Artistic Landscapes

Twelve reviews, every one of them five stars, and a single first name running through nearly all of them: Tony. That is the shape of Artistic Landscapes, a Rowley outfit on Route 1 whose customers keep describing the same experience — a designer who shows up, listens, and then hands the stonework to a crew that finishes it clean. The company says it has been building natural-feeling outdoor spaces since 2004, growing out of a background in landscape design and a passion for plants, and it works residential properties across the North Shore of Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire. The work is hardscape-led: patios, walkways, steps, retaining walls, fire pits and outdoor kitchens, with plantings, low-voltage landscape lighting, irrigation and garden-bed maintenance around them. Its Houzz page lists 20 North Shore towns served and 15 projects. The written history runs 2021 to 2024, and it is specific in a way generic praise never is. In a 2022 review, a homeowner described a red brick walkway that collapsed under chipmunk tunnels — Tony re-pitched a drain himself after the customer had already said it was fine. Another 2022 customer wrote about synthetic turf at a Turner Hill townhome and named the crew, Jesse, Brendon and Kevin. A third that year called Kevin "the artist with stone" after brick-and-wood entry steps were rebuilt in stone. Repeat business shows up repeatedly: one 2022 reviewer said they had used the company across three properties over fifteen years, another across two homes over five years, another for a front walkway plus eight years of fall cleanups. A 2023 customer described Tony meeting them at the stone yard to help pick materials. The most recent comment on file is from April 2024. Two things to weigh before you call. That five-star run is real and detailed, but it is thin in volume and it has gone quiet — there is nothing written in the last two years, so ask for recent references and current-season lead times. And Houzz lists a "MA Masonry License" plus a stack of manufacturer and trade certifications — ICPI paver installer, NCMA segmental wall installer, CAST lighting designer, MCLP, Techo-Pro and Unilock — as the directory prints them, not as anything confirmed with the state; since this crew does patios, paving and stone walls, confirm home improvement contractor registration and insurance directly before signing. The right call if you want a designed hardscape — steps, a walkway, a patio, a lit yard — from someone who will walk the stone yard with you. Get the credentials in writing, and ask what the five-year hardscape guarantee the company advertises actually covers.