscape Cofounder

Gabe Thomas

Co-Founder

Sharddha Mehta Head of Marketing

Shraddha Mehta

Marketing Head

Why Petrus

Petrus versus a standard landscape contractor

The difference is not incremental. It is categorical.

A Standard Landscape Contractor
Petrus Landscape
Designs from templates and standard plant lists
Original designs authored for your land alone, informed by decades of global estate study
Project managed by a coordinator, not the designer
Founders are personally involved from first conversation to final installation
Design informed by what's in stock at local nurseries
Global plant sourcing and bespoke horticultural curation for your specific conditions
Landscape peaks at installation, then declines without heavy maintenance
Landscapes designed to mature and deepen over decades more magnificent every year
Limited knowledge of international design traditions
French, English, Mughal, Mediterranean and native traditions all within founder's active vocabulary
Treats sustainability as a constraint
Sustainability as creative opportunity, not constraint. Ward's native rewilding work is among our finest
No relationship continuity after installation
Long-term stewardship programs by the same team that designed and built your landscape
Volume-based business model dozens of concurrent projects
Deliberately limited client roster full depth of attention on every project
Questions

Frequently asked questions

Petrus Landscape is founded by Ward Dilmore a landscape artist with a genuinely singular background: raised by two artists on transforming farmland, educated at the University of Sussex in both international relations and horticultural technology, and shaped by decades of work in the world’s most private and extraordinary estates. We brings a design vocabulary drawn from French palace gardens, Mughal landscapes, English estate horticulture, and California native rewilding that simply does not exist elsewhere in the Bay Area.
 
Petrus Landscape serves Atherton, Woodside, Portola Valley, Palo Alto, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Menlo Park, Hillsborough, Saratoga, Pacific Heights, Pebble Beach, and surrounding Bay Area communities. For exceptional projects, Petrus Landscape also works beyond these primary areas please contact us to discuss your specific location.
 
Yes. Founders are personally involved personally involved in every Petrus Landscape project from the initial consultation and site reading, through design concept development, to installation supervision. This is why Petrus Landscape intentionally accepts a limited number of new estate clients each quarter. Founders personal involvement is not a selling point it is a non-negotiable standard.
 
Sustainability is not a constraint for Petrus Landscape it is a creative opportunity. Petrus founders deep passion for rewilding and native planting makes him one of the Bay Area’s most forward-thinking designers in this area. We offer full xeriscaping programs, California native planting design, smart drip irrigation systems, rain garden design, and native meadow restoration. Many of our most beautiful projects are also our most ecologically responsible.
 
Yes, Petrus Landscape offers comprehensive estate maintenance programs including weekly, bi-weekly, and monthly care, seasonal planting rotations, irrigation management, and annual estate health reports. Many clients engage with Petrus Landscape for both design and long-term stewardship, allowing the landscape to continue evolving under the same trusted team that created it. We also offer multi-property programs for family offices managing multiple estates.
 
Petrus Landscape is fully licensed by the California Contractors State License Board (CSLB License #1132139), bonded, and insured. We carry comprehensive general liability and workers’ compensation insurance on all projects, and our teams operate under strict professional standards expected by our estate-level clientele. NDAs are available upon request for clients who require complete discretion.
 
The first step is a private consultation, a personal conversation with Ward to understand your vision, your property, and your aspirations. You can request this consultation through our website, by calling (650) 391-7109, or by emailing media@petruslandscape.com.