Outdoor patio with a fire feature, surrounded by trees with autumn foliage and a grassy lawn.
Outdoor seating area with large stone benches and a fire pit, overlooking a river and landscaped garden.
A backyard patio with outdoor seating, a wooden fence, lush greenery, and a large spherical fountain in the foreground.
A brick house with a stone facade, a wooden front door, and garden with flowering plants and a stone pathway.
A lush green garden with a stone pathway, various flowers, and large rocks, surrounded by trees and a house visible in the background.
Garden with pink and purple flowers, green shrubs, and a grassy lawn. There are stone steps and a white house in the background.
A landscaped garden with a stone retaining wall, a set of stone stairs, and various green and red-leafed plants.
Colorful garden with flowering plants, bushes, and trees, alongside a brick walkway and a stone and brick house exterior.
People walking along a modern urban street with brick and glass buildings, outdoor greenery, and decorative street lighting.
Open field with dry grass, a clear blue sky, a lone leafless tree, and a large, round stone structure made of stacked flat stones.
Outdoor art installation with rust-colored and silver metallic sculptures among white flowers and greenery, with a basketball court and brick building in the background.
Display of hanging fish figures above an informational sign about Portsmouth shipbuilding history and a green bridge in the background.
Concrete pathway leading into a landscaped area with tall stone pillars along the sides, green bushes and trees, a modern lamp post, and a parking lot with a few cars in the background.
A bird's eye view of a backyard patio with outdoor furniture, lush green plants, trees, a fountain, and a bicycle, enclosed by various fences and garden beds.
Art installation featuring rust-colored sculptures resembling oversized tools, placed on small patch of grass with a railway track and cobblestone border surrounding it.
Orange poppies in the foreground of a garden with a rock foundation, trees, and colorful flowers in the background.

Terra firma landscape architecture has been established in Portsmouth, NH and serving the Seacoast New Hampshire, Maine, and southern New England since 1993. We specialize in landscape architectural aspects of site design such as urban gathering spaces and parks, custom residential projects, commercial properties of all kinds, streetscapes as green infrastructure, garden design, playgrounds and schoolyards, memorial design and landscape art.

We believe that landscapes reflect the vision and values of those that inhabit them.

The design process of terra firma landscape architecture unifies client vision, site capabilities and architectural intention, thereby creating connections that become a form of personal expression. Terra firma designs unique, meaningful, custom landscapes that are built by skilled contractors dedicated to a quality project.

This is an act of collaboration that results in a rewarding landscape experience for years.

Meet the Team

Early Concept for the renovation of the Vaughan Mall
Image by Tangram 3DS

TfLA responds to the client program through our site design process as we adapt a client’s vision to the site context. All sites vary in context with most sites existing as a complex mix of natural and human forces—tangible or intangible. Patterns of human history can be seen as areas of deposition, disturbance, or settlement, and in remnant structures and maps, while natural forces can be felt in the site elements, or documented as hydrologic, topographic or vegetative patterns. Our design process looks at the site context, the spirit of place, as a source of inspiration in the development of functional forms in the landscape to achieve a client’s vision.  

  • "I cannot give Terrence a higher recommendation!!  His vision is amazing – yet he was willing to take all of our ideas into account during the project.  He worked seamlessly with our architect and our builder.  He was consistently on time – and designed to budget.  He also managed the installation of all of the plant material and the stonework   Terrence continues to be involved in the property management as the landscaping matures.   I believe Terrence is one of the most talented landscape architects in all of New England.  But please do not take our word for it."

    — Morgan Rutman

  • "I can say without any hesitation that Terrence is extremely talented, easy to work with, and reasonable in cost. While pragmatic in his approach, he also brings artistic-like qualities to his design. As you may know, his design of our New Castle home was a significant reason why our gardens were features in Homes & Gardens, they also played a strong role in our house also being featured in other regional home design magazines. More importantly, he designed a landscape for us that we enjoyed immensely for many years and were sad to leave. Perhaps as greatest tribute to his work, we recently re-engaged him to do the landscape work on our renovation project in downtown Portsmouth."

    — Peter Bergh

  • “After nine painstaking years renovating our home it was finally time to turn our attention to our nondescript yard. We invited several landscapers over to the house to walk around and share their thoughts and ideas. We quickly became discouraged because although we learned what plants would grow well where, nobody presented us with a vision for the entire property. At his point, we brought Terrence into the picture. He came to our home, listened to how we use our yard and our tastes, and went back to his drawing board. His initial presentation was greeted with great enthusiasm as finally a wonderful vision that encompassed all the nuances of our yard was before us. We quickly moved forward and planted everything as specified. As the plantings have matured the results are stunning and we continually enjoy a variety of vegetation with color around throughout the three seasons. Terrence’s creativity and knowledge of plants have enabled us to enjoy the outside of our home just as much as the inside. When considering the costs of plants, the design fee was extremely well spent as it has added value to our home.”

    — David Witham, Architect

  • "I have known Terrence for almost 20 years and had the opportunity to use his services on more than three occasions for both residential and commercial developments. The “backyard” is a continuous open, 90-acre rolling hay field that began right off the back steps. Terrence created an entirely new environment that is nothing close to traditional however “nailed” the use, the users and the environment into a seamless experience that is original, subtle, and simple yet powerful and huge at the same time. The signature theme throughout was Terrence’s understanding and use of stone, stone elements to weave it all together. “Weave” is only one of many words I would use to describe his talent. Deeply original, artist, professional, bright – highly personable, sensitivity to the environment, the client, the use, and accountable. Passion and vision are commonly used and thrown out there however Terrence has it in his “being.” It’s just in him – not something needing to be declared or promoted."

    — Todd Adelman

  • “Like I said, dream come true! Thank you, Terrence.”

    — Vicki Stewart, Principal, The Central School

  • As a result of your work “these kids go into school in a better, happier place.”

    — Leigh Robinson, Educator, The Central School

  • "Terrence offers a unique blend of creativity, skill, and level-headedness. As a result of his work, we have received hundreds of compliments on our grounds."

    — Peter Bergh

  • "Terrence developed a landscape plan for us during the winter of 2000 and it was implemented in 2001. Our house is in the woods and we wanted as many native New England plantings as possible. We wanted perennial gardens and we wanted to keep in tune with the natural setting of the house. We wanted to attract birds and butterflies but minimize the attraction of deer and other plant eating critters. The house is on a knoll so we had a fair amount of terracing and stonewalls to be incorporated into the plan. By the second drawing Terrence had exactly what we wanted. Terrence worked closely and effectively as the need arose. Terrence’s practical and aesthetic applications made our project an enjoyable and rewarding experience. We are hands on gardeners and continue to enjoy our gardens more every year."

    — Tom and Ann Parziale

  • "Terrence did the complete landscape plan for our new Volkswagen facility in Greenland, NH. He provided all of the conceptual drawings and presented them to the Zoning Board and the Planning Board at our public hearings. He worked with our Site Engineer and the Boards to ensure the design met the very restrictive Greenland building codes and not interfere with the view of our showroom from the street."

    — Douglas L. Miles, President Seacoast Volkswagen