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McDermott Landscape Design is a boutique landscape design business founded by Scott McDermott. Along with his wife and partner, Jessica Engle, they offer a highly personalized service, with a focus on residential properties and new constructions. Based in Portsmouth, NH they have completed projects in New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, and New Hampshire. Through the use of primarily natural materials and flowering perennials, the McDermott team accomplishes the goals of their clients with a beautiful outcome. They collaborate with local craftsmen and women to install their projects from carpenters and blacksmith to fence installers and stone masons. The McDermott Landscape Design team is unique in the sense that they are very hands on; not just sourcing plants from the highest quality nurseries and placing plants on the day of installation, but often getting their hands dirty themselves. The company’s philosophy has and always will be that they must not lose touch with the gardens and the soil themselves.

SCOTT McDERMOTT

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With a background in horticultural knowledge, Scott integrates the needs of his clients with a garden that reflects its surroundings. He expresses his style by emphasizing the use of flowering perennials and aims to achieve a final product that provides year-round interest. Scott is a professional member of the APLD (Association of Professional Landscape Designers). He graduated from Pitzer College with a BA in Environmental Studies, and went on to study horticulture at The New York Botanical Garden, with a focus in Ornamental Garden Design. Scott started his career at a boutique landscape design and maintenance company in his hometown in CT. He then served as Head Gardener for two private estates in East Hampton, NY. Scott has experience working with a wide range of landscapes and has worked as a professional gardener since 2008. 

JESSICA ENGLE

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Jessica brings with her a strong passion for plants and for the natural world. She spent several years working at non-profits with missions that focus on garden and agricultural education such as the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens and the Stamford Museum and Nature Center. As her interest in horticulture grew, Jessica went on to work at Broadview Gardens in Sagaponack, NY and, most recently, in the historic gardens of Strawbery Banke in Portsmouth, NH. She has studied landscape design at Longwood Gardens, has a Masters in Environmental Education from NYU, and a BA in Environmental Studies from Lehigh University. Jessica is most keenly interested in how people relate to and use their outdoor living space.

AWARDS​

  • APLD Silver Award for Planting Design 2025

  • APLD Bronze Award for Residential Landscape Design 2025

  • NH Home Magazine Winner of Best Garden Design 2023

  • APLD Bronze Award for Residential Landscape Design 2023

COMMUNITY PROJECTS

We have worked throughout our local community to donate our time and design services to the following spaces:

  • New Franklin Elementary School Outdoor Classroom and Playscape

  • New Franklin Elementary School Teaching Garden

  • Carey Cottage Gardens

  • Patty Wilder Garden at the Portsmouth Community Campus

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