Remember that great scene in Forrest Gump where the hapless bumper sticker promoter asks him for a slogan suggestion and Forrest promptly runs through a pile of dog poop?
The surprised salesman is taken aback when the film’s hero simply responds: “It happens.” The down-on-his-luck salesman goes on to spectacular success by adding “Sh” in front of the phrase for the now iconic bumper sticker.
There is an analogous situation when it comes to Patty Belsterling’s fantastical garden in Wyomissing.
This unique space came about, in part, as the result of a sewage situation just about a decade ago. It was time to replace an antiquated septic system and connect to the sewer lines. Problems and challenges prevailed. The grassy back yard was in ruins and, from that mess, emerged a garden like no other.
“This was just a basic yard, a basic nothing,” says Patty. “I’ve really transformed it.”
The setting for the transformation was a solid one. The house which Patty and her husband, the late retired state trooper Louis “Bucky” Belsterling, bought some 50 years ago is a sturdy brick 2 ½-story four-square built a century ago when what is now old Wyomissing was in full development mode. The house sits on a slight elevation, but the generous back yard is mostly level.
A Lengthy Process
Patty’s transformation efforts started 30 years ago when the couple knocked out windows and part of a brick wall to install sliding doors off the dining room. Those doors led to a deck, configured by Patty, that spans the width of the house.
“I literally took string and made the outline of it,” she recalls.
The deck includes bench seating along half of the perimeter. There are also three separate seating areas – two with dining tables and the other with comfortable rattan chairs and a sofa – where she and her frequent guests can relax.
The garden actually starts on the deck. Containers of every ilk boast plantings, annual and perennial. Peat moss-filled balls of ivy stay green year-round. A dominant planting is curly willow, also known as corkscrew willow due to its loose curling branch shapes, which thrives in containers and in the ground as an ornamental tree. Its origin is Chinese. It roots easily, she explained, and its cuttings
make for interesting arrangements. And, as the former owner of the Canal Street-based Arts and Flowers and who continues a successful freelancing career in semi-retirement, she is an expert in floral staging.
Patty engaged Garden Keepers and local landscape legend Bruce Dingeldein and Garden Keepers Ltd. of Myerstown to design and construct the garden.
The result is a maze of sorts of winding paths, planting spaces and seating areas, all with nods to privacy, reflection and life itself.
Forget Formality
“I didn’t want structure,” she says. “I didn’t want everything to be perfect because life isn’t perfect. I wanted something whimsical.”
And whimsy is the result.
Throughout the garden are objects d’art. There are scores of masonry statuary from rabbits to cherubs to birds. Metal figures of birds, insects and flowers are interspersed with birdcages housing candles and other collectibles.
Among Patty’s favorite whimsical figures are praying mantises purchased at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, NC, where her son Eric resides.
“There’s a wonderful museum gift shop and I always make sure to go there after dinner,” she says.
When it comes to the garden, some of Patty’s most memorable objects are the result of curbside “shopping.”
“You have to have an eye,” she says. “Someone else’s junk is treasure to me.”
Mirror Images
Remember her focus on reflection? The garden showcases that with perhaps a dozen mirrors placed strategically to make the area seem larger and more light-filled during the sun of day and the sparkling nighttime illumination.
Several of the more interesting mirrors, including a large ornate one missing a small border accent which is staged along the left fence wall, was salvaged from a neighbor’s set-out trash.
Her daughter Erin, who lives nearby, helped haul it to the backyard.
“I’m into recycling,” says Patty. “I like when there’s a story behind things.”
Semi-retired, she’s also into frugality and welcomes its challenges.
“Everything I do is on a shoestring,” she says.
Patty built two trellises and a stretch of fence out of salvaged wood.
A rattan sofa, chairs and table seating group in the yard was acquired via Facebook Marketplace for $100. Two metal chairs in the grouping were a similar bargain needing only cushions to complete. A firepit anchors the setting.
On the deck immediately outside the dining room, a long narrow wood-topped side table which appears to have been custom made came from a Fleetwood Industries surplus sale. It offers space for an expansive buffet when its planters are removed. Two ornate seven-foot-plus wooden columns at either end were gifted from her friend David Reppert who salvaged them from an old house.
Large blue ceramic pots and a standing chandelier were purchased at garage sales.
Well-placed trees including the curly willow, three hollies and a Japanese maple, an occasional patio umbrella, and wisteria-covered pergola and wooden fencing promote privacy. Shrubs, including a healthy amount of boxwood in planters and in the ground, add texture and more shades of green.
“Everywhere I sit on my deck and yard, I wanted privacy,” Patty says. “I wanted to be able to be out here in my pajamas if I feel like it.”
Even as she cherishes moments of privacy, Patty is far from being alone. Indeed, her garden is a respite and refuge and celebratory destination for friends and neighbors of all ages. The annual Wyomissing Fourth of July Parade passes in front of her house, and she opens it and her garden to scores of family and friends for pot-luck fun.
Kid-Friendly
The neighborhood kids, starting with her now teenaged grandchildren Finn and Riley, all know treats abound at the Belsterling house.
“Every day it seems the little ones will stop by and say: ‘Miss Patty, may we have some candy?’ And out comes the candy basket,” she laughs.
And there’s another fun treat for the children – a special area just for them at the right of the house.
Patty calls it a “fairy garden,” and there are all sorts of objects for imaginative play. Nearby, a large weather vane anchored by a pig stands guard.
“It’s a place for the kids to make a village, a little city,” she says.
Maintenance is, of course, an ongoing issue with such a complex garden. There is a limited amount of grass in the front yard. Annual plantings, small evergreens and three magnolia trees frame the front of the house. Gates on either side lead to the garden.
Weeding is the main point of maintenance. But even that’s a task Patty approaches philosophically.
“It’s like pulling weeds out of your life,” she says. “It so reminds me of my life, my soul, weeding out the negative things.”
Sharing her garden with great friends is one of Patty’s priorities. A friend of 40-plus years is Mary Attilli, a retired Muhlenberg High School teacher and pretty much a woman-about-town bon vivant, who shares Patty’s love of literature and spirituality. The two, avid walkers, have traveled paths spiritual, metaphorical and physical over the years.
“We see our gardens in a symbolic way,” Mary says, noting Patty has been a gardening mentor to her for some time.
Rabbits Galore
Dominant among Patty’s garden statuary are figures of rabbits.
“I have maybe 10 of them,” says Patty. “I love rabbits.”
She recalls a conversation with Mary centering on a quote from the classic John Steinbeck book Of Mice and Men.
“Tell me about the rabbits, George,” says the character, Lenny.
The rabbits and caring for them represent a dream of innocence and hope, a solace almost tranquilizing, to set the character George’s mind at ease.
“We are long-standing friends and she’s always gotten a kick when I tell her stories,” says Mary. “I was like her first audible book.”
The rabbit quote is a favorite. Mary says Patty’s garden is a literary inspiration to her.
“It’s enchanted,” she says. “It brings back to me all the stories, the classic books like The Magic Garden and The Secret Garden. It’s like my own little storybook I can visit.”
Not visitors, but rather permanent residents, are Patty’s pet trio: Daisy, a pampered goldendoodle and two cats, Sweetie Pie, who took residence while pregnant (she’s now fixed) during the pandemic, and Tilly, who can’t get enough of rolling on the gravel pathways.
“They’re with me all the time and love this garden as much as I do,” she says. “Pets are therapeutic; they help us in so many ways.”
Wildlife is also part of the scene with several birdfeeders placed in the garden. The bird songs and windchimes add to the fanciful feel. A fountain assuages avian thirst while providing soothing sounds.
Every spring, Patty seeks out some annuals to add color to her containers. She also fills a large one with varieties of lettuce and adds peppers and tomatoes to planting areas.
She seeks out low-cost suppliers. The Produce Junction in Exton is a favorite as well as a number of nearby farm stands.
Among the annuals she favors are geraniums, canas and caladiums. She will also start out some annuals with seeds in the early spring.
Everything is Illuminated
Lighting brings the garden alive at night. Though the neighborhood squirrels seem to lodge sporadic attacks on the wiring, Patty’s determination prevails and skeins of sparkling overhead lights add to the garden’s mystique. Carefully placed solar lights illuminate the paths lined with several varieties of hostas and ferns that spill past the brick borders onto the stone walkways. Stands of upside-down wine bottles and art-glass globes capture the light from both elevations, the later providing an occasional prism for even more subtle impact.
Patty says her guests frequently note she could rent out her garden for small parties, something she has yet to do. However, she is pondering hosting a dinner party as a fundraiser for a local nonprofit she supports.
She’s also considering an inventive yard sale to cull down her large collections.
“I’d like to do something fun – maybe with music and food,” she says. “I’d put price tags on things, and people could come, eat, enjoy the sounds and leave with a new treasure.”
A yard sale will not mean selling the yard. With the years of investment of family memories and hard work, Patty is staying in the home and garden she loves. And, with a glass of wine and friends at hand, she is confident in what it represents.
“This garden is kind of like life,” she says. “Some things die off, some things stay alive, some things flourish.” ◆
