Our Blog
Patio Border Planting Ideas: Cultivating Boston’s Beauty in Your Backyard
Aah, Boston! A city steeped in history and graced with nature's charm. As an experienced landscape designer in this beloved city, I've spent years transforming backyard spaces with local plants that beautify the garden and contribute to our regional ecosystem. Let me...
Blue Fortune Anise Hyssop And Other Eye-Catching Pollinator Plants
As a landscape designer, I have worked on a myriad of Boston landscaping projects. During my experience, I've designed countless beautiful and ecologically beneficial local gardens. Every project has made me appreciate plant varieties and their benefits more than...
Invasive vs Non Invasive Species in Massachusetts
Inspired gardeners often ask our crew with hopeful expressions: “I was driving down the street the other day and saw this amazing plant. Could you get me one of those?” As knowledgeable horticulturists, we must do some research before ordering the latest garden...
Fall Mulching
Winter mulching, once an optional task for only the most sensitive plantings, is now becoming a necessity. Our New England winters are less predictable because of climate change, it’s time to revisit this fall chore that can make the difference in plant and shrub...
Watering a Garden Successfully: Tips and Tricks
This 25 minute video is packed with tips and tricks to help you be strategic about watering your garden and lawn. Whether you hand water or used a timed irrigation system, it’s imperative that we are efficient with this very precious resource. As of July, 2022,...
Planning Your Outdoor Space
Intentionally developing your outdoor space is an excellent way to improve the quality of your home and your life. But similar to renovating an interior area of your home, landscape installation is not (always) without its challenges. Incomplete planning can end up...
Composting Facts
It's no secret that compost is highly revered among gardeners. We know some who have requested a truckload as a Birthday present! Love for compost is understandable since the benefits of this nutrient-rich substance include improved soil quality, reduced need for...
How To Keep Rabbits Out Of The Garden
Aside from the erratic temperatures May and June bring, perhaps nothing says summer is coming to Boston like the appearance of the eastern cottontail rabbit. The first few bunny sightings of the season may have you fawning over their cuteness, but that feeling of...
Invasive English Ivy vs. Non Invasive Alternatives
Contributed by Curtis Hawley Round 3: English Ivy (Hedera Helix) vs Barren Strawberry (Waldsteinia fragarioides) As we learned in our previous posts in this series, you can’t purchase Japanese Barberry or Burning Bush in Massachusetts because they're invasive species....
Get Ready for Bulbs!
Fall is here, and fall is bulb time! We are planning bulb "overlays" for the garden, meaning that bulbs can be planted on top of and in between the other plants in your garden. Bulbs can bloom from March to May using crocus, grape hyacinths, various types of tulips,...
Invasive species in Massachusetts Vs. Noninvasive Species: Part 2
Contributed by Curtis Hawley In Part 1 of this blog series, we talked about what the term invasive means in regard to plants. Another term that’s commonly used in this discussion is “native,” which refers to a plant that is native to the local environment. This term...
Bring the Colors of Summer to Your Container Gardens
Get a jump on summer with abundant flowers in your containers! Unlike the limited palette of early spring, the long summer season offers a huge array of bloom and foliage colors. Let us customize your containers to your color preference, style flair and property...
Arborway Tree Care: Our Trusted Partner in Business
Contributed by Libby Coley Being a trusted adviser for our clients means taking the time to vet other colleague companies who provide complementary landscape services. Lucky for us, Arborway Tree Care is one of our trusted partners in business. We recently met up with...
The Challenge of Finding Skilled Labor: Discovering a New Approach
Contributed by Jim Lynn Finding a few qualified candidates to hire out of 7.9 million people can be trickier than you might think. 7.9 MILLION is how many people are currently unemployed in the U.S. according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Surely there must be...
It’s Time to Start Thinking About Bulbs!
Hello Garden Lovers, It's bulb time! We are planting bulb "overlays" for our Clients' gardens, meaning that we plan a sequenced bulb display (big or small) and plant them in between your other plants in the garden. these bulbs bloom from March to May, giving color and...
Falling for Containers
Contributed by Tim Wholey Reflecting on this past summer, one word jumps out – RAIN – or more specifically, the lack of it. It was one of the hottest and driest on record. We added “deep watering” to our garden maintenance regime this past summer and let many hoses...
A Design for All Times
Contributed by Curtis Hawley “I have all my life been considering distant effects and always sacrificing immediate success and applause to that of the future.” Frederick Law Olmsted Earlier this year, I had the good fortune of running into a great read, A Clearing in...
What Makes An Inspired Gardener
Contributed by Christie Dustman One of the hardest "titles" to call myself is an Artist. I struggle to feel like what I do is creative enough, interesting enough, hard enough or just plain "artistic." I hold artistry as the pinnacle of talents, along with diplomacy...
Spiders: Not So Scary After All?
Contributed by Libby Coley SPIDERS in my plants! Did a wave of “ewww” just go through your spine? Often maligned and feared, these eight-legged critters should be considered one of our best friends in the garden. Why, you ask? Bottom line: spiders eliminate many...
Water, water, water!
Contributed by Christie Dustman Summer’s wonderful sunny weather is here in full force and we humans love it! But our plants experience summer differently. The Boston area is entering a drought ……… and this follows a winter and spring of low moisture. While it...
Garden Tour at Christie’s!
Selected to be on a national Garden Conservancy tour, the Dustman-Ryan garden will be open to the public on Sunday June 5 from 10 to 4pm. The Garden reflects the creative efforts of a mighty team: Christie Dustman, professional garden designer and Patti Ryan, a...
Tales from another new gardener …
Contributed by Curtis Hawley I had previously written about being new to the fine gardening scene and all the great teachers I’ve had along the way giving timely advice and demonstrating proper technique to accomplish standout results. Well, last season I had an...
Cueing Up a New Season and a New Location
2016 is cuing up to be a great year! Christie Dustman & Co. has moved to a new location with more room to grow! All of our processes will be housed under the same roof for streamlined operations. The incoming phone number will stay the same and so will the...
Caution! Power Lines
Contributed by Jim Lynn The colder temperatures are settling in and we are starting to see snow in our forecast as we head deeper into winter. Occasionally we are fortunate enough to have what New Englanders refer to as a dusting (anything under 6 inches), but it is...
Winter Survival Tactics
Contributed by Lynn Hutchinski I don’t know about you, but about this time of year I start to get a little stir-crazy. The holidays are over – the fun and energy and bright colors are gone - and it’s cold and snowy out there and no way will I be heading to my garden...
It’s Finally Over!
The Stormwatch is BACK! Yes, this week, finally some slushy, mushy snow fell and I can officially declare landscaping season over. For me, this recent should-have-been winter season was like a baby refusing to take a nap. You rock that baby, you do bouncy bounce...
Starting my garden list again
Contributed by Allan Robinson Like many of you, last weekend I was completing one of the "final" final clean-ups of the year. I'm hedging to say "final" as this IS New England and for another few weeks leaves will accumulate beneath the Boxwood hedge along my front...
Spruce up your entryway! Or Pine, or Cedar, or …
Submitted by Tim Wholey It seems like just last week we were discussing changing out our summer containers, but that was over two months ago now! People are already starting to ask when we will be making the switch over to our winter arrangements. I am still trying to...
THE COST OF WINTER DAMAGE
How many of you had deep sadness this spring when you saw the snow’s violent impact on your favorite Weeping Japanese Maple, Mounded Pine, or other beloved plant? Christie Dustman & Co. spent much of the spring in plant triage mode; in many cases, we had to remove...
Even Gardens Get Blankies – Time for Mulch
Ok, so I was pretty suspicious of the “let’s put down a blankie” idea for the garden before winter. If you have met me, you know that I am not the type of person who makes my own crackers. I buy them. In the garden, I will do fussy things but only if there is a good...
About Christie Dustman
Christie Dustman is a life-long gardener and owner of Christie Dustman & Company, Inc.
Create A Garden That Feels Like Home
We want you to fall in love with your landscape. And we’ll work with you to make that dream a reality.
We translate your wants, needs and vision into a practical and aesthetically pleasing landscape. By carefully listening, examining your landscape and bringing ingenuity to the drafting table, you’ll experience an “ah-ha, that’s it!” moment.
