When snow weighs down branches on trees and shrubs, use a broom to gently sweep upwards - pushing down on the branches could break them....

MEET YOUR PERSONAL GARDENERS

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.

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.

Cindy Barr joined us in 2009.  Cindy enjoys meeting new clients and designing new gardens or restoring overgrown gardens to become a place they can enjoy again.

Sandy Fabec is a lifelong plant lover and gardener.  She learned about growing food, flowers, and using herbs as medicine from her grandparents.  She first began to ID wild plants for medicinal use when she was about 13 and that led to her study of the world of wild foods and medicinal herbs in more recent years.  Her own garden reflects the wildness in her own nature, and has been likened to an impressionistic painting.

Elaine Laymon has gardened from North Carolina to Seattle but loves western Pennsylvania soil the best.  Her favorite assignment is taming out-of-control perennial beds.

Donna Viney takes a poetic approach to her work: "With prunin' and weedin' we create a Garden of  Eden!"

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 late March to early November.  We work Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm. We do garden maintenance in Murrysville, Delmont, Export, Harrison City, Greensburg, the east end of Pittsburgh, (including Edgewood, Point Breeze and Shadyside,) Oakmont, and Fox Chapel, PA. Interested? Contact Carol here

About owner Carol Chernega  

       Carol Chernega has worked as a professional gardener since 1992.  She holds a Certificate in Horticulture from Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh, PA.  Her first major gardening job was to design and install extensive gardens at Cherry Wood Golf Course near Apollo, PA.

    Carol's favorite gardening task is hand pruning so she decided to specialize in this when she started One Garden at a Time in 2006.  This passion also lead to the development of her Personal Pruning Coach workshops, and her Pruning Shrubs DVD.

    She's been visiting England since 1997, studying 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 A Dream House: Exploring the Literary Homes of England.  For more information, please visit A Dream House Book web site

    Carol condensed her knowledge of English garden design and put it into a tips booklet: How to Create an English Garden, which is available on this web site.  (learn more about our English garden booklet)  For a Kindle e-book version, click this Amazon link.

A few of the publications Carol's published in:

Contact Carol with questions or comments about this web site.
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