GroundWork  ·  Landscape Architecture Template Preview
Get This Template →
Landscape Architects · Toronto · Muskoka · Niagara

We don't plant gardens.
We sculpt land.

A boutique landscape architecture studio designing estates, gardens, and outdoor environments for homeowners who think in seasons, not square feet.

↓ Scroll

i. Recent Work
Selected Projects

Gardens worth walking through.

Six recent projects from our active portfolio. Every site visited, designed, and overseen by a senior partner.

Estate Garden · 2025

The Cedar Glade

Caledon Hills, Ontario

Contemporary Courtyard · 2025

House on Russell Hill

Forest Hill, Toronto

Lakefront Retreat · 2024

Cottage at Lake Joseph

Muskoka, Ontario

Native Restoration · 2024

Meadow at Long Point

Niagara Region, Ontario

Sculpted Hardscape · 2024

Stone Court Residence

Oakville, Ontario

Heritage Restoration · 2023

Victorian Walled Garden

Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario

ii. Project Page
Single Project · Detail View

The Cedar Glade — a study in restraint.

Three acres. One reflecting pool.

A three-acre estate in Caledon required transformation from manicured lawn to native woodland garden. We removed twelve thousand square feet of turf, planted seven hundred native trees and shrubs over four seasons, and centered the composition on a single black-bottomed reflecting pool that catches the afternoon light through the cedars. The result is a garden that looks like it has always been there — which is the point.

Project Details

Site
3.2 acres
Style
Native Woodland
Plantings
700+ specimens
Hardscape
1,400 sq ft stone
Water
Reflecting pool · 16×8 m
Build Duration
14 months over 2 seasons
iii. What We Do
Services

Five disciplines. One sensibility.

From master planning to maintenance — we work in whatever discipline the project requires, but always with the same restraint and reverence for site.

i.

Master Planning

Full estate landscape design. We start with the land itself and design outward — circulation, sightlines, seasonal succession, fifty-year tree growth.

ii.

Garden Design

Single garden room or full grounds. Native perennial palettes, four-season interest, plantings designed to mature rather than be replaced.

iii.

Hardscape

Custom stone work, paths, walls, terraces. We work in local fieldstone, limestone, and bluestone — no concrete pavers, no manufactured product.

iv.

Water Features

Reflecting pools, naturalistic ponds, formal fountains, swimming pools designed as landscape elements rather than backyard accessories.

v.

Stewardship

Year-round seasonal care for our installed gardens — pruning, division, replanting, and the patient attention that good gardens require.

iv. The Plant Library
Signature Plantings

Eight plants we return to.

Every studio has its palette. These eight species form the backbone of nearly every Ontario design we put in the ground.

Eastern Redbud

Cercis canadensis

Specimen Tree · Spring

Big Bluestem

Andropogon gerardii

Native Grass · Year-Round

Bottlebrush Buckeye

Aesculus parviflora

Specimen Shrub · Summer

Sugar Maple

Acer saccharum

Canopy Tree · Autumn

Pagoda Dogwood

Cornus alternifolia

Understory · Spring

Switchgrass

Panicum virgatum

Native Grass · Year-Round

Witch Hazel

Hamamelis virginiana

Specimen · Late Winter

Eastern Hemlock

Tsuga canadensis

Evergreen · All Season

v. The Process
From Site Walk To Garden

Five stages, two seasons minimum.

A garden is not a construction project — it's a relationship with the land that unfolds across seasons. We don't rush. We don't substitute. And we don't leave when the install ends.

i.
Site Walk & Listening
A senior partner walks the property in two seasons. We photograph, sample soil, study light patterns and existing vegetation, and ask you a hundred questions about how you actually want to use the land.
Any Season
ii.
Master Plan
A drafted plan with planting lists, hardscape details, lighting plan, irrigation strategy, and phased budget. We present it in person — not over email — and revise based on your honest reaction.
8–12 Weeks
iii.
Hardscape Installation
Stone walls, paths, terraces, water features, irrigation, lighting. Done in spring or fall — never summer. Our craftsmen are stoneworkers first, not landscapers.
Spring / Fall
iv.
Plant Installation
We plant when the plants want to be planted — generally in two phases across spring and fall to give roots time to establish before extreme weather. Sourced from regional nurseries, never big-box.
Spring & Fall
v.
Stewardship
Two years of included stewardship after install — replacement guarantee on every plant, seasonal pruning, divisions as plants mature. Continuing care available indefinitely.
Year 1–2
vi. Our Studio
Founded 2003 · Toronto

A studio of twelve.

Founded by landscape architect Eleanor Stillwater in a converted barn in the Caledon Hills, Stillwater & Vine has remained intentionally small for twenty-two years. Twelve designers and craftsmen. Forty active projects at any time. We turn down more work than we accept — and we always have.

"Good gardens are made slowly, by people who care more about being right than being fast."

22Years Practicing
240+Gardens Designed
92%Referral Rate
vii. The Designers
Meet The Team

Twelve people. One ear to the ground.

Eleanor Stillwater

Founding Partner

RLA · 22 years

Henry Vine

Senior Partner · Hardscape

RLA · 19 years

Priya Anand

Lead Designer · Native Plantings

MLA · 11 years

James Holloway

Master Stoneworker

28 years on the ground

viii. The Journal
The Stillwater Journal

Notes from the field, seasonally.

Plant profiles, soil notes, seasonal task lists, and design philosophy — written by our designers when they're not in the field.

Autumn 2025 · Field Notes

What forty-year-old gardens teach us about new ones.

Eleanor walks three of our oldest installed gardens forty years on, and shares what twelve months of design intent looks like at maturity. The trees we planted small are now the gardens' bones — but what we got wrong is more useful than what we got right.

November 18, 2025 · 12 min read

Autumn 2025

The case for autumn planting.

October 24, 2025

Plant Profile

Switchgrass in a winter garden.

October 8, 2025

Hardscape

Fieldstone vs. quarried limestone for walls.

September 22, 2025

Design Philosophy

Why we won't design gardens we wouldn't live with.

September 4, 2025

ix. Begin a Project
Inquiries

Tell us about your land.

We take on roughly twelve new projects per year. Inquiries are reviewed weekly by Eleanor or Henry — no junior associates, no sales reps.

Two studios.
One ear to the ground.

"We don't email quotes. We walk land."

Our team is based in Toronto and the Caledon Hills, but our project radius extends across Southern Ontario — from Niagara wine country to Muskoka cottage country and Prince Edward County.

Year-Round Studio

Caledon Hills

The Old Mill Barn · 4 Concession Road
Caledon, ON L7K 1L3

Spring–Autumn

Toronto Office

Distillery District
110 Mill Street, Studio 4
Toronto, ON M5A 4Y4

Project Inquiry