Matthew Cunningham Landscape Design LLC

I am just thrilled that we had the opportunity to work with the Matthew Cunningham Landscape Design group. We were so impressed with their professionalism and design capabilities that we ended up hiring them to do a second project. Both of our properties reflect the unique and magnificent Matthew Cunningham esthetic. In addition to being an amazing design team, they were incredibly responsive to our needs and questions. I hope I have the opportunity to work with Matthew's team again.

I hired Matthew Cunningham to integrate my landscape with a just completed house. From the start he was enthusiastic, had wonderful ideas, professional, and prompt. Great to work with, and I love the results. By the way, I found him because I saw his work on Houzz. :)

Our project was a lakeside retreat in NH. Matthew's seductive photographic portfolio and warm working style, set him apart from the other landscape architects we evaluated. And now, three years after the project was delivered, his inspired designs continue to complement our residence in every season. We feel fortunate that we were able to collaborate with him and his very competent staff. He brought a wide palette of natural materials which, once stitched together, met our goals of tapering the home back to the organic forrest and lakeside surrounds in which it is situated. We are delighted clients.

Matthew was simply a delight to work with. He arrived at our first meeting with knowledge of our local plants, pictures, drawings and ideas. He has a wonderful collaborative style that helped transform our collective vision into a stunning reality. Even after the successful completion of our project, Matthew continues to monitor it and we consider him a great resource and new found friend. We are so pleased with Matthew Cunningham Landscape Designs and highly recommend him.

We first contacted Matthew Cunningham on the basis of stellar reviews on Houzz.com, and as soon as we met Matthew and his associate, Jen Stephens, we knew we had found the perfect match for us and our vacation home project. Matthew and Jen were a dream to work with on a large and complex project involving complete landscape redesign, replacement of a 60+ year-old swimming pool, the creation of a beautiful new pool deck and garden, as well as an enchanting firepit. They came up with creative solutions for every quirk and challenge of the property. They were thoughtful about providing different cost options, and extremely sensitive to the ecology of the setting and the selection of appropriate native plants. They helped us engage a top-notch landscape construction company and pool subcontractor, and they provided excellent oversight of all aspects of the project, as well as excellent coordination with our builder who worked in tandem on an expansion of a screened porch. We had such a positive experience that we have hired them for a project at our primary residence!

Landscaping is a key component of building a home. I have had the pleasure of working on several large projects with Matthew Cunningham Landscape Design as the landscape architect, and each one was a success. Matthew and his team are well versed in the construction details needed to complete a project along with having the eye of an artist. Matthew knows how to work on a team and deliver superior results for his clients. Charlie Gadbois Wellen Construction

Matthew was recommended to us by our architect (Will Ruhl at Ruhl Walker) as someone who was creative and interested in modern landscapes. Matthew designed the landscape for our new house, working around the aspects of the existing landscape that we were fond of. Matthew was great. He listens well and he is flexible, and the plans he produces are lovely to look at and easy to understand. We had the stone work and the major transplanting done be a professional, but all the smaller shrubs and ground covers we have been installing ourselves. We enjoy planting and gardening and selecting the plants and didn't want to give away the fun part. Matthew gave us a "cheat sheet" with photos of everything on the plan that we took to the nursery. Our landscape is everything we hoped it would be - it looks great, it complements the house, and it uses native New England plants. I suspect it would look even more spectacular if it was installed exactly to plan without the home owner susceptibility to attractive plants at the nursery, but what's the fun in that? That Matthew understood that and gave us a landscape the worked for us.

Matthew starts with connecting with his clients and getting an understanding of how they live and how their outdoor space will be integrated in their lives. He gets a sense of their needs and wants and employs his vision and creativity to execute a plan. In our case, we built a contemporary house in an urban setting that needed a complete landscape overhaul. Matthew's design exceeded our expectations. Happy to provide detailed recommendations.

I hired Matthew because he got it. Not only was he excited by the design concept but he also understood that I meant it when I said I wanted a no work garden. The garden was featured on the 2012 South End garden tour and in New England Home magazine. It's a stunner. We put the focus on the beautiful granite wall on one side of the garden, added daffodils that flood the space with yellow in the spring, and as soon as the daffodils start to fade, giant ferns take over and hide the wilted leaves. Small bamboos and a Buddha contribute to the zen garden feel. But in the middle of the garden is a large red deck made from recycled plastic milk containers set on the diagonal. Aluminum walkways join the deck to garden gate and to red steps that span the width of the space, providing not only access to the upper level but functioning as seating as needed.

Working with Matthew is a fantastic experience. We knew we wanted to hire him when he walked past some existing mountain laurels that were slated for removal and said, "These specimens are beautiful and worth a fortune. Even if you don't keep them, make sure you sell them." Matthew was the only consultant we interviewed who was thinking ahead, not only about ways to spend funds wisely, but also about ways to creative re-purpose and reuse as much of the existing palette as possible. Matthew's excitement bubbles throughout the project and shines all the way through construction. With a camera in tow, he documents progress, gives frequent updates, and removes a lot of the associated construction worry from our minds. We requested a low-maintenance native plant palette; Matthew delivered. When we go to local state parks, we're able to identify plants that we see in our own front yard and we get a big kick out of that. Part of our enthusiasm comes from working with Matthew and seeing how the landscape has quickly grown to be an integral part of our home. At each step of the way, Matthew provided beautiful landscape plans, thumbnail images of proposed plants and emailed us links to articles which might be of interest to us. We also worked with Matthew to present our design for approval to our neighbors and to the local conservation commission because we were making changes within 100 ft of a lake. He prepped us for the meeting, gave helpful hints, and eased the process for us. Matthew assembled an initial cost estimate so that we would have an alternate basis from which to make design decisions, if we wanted to. He also identified three possible landscape contractors, leveled the bids and then reviewed the pros and cons of each bid with us, He also helped to coordinate the initial meetings between our general contractor and the landscape contractor. Without hesitation, I highly recommend working with Matthew. He worked with us to find budget friendly ways to achieve our design goals. I don't think my husband and I were as aware of the changing seasons as we are now. Each season there's something new to appreciate around our home and in our garden. We look for the ferns to pop up. We point out when the witch hazel is blooming. We get excited when the raspberries, currants and gooseberries are close to harvest. The best part of the project? Every time I come home I get to experience a dynamic and ever-evolving work of art: the landscape he created with us. (Note about the photos... we took these on our own very quickly to share with out-of-state family. Please speak with Matthew if you would like to see more images of our home.)

As a landscape architect, Matthew's unique gift is understanding the project, the nature of the land, and creating a master plan of natural beauty in a collaborative way with you, as a client, and with the land itself. His knowledge of botany and trees and how to integrate native plants makes his work a signature style of elegant restraint that is perfectly crafted for New England. My husband and I commissioned him in 2007 for a difficult project to restore a mid-century home, and his master plan formed the foundation to return our house to architect's original intent to blend the inside living with the nature outdoors. His careful selection of trees and design of stonework seamlessly blends with our unique home, and we continue to consult with Matthew every year to foster a living, growing canvas for our lives. Matthew is not only a landscape architect, he a curator, an artist, a one-of-a-kind professional with a down to earth and completely genuine approach with clients.

We built a net zero, LEED Platinum home. Matthew Cunningham was the best part of the whole building process. Such a pleasure to work with! He really cares and loves his work. He really understood our needs and created an amazing landscape design for our family. We feel very fortunate to have found him. We have referred him to friends and they have also enjoyed with working with him.