Dinwoodie Landscape Services Comparative Summary

Dinwoodie Landscape Services offers “horticulture gardening” to residential and commercial clients in Alameda County and parts of Contra Costa County. According to owner Sally Jo Dinwoodie, the company’s services go beyond those of “mow and blow” gardening crews that roam the Bay Area. “We do fertilizing, mowing, weeding, irrigation adjustments, dead heading, mulching, aesthetic pruning and trimming, aerating and planting, pest prevention, garden staging, and general garden and landscaping design and consulting.”

Ms. Dinwoodie was trained in horticulture at Merritt College and landscape design at UC Berkeley Extension. She says she’s deeply involved in the day-to-day details of Dinwoodie Landscape Services. “I draw on my background to guide my crew and educate my customers. For example, a current pressing topic is how to mitigate the effects of fungal disease brought on by winter rains.”

Dinwoodie Landscape Services’ garden care operation is highly organized, says Ms. Dinwoodie, with well-trained crews who understand the technical aspects of everything they do. “They work well together and are attuned to the changing needs of our customers’ gardens.” Ms. Dinwoodie says her company only takes on jobs if it’s confident of success. If customers have problems that fall beyond the scope of her expertise, she freely refers them to other gardening professionals whom she believes are better qualified.

Dinwoodie Landscape Services provides “real estate staging,” a process that involves making a property’s yard as attractive as possible to would-be buyers. Ms. Dinwoodie also consults with do-it-yourselfers on plant selection, planting techniques and other issues related to gardening. Condo associations or tenant groups can hire the company to evaluate their own landscaping crews and recommend improvements.

Another of Dinwoodie Landscape Services’ specialties is cleaning up gardens that have been left untended for weeks, months or years. It can cut or remove large weeds, trim and prune overgrown plants, and do “whatever it takes to get gardens back in shape,” says Ms. Dinwoodie.