For any of you who have hesitated to get professional landscape design help because what you needed wasn’t grandiose, wait no longer! Certainly Kalmia Design does gorgeous work for grand estates, but he uses his expertise for smaller properties too.
My outdoor space isn’t large and it has a lot of hardscape. My garden area was already surrounded by a stone wall, but I needed help choosing the perfect perennials and a focus tree. Because my area isn’t large everything planted has to make a beautiful statement… not any room for expensive errors.
Enter Jim Hickey owner of Kalmia Design, he interviewed me to see what I liked and what my goals were. He was so patient and gracious about retaining some of my perennials, and then he chose the perfect shrubs and plants to blend beautifully. I was thinking a conifer for the accent tree, but Jim’s suggestion was so much better. I love the stewartia tree and as he pointed out, the leaves are beautiful and the shape, tall and narrow, was perfect. And as promised the leaves fell almost at once, so it was easy to clean up. All in all, so much more interesting then what I would have chosen. Thank you Jim, for all the wonderful suggestions for other small areas that I will hopefully get to this summer.

We have done projects with Jim from Kalmia for the last 15 years. Jim has always had a great attention to aesthetic details and care and concern for customers dreams. We recently did a pool installation on the oceanfront of Magnolia….an absolute home run! We were swimming in the pool three days before Christmas in New England as the homeowner watched with a giant grin on his face.

Jim met with me to design the paths, patio and stone wall around our cottage in Rockport.
He had wonderful ideas and was open to suggestions. I liked that we could have a real conversation about the project with a good exchange of ideas. This was a tight space and much care had to be taken with regard to drainage issues and care for existing plantings.
I was also extremely impressed with his crew! They were careful, attentive to detail, pleasant to work with and very respectful of my property. The project turned out beautifully.
I can’t say enough good things about Jim and Kalmia Design. I would not hesitate to hire him for another project in my yard. They are the best!

First of all, I respect and admire Jim Hickey’s TASTE. In 2013 when I asked him to remove some old rhododendron at the foundation in the front of our house, he did that with ease, put in a much nicer yew hedge, and also created a space for a garden. In 2014 when we asked him to make that side of the house more attractive, he rearranged the perennials I had planted, moved some hosta, and made a lovely stone path through a messy area that showed from the front. In 2015 he repaired the stone (blue stone?) walk and “porch” at the front door and trimmed more old rhododendron for us.
His workmanship is excellent, all we could ask for.
He is pleasant to work with, explains his plans and the reasons for them. He has helped us like this for many years.

Kalmia Design has done several smaller projects for me over the years including redoing the landscaping around the pool and my front yard entryway. I had seen some of their work on some larger projects on the North Shore and they were stunning. Their designs and execution at my home have added tremendous curbside and poolside appeal to an otherwise small and architecturally simple home. The landscaping is classic yet contemporary, and well-suited to the area. It is also low maintenance. Some of the work was done nearly 10 years ago and the plants and shrubs are thriving and maturing. Jim and his team are great to work with-creative, friendly, courteous, timely, tidy, and professional-wish I had a bigger project for them! Highly recommended!

I have had the pleasure to work with Jim and Kalmia for more than 2 years now. During this time I have continued to return to them and for a reason. Jim is professional, easy to work with and has a very good eye. I know that Jim will make every project a success and his attention to detail ensures that all aspects of the project gets done and looks right.

The biggest project Jim has done for us was our pool. Jim designed the pool and oversaw most all of the work related to the pool and the surroundings. It is fair to say that the pool was very successful and we have gotten a lot of positive remarks from friends, family and neighbors. We got a pool that is special in every way and works very well with the surroundings.

This was a major project as it included blasting, a pool with an irregular shape and a lot of details. We wanted to make a special pool and that is what Jim made for us. This includes using some of the rocks blasted in and around the pool The pool also has a raised jacuzzi to fit with the house and a well designed surrounding area with plants and walkways. There is a lot of details here.

Jim and Kalmia comes highly recommended!

Kalmia Design has designed and landscaped two properties for us with terrific results. Both jobs were challenging and required a total make over of the grounds and gardens. Jim’s creativity and knowledge transformed the properties providing a sense of perspective and sole.
The Kalmia team did a fabulous job rebuilding and redesigning our tiered gardens, walkways, stone work, plantings and tree work. His stone work and creativity is second to none.
The Kalmia staff was always top shelf, courteous, friendly and respectful during all phases of of the project.