A 37-Year-Old Medford Landscape Company, Now Doing Grounds & Snow

American Elm Landscape was founded in Medford in 1989 by Allan Spires, who still owns it, still runs it and still picks up the phone. For 37 years the company has done commercial grounds maintenance alongside hardscape and drainage — patios, walkways, retaining walls, planted beds, storefronts and municipal properties across Somerville, Medford, Cambridge and Boston. The hardscape work runs under the Boston Patio Design name.

American Elm Landscape Maintenance is that grounds work under its own name: contracted grounds care and snow & ice management for the property managers, condo boards and multi-family owners who want one accountable vendor all year. Same company, same crew standards, same owner.

Why we're selective about the properties we take

Our hardscape clients kept telling us the same story: the maintenance vendor is unreliable, the snow guy disappeared, nobody documents anything. We'd rather run a smaller number of properties well than a large number badly. So we take on a select number of new grounds and snow accounts each season, inside a tight radius around Medford and Somerville, and we say no to the ones that don't fit the route. That's what keeps pricing fair and crews on time.

What we bring that a mowing company doesn't

• 37 years maintaining commercial properties in these exact neighborhoods — storefronts, large condo associations, and the Medford Public Library (grounds and snow, five winters and counting). We know which Somerville streets flood, which Cambridge boards care about organic programs, and where the plows can't turn around in Charlestown.
• 4.7 stars across 61 Google reviews — read them. Same owner the whole time.
• 2026 Unilock Authorized Contractor and NDS Certified Professional Drainage Contractor — the construction side's factory and drainage credentials back the maintenance work too.
• NDS Certified Professional Drainage Contractor. Rare in a maintenance company, and it means chronic wet spots and ice traps get fixed at the source.
• Hardscape repair in-house. Heaved walkways, failing steps and leaning walls get handled by the same company, on the same invoice.
• Organic fertilization as the standard lawn program, not an upcharge.

How we work with property managers

We know you manage a portfolio, not a property, and that your time goes to the boards that are unhappy. So: written scopes, photo reports after every visit, COI and W-9 sent with the proposal, renewals in September with the price in writing, and a direct line to the owner. If a board wants us on a call, we'll get on the call.

We also know these firms all talk to each other. Our goal is to be the vendor you can hand a new property to without thinking about it.

Straight talk

We apply organic fertilizer but are not a certified-organic operation. We don't currently offer herbicide or grub treatment because that requires a separate state license. And if your property is outside the radius we service, we'll tell you on the first call rather than take it and show up late. We'd rather say that up front than have you find out in July.