Not really a big surprise that LA Matthew Cunningham has won this year's International Designer of the Year Award from the Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD). Cunningham's work just gets better and better, and this "Waban Hillside" garden in Newton, MA, is just one example of his signature designs featuring native plants and materials that go with the local landscape.
The contemporary shingled home stands on a steep slope with distant views of Newton. 
The hillside now features a number of terraces to provide the active family with room to play sports, to entertain, and to garden.
In addition, the plan features many special elements: a kitchen garden filled with herbs; a marshmallow roaster and sculptural water fountain constructed of Rockport granite and blackened stainless steel. And Cunningham even designed a "catio" integrated into a perennial border that's a safe place for indoor-only cats.
As the judges noted, it's a "beautiful home garden. Details and craftsmanship are perfectly suited to the architecture and site. Very nice integration of intimate space on the stairway. I wanted to spend time there. Inspired use of native plants … This is a great merger of all elements."
Well said.
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