Protect your shrubs from winter snow damage . . . click on the Services link at left for tips . . .

About Carol Chernega

   Carol's first love is England.  She's been visiting England since 1997, fueling her passions for English gardens, literature, and English history.  This lead to her specialization in English garden design in her lectures, writing, and garden maintenance business.

    It also lead to her being chosen as the first International Visitor for the Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA). This honor meant Carol worked for two months in Jane Austen's garden in Chawton, England. (photo left; click for larger view) As a result of that experience, she now sells Jane Austen merchandise on this web site.  She's a retired President of the Western Pennsylvania Region of the Jane Austen Society, and leads group tours to England, focusing on gardens and literature.

    When she's not visiting English gardens, or talking about them, Carol loves to write about them!  She's the English Garden Editor at BellaOnline . . . read her articles at the BellaOnline web site

     She's also the author of the tips booklet: How to Create an English Garden, which is only available on this web site.  (learn more about our English garden booklet)  She's currently writing a travel guide to the homes of English writers.

A few of the publications Carol's published in:

    Carol's worked as a professional gardener since 1992.  She designed and installed extensive gardens at Cherry Wood Golf Course near Apollo, PA.

    Carol's favorite gardening task is pruning, and she loves to share pruning tips with other gardeners.  This passion lead to the development of her Personal Pruning Coach workshops, and her Pruning Shrubs DVD.

    Read more about Carol and her lectures on English Garden design.

MEET YOUR PERSONAL GARDENERS:

Lisa O'Toole has worked for One Garden at a Time since 2006.  She loves to hand weed our client's gardens!  Lisa's grandfather taught her much of what he knew about gardening, especially the importance of preparing the soil, and growing vegetables, roses and fruit trees.  Lisa has fond memories of following behind her Pap as he double dug the garden beds.  Her job was to pick out all the rocks!  Lisa's an active member of the Murrysville Garden Club and has served on the Mayor's committee for the Route 22 Beautification.  She earned her certificate as Landscape Design Consultant through the National Garden Club Federation, and has attended numerous seminars at Phipps Conservatory, Penn State University, and Chatham College.  Lisa's favorite gardening tip:  Composting!  There's every reason to use what we have at our disposal in the form of kitchen scraps such as egg shells, coffee or tea grounds, vegetable scraps and lawn clippings and leaves.  Compost builds the soil and creates a great growing environment for all plant material.

Cathy Gothie has worked for One Garden at a Time since 2006.  She received associate degrees in Horticulture and Floriculture from Westmoreland County Community College.  Cathy especially enjoys hand pruning shrubs.

Sally Fallat has worked for One Garden at a Time since 2007.  She enjoys all aspects of gardening, but especially pruning.

Pat Kolar started working for One Garden at a Time in 2008.  Farming and gardening run deep in her family history and she's loved "playing in the dirt" since childhood.  She especially enjoys the challenge of transforming neglected or unwieldy plants, shrubs and trees back to their natural beauty.  After all, they need a "spa day" too!  Pat's favorite garden tip:  trim out the dead wood in shrubs before pruning anything else.  The shrub will look better right away and you can more easily select which branches to cut next.

Joining our staff of personal gardeners in 2009 are Helen Torrance and Cindy Barr in Murrysville and Ann Meigs in Fox Chapel. 

Cindy is a lifelong gardener.  Her greenhouse experience gives her a special perspective on planting annuals.

Helen, in her spare time, is remodeling a home in Greensburg, with the goal of opening it as a B&B.

Ann has worked as a gardener for several years.

JOIN OUR STAFF OF PERSONAL GARDENERS:

Do you love gardening?  One Garden at a Time is always looking for knowledgeable, dependable people who love to garden.  Our year runs from early April to late October.  We work Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm. We do garden maintenance in Murrysville, Delmont, Export, Harrison City, and Fox Chapel, PA. Interested? Contact Carol here

Contact Carol with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 2010 One Garden at a Time - reproduction of any information or photograph on this web site, by electronic means or otherwise, without written permission, is strictly forbidden.      Last modified: 03/08/10