BEFORE AND AFTER

As The Gardening Tutor, I offer three main gardening services: Consulting, Tutoring and Gardener. Determining which service or services best fits your project is one of the very first steps we will discuss together. Each service is described in brief below, followed with project photos. Please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have.
- Mary


The Gardening Tutor offers three distinct services, below is a brief description of each.

CONSULTING
Although Mary's primary type of consulting is the care and maintenance of plants within your extisting garden, she is always happy to help if you are starting with a blank slate. For those few who have a blank slate, Mary will consult with you and help you to design your own garden. During this process, you may need consultation help to answer your plant questions when you nursery shop, to be sure you are buying what will thrive in your garden as well as the correct quantity. Consulting is for you when you are willing to take lots of notes, do the work yourself and want only Mary’s expertise.

TUTORING
You already have a garden in place. You are not taking care if it because you don’t know how but you would like to learn. You are willing to get your hands dirty and you have no idea where to start. You need motivation and would like to learn tips and techniques to make your garden beautiful year round. Working with Mary, you will soon be thinking like a seasoned gardener. Tutoring is for you when you want a hands-on experience because you learn best by doing!

GARDENER
You want a professional with a passion for plants to come to your garden on a regular basis to maintain and keep all your plants happy. Gardener is not for you if you’re looking for general yard maintenance such as mowing, although Mary will compliment your general monthly maintenance service if you have one. One of Mary’s specialties is custom pruning and shaping. Gardener is for you when you have a garden in place but don’t have the time to care for it yourself.

Annette and Jim H.
Consulting and Tutoring
I've taken out my lawn and now have a blank slate.
I want to learn how to create and maintain
a garden myself, but I need help!
See more about this project here


Pruning 101
Tutoring
Help, how do I prune this plant correctly?
It's taking over my yard!
See more about this project here


Mulching 101
Tutoring
How can I make this garden area look better?
I've been told that mulch can help my plants thrive
as well as make the garden space look nicer.
See more about this project here


Mary’s Demonstration Garden
Consulting
Ideas for color in the garden.
See more about this project here


Tim G.
Consulting and Gardener
I am a do-it-myselfer but don't know where to start!
I need a designer to consult with me
so that I can create my dream garden.
Oh, and I will need someone to help maintain
my beautiful plants once we are done.
See more about this project here





Annette and Jim H.

Tutoring

The following are some of the steps taken with Mary Frost, The Gardening Tutor, to achieve this drought tolerant, deer resistant garden in Santa Rosa:

  • First consultation to discuss what client wanted to achieve and decide on using consultation, tutoring or both for the project .
  • Second meeting at The Gardening Tutor Deomonstration Garden to see mature plants and learn some fundamentals of design.
  • Third meeting at Client's house: Lesson on how to visulize design using cuttings and props to show color and proportion. More about design fundamentals. Also, a lesson on drip irrigation and planting zones.
  • Personal shopping day at the nurseries. Lesson on how to choose healthy plants. Also, how to decide on the number of plants needed.
  • Meeting to place plants and further tutoring.
  • Planting day lesson: placing plants, facing plants, proper planting on a slope, how to protect young plants from critters.
  • Drip irrigation lesson: placement of emitters, upkeep of system.
  • Mulching day: best practices for applying thick layer of mulch.
  • Six month follow-up tutoring: how to prune and care for each plant.










Pruning 101

Tutoring


Buddleja Davidii Pruning (Butterfly Bush)
Before


After
First Cut


After
Final Pruning


4 weeks later
Butterfly Bush flowers best on new growth!


Tools used
(yes that's a sawsall in there)


Mulching 101

Tutoring

Proper mulching technique.








Mary’s Demonstration Garden

Consulting

At the demonstration garden Mary create’s examples of design techniques to show clients. The intention is to inspire clients to personalize their own gardens, think outside the box perhaps, not necessarily to duplicate the example.
The hot Asian orange color of this fence adds some spice and really makes the plant colors pop! From inside the house, this fence color compliments the more subdued peach and pumpkin color palette of the livingroom, making the room feel bigger!


White: Original color


Peach: first choice, too pastel


Asian Orange: Hot!


Tim G.

Consulting and Gardener

A desire to, “actually want to be outside reading the paper” inspired this client to tackle a big project. A little motivation from The Gardening Tutor along the way helped to keep up the momentum!

This is phase one of a three phase project. As a talented “do-it-yourselfer”, Tim installed all of the stone elements and the pergola himself! The design consultations helped Tim understand many elements of landscape design, including the best use of scale and the most inviting size for the walking paths. Here are some of the steps taken with Mary throughout the project:

  • Design consultations
  • Motivation consultations
  • Personal shopper consultations:
    Shopping for stone elements, soil products, plant
    containers and planting material
  • Hired The Gardening Tutor hauling service to pick up and deliver soil products and containers
  • Hired The Gardening Tutor gardening service for custom pruning and periodic upkeep of the garden









    ©2007-2010
    The Gardening Tutor
    Hands-on, Individualized Gardening Instruction
    And Consulting
    in Sonoma County
    Santa Rosa, California
    707.545.6863

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