Newton Residence

We transformed an existing garden into a contemporary outdoor living space, featuring a hot tub with wood decking enclosure, restored pool, limestone and granite kitchen island and grill, gas fire table and a raised stone dining terrace. We also added custom blackened stainless-steel retaining walls to create planters between garden levels.

Designer: SiteCreative / Photography: Rosemary Fletcher

Wellesley Residence

The hilly, four-acre site required extensive regrading. Fieldstone retaining walls and embankments were used to create level expanses of ground. Protection and care of the property’s extraordinary large specimen trees were a priority throughout construction. An existing beech tree became the focal point of the landscape, and large areas of ground were regraded around it. The swimming pool, bordered by a wood terrace, was designed to allow water to remain level with the surrounding stone. All pool utilities were located in a custom-designed underground vault to maintain the pristine character of the landscape. A 500-foot boardwalk, built on precast concrete and steel foundations to minimize impact to the site and tree root systems, was designed to meander through a heavily wooded area to another entrance.

Designer: Reed Hilderbrand LLC Landscape Architecture / Photography: Matt Mattus and Justine Hand

Chestnut HILL Residence

The Olmsted Brothers originally designed this historic garden in Chestnut Hill in the early 20th century. The current homeowners rejuvenated the historic yews still standing in the front of the house, but much of the original landscape had been lost. LeBlanc Jones developed a master plan for the garden levels and path design, and the planting scheme has been refined over time to feature a spectacular combination of new and old.

Original Designer: Olmsted Brothers / New Master Plan: LeBlanc Jones / Planting Plan: Robert Hanss Inc. / Photography: Robert Hanss, Matt Mattus, Catherine Hanss

Dedham Residence

The overall focus for this project was providing a timeless, rural feel to all elements, to blend with the surrounding landscape and historic 19th-century home. To that end, wherever possible, we used salvaged granite. Where needed, we matched new granite in appearance to the old.

A magnificent sugar maple dominates the front yard, with the 19th-century house visible just beyond it. The historic granite wall along the street was matched and extended to create a larger entry area with a chip-and-seal driveway enclosed with custom fencing. At the entry to the property, two new walls of salvaged granite edge the driveway; the granite matches that used in the original walls facing the street. The area is also heavily planted to maximize privacy.

We enhanced the entry to the house with traditional elements such as brick on edge in a herringbone pattern, a painted wooden trellis, rows of boxwood and reclaimed and salvaged plinths. The granite steps were hand-tooled and aged to blend with stone found on the property.

A lawn path alongside the house leads from the street to a series of gardens – a perennial and an annual garden, raised-stone herb gardens and a wildflower garden. Extensive fieldstone retaining walls create level terraces for intimately scaled, distinctive garden areas. Each discrete part of the property looks different but has a similar spirit. The path ends at the bottom of a lawn ramp where the swimming pool and pool house are framed by stone walls that retain just enough grade to keep the pool hidden from the house and upper terraces.

Designer: Trudie LaVigne, Landscape Design / Photography: Justine Hand

Dedham Residence

A large Mediterranean-style home built in the early 20th century commands a stunning site that includes a large custom swimming pool and restored fountain, as well as a trail through a mature woodland to a secluded pond. The property had strong potential and atmospheric older elements, including a pond and antique reflecting fountain, but lacked outdoor living spaces close to the house. While many of the older plantings had become overgrown, impressive mature specimen trees still grew throughout the property.

Today, newly added features, such as terraces and a pool, revitalize the landscape while retaining the sense of history. The original reflecting fountain was rebuilt and a substantial wisteria-covered trellis added to provide shaded seating areas. A pool fence encircles most of the property, meeting code while allowing the pool to seamlessly integrate with the lawn and overall landscape. This element fulfills the owners’ wishes that the new pool’s shape and scale blend with the architecture while remaining private. Along the side of the property, a low boxwood hedge punctuated with tall specimens such as Thuja plicata provides screening for additional privacy.

Plantings are deliberately informal and loose, with vines allowed to spread, yews clipped minimally and plants encouraged to self-seed in gravel for an overall vision of relaxed elegance. Many of the plants have soft grey-toned foliage, including artemisia and lavender, to echo the Mediterranean architecture.

Designer: Richard Burck Associates, Inc. / Photography: Justine Hand

Brookline Residence

An 1882 shingle-style mansion in Brookline on an extremely steep site received a dramatic and elegant facelift when expansive outdoor spaces were added to support family activities. These spaces include a kitchen garden, dining terrace and rustic granite fire pit, as well as an outdoor play structure and play lawn surrounded by swaths of blueberry and an espalier-covered fence.

An effort was made throughout to connect the new and the old. Added elements include a restored antique fountain, stone retaining walls that feel as though they’ve always been a part of the property and a restored pudding stone entry staircase connecting the front door to a new guest parking area. Granite and bluestone are used throughout the property to define the elements of the garden.

Plantings include a lush arrival garden carpeted with elegant drifts of woodland perennials. We took great care to preserve the specimen and understory trees on site. Existing areas of lawn were regraded and stabilized, while drainage solutions effectively channel stormwater in ways that are barely visible.

Designer: Matthew Cunningham Landscape Design LLC / Photography: Justine Hand