Maintain

While “garden stewardship” is how we choose to refer to our gardening service in its entirety, we also use it specifically for our year-round service of maintenance and care: seasonal cleanups, planting and regular maintenance. You can opt for the full service of garden stewardship or any aspect of it individually — just a spring cleanup, or even a one-time day of garden maintenance.

Seasonal Cleanups (spring and fall)

• March through May, and September through November
• Leaf removal and replacement with dye-free hardwood mulch, or leaf mulching in place
• Cutting back and pruning
• Weeding
• Edging, formal or “soft”
• Soil amendment — foliar compost tea, compost top-dressing, organic granular fertilizer, and added organic matter such as manures, mushroom soil and leaf mulch
• Green debris and garden detritus composted on site or hauled away

Garden Maintenance

• March through November — single visit, weekly, bi-monthly, monthly or as needed
• Weeding, of course
• Year-round pruning of trees and shrubs, from shearing boxwood to selective pruning of established trees up to 20 feet
• Soil amendment
• Watering as needed
• Planting — depending on the extent of the gardens, clients can lay out their own plant purchases and we will plant them during routine maintenance, so long as the number of plants does not interfere with maintenance needs
• Transplanting
• Staking, tying and trellising
• Integrated pest management (IPM) — evaluating pests in your gardens and how to mitigate them without harmful pesticides, by introducing beneficial insects and the plants that provide for them

Seasonal Garden Planting

• Bulbs and tubers
• Direct seed sowing
• RiverGirl’s own annuals and perennials, grown from seed or division without harmful pesticides, by request
• Bedding plants, annuals and tender perennials, spring through fall
• Perennials

Seasonal Containers

The living bouquet of your outdoor spaces, patios and doorsteps.

From spring bulbs to colorful fall shrubs and winter berries, ornamental hybrids to straight-species bioregional natives, we create artistic tapestries of living arrangements in potted spaces adorning your home or business.

Our use of perennials and woodies in these designs extends the life of the arrangements into your gardens — or perhaps a friend’s garden — because their shelf life doesn’t end with the season. It’s a cost-effective benefit, added to the rich textural palette you get from using more than just annuals.

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Our rates reflect the sustainability of a small, independently owned business that prioritizes the well-being of its employees, and we offer a sliding scale — see our rates and sliding scale.