It's that time of year, deep summer, when gardens all over Berks and beyond are bursting with blooms of every color and with produce of many varieties.
When one arrives at the modern Exeter Township ranch house of Gary and Laura Seibert, it’s clear the occupants appreciate a manicured lawn and quality landscaping. Flowers and carefully tended shrubs complement the character of the classic 3,400-square-foot stone and stucco residence.
But the front yard just barely hints of the complex and stunning tiered gardens that consume much of the couple’s sloped backyard. That space leads into a lovely little wood which offers both natural privacy and some challenging wildlife moments.
The Exeter house, located in the western side of the township, fit the couple’s entertaining and business needs. Past owners of the former and very popular West Lawn-based Kidsports, the Seiberts now have their own small business consulting firm, the Small Business Resource Association, which is based in their residence.
It’s only logical and quality-of-life enhancing, then, for the Seiberts to have their workplace/home surrounded by beauty.
Icy encounter
When the couple first visited the property back in the winter of 2015, it was a challenge to see beyond the snow-and-ice encrusted deck and backyard. But a huge rock formation and pond between it and the deck proved intriguing and became the invitation to develop a landscape that would showcase it. And Laura possessed just the experience and expertise to develop that showcase…and the rest of the extensive garden as well.
“I really got interested in gardening in my mid-20s,” she says. “My grandparents had a large property with fruit trees, actually small orchards. Once I had my own home, I wanted more than grass. I first had a city row home and did things with the yard there. Then, I had my home in Wyomissing where Gary moved when we married.”
Laura took her gardening hobby and talents to a new level in 2004 when she became a Berks master gardener, honing her skills in both her former Wyomissing property and now at the couple’s Exeter home. She has also has done projects like the landscaping in front of B2 Bistro + Bar in Wyomissing.
Gary, a former teacher with a talent for carpentry, has added rail planters to, and other elements for, container planting on the deck. Aided by their 7-year-old grandson, Gary constructed two bluebird houses which were placed in an upper garden area in April and are now welcoming happy avian occupants.
To walk out the Seiberts’ back door is to truly enter a world devoted to both plants and humans.
Seats and steps
The large deck area spans the width of the house and includes separate seating areas, one of which includes a natural gas fire pit. Down a few flat-stone stairs (installed as much for the dogs as they are for humans) is a patio area with a complementary fire pit, this one fueled by wood. All in all, the combined area provides seating for at least 22, essential to the Seiberts, who love to entertain their large combined circle of friends and family, including three grandchildren.
Accents to the deck area include piazza and solar lighting, a pergola, the rail planters, a free-standing bench area with herb garden and an arbor with seating. There are also abundant hanging baskets and large celadon-colored pots containing verbena in shades of purple, red, pink, gold and white.
“The hummingbirds like verbena and the color red,” Laura says.
Just steps away from the house, the herb garden provides essential fresh ingredients to meals prepared on the couple’s large grill or in their kitchen. Close by is a salad garden which boasts a variety of lettuce, spinach and radishes. Another few steps up from the patio, Laura has established a large vegetable garden, replacing a lone deciduous tree that stood in a fenced patch. She kept the fencing to discourage feasting on the tomatoes, peppers, asparagus and blueberries by ravenous groundhogs, rabbits, deer and other pesky wildlife.
Perennials on the slope leading to the fenced garden include roses and yarrow which attract birds, especially bluebirds and cardinals.
Much of the extensive garden area adjacent to the house is fenced for the enjoyment and safety of the Seiberts’ canine best friends Sally, 8, a Morkie, and Lucy, 16, a Bichon Frise, as foxes, coyotes and even bears have been spotted on the property.
The one-third-acre lot seems much larger thanks to the expanse of grassland leading to the municipal woodland. The couple removed 17 trees to both open the area to sunlight and to create a winding, bordered garden, with several distinct planting areas, including a memorial tribute space. Among the plants are bee balm, spectacularly striped Hosta and perennial sunflowers. An aged tree stump is set up with a birdhouse. Among the visitors are large woodpeckers whose loud activity announces their presence.
If colors and plants are primary to a great garden, so are sounds.
For the birds
The first sound most people connect to a garden is that of birds. Indeed, Laura and Gary had that in mind as their garden evolved. In addition to the bluebird houses and the stump-house, there are a proliferation of bird feeders.
“There are three hummingbird feeders staged around the property to make a route for them,” Laura says. To keep the hummingbirds in good company, there is also a finch feeder, a bluebird feeder and three other “standard” feeders that attract a variety of songbirds.
Another kind of avian visitor looking for some tasty treats is a blue heron who has his/her eye on the variety of fish in the pond that runs under and around that big rock formation between the deck and outer gardens.
The pond area proved both intriguing and challenging early on for the Seiberts. Its size and composition were unique and eye-catching. Its mechanism was another story. “That spring, when we first tried to fire it up, we actually had a geyser erupt,” Laura recalls. “It was pretty clear some of the pipes had frozen and burst.”
Once repaired, it was often admired – and occasionally celebrated. “We had a party in 2019, and everyone had a glass of wine and toasted the pond,” says Laura.
The pond, which runs from the deck to garden area behind the big rock, has been running well in the subsequent years, providing a suburban paradise for a variety of fish as well as green frogs and American toads.
A fishy situation
Two of the larger fish – one an astonishing 28 years old – both large kois that have grown to two feet in length, have been named Ben and Jerry. Their grandson has informed them every other fish, and there are many, in the pond is named Bob in honor of a book he loves. The fish have lots of places to hide when that heron shows up, says Laura. There are mini-caves under the waterfall that spills over a part of the rock, and they can also escape notice under the water lilies. In the winter, the couple places protective netting over the pond.
Along with the resident fish, the pond offers a perfect habitat for the frogs who also like to lounge near the dogs on the deck. “They co-exist well,” Laura says.
During a late spring afternoon visit, the cacophony of the frogs clearly outperformed any birds’ songs or the melodic wind chimes on the deck.
“They’re really loud when they’re mating,” says Laura of the frogs, “and the neighbors ask us: ‘Can you keep that down?’”
The surrounds of the rock formation and the pond are beautified by the day lilies, salvia and phlox planted around fieldstones. Ivy, which can withstand the winter cold, emerges from the crevices and cascades along the rough edges. Living among the plants and rocks are the toads, garter snakes and the occasional – and not very welcome – water moccasin. Solar lighting provides soft accents after nightfall.
Laura favors many varieties of flowers that attract butterflies, important to the visuals, health and motion of any garden.
Despite having been formally trained, Laura says most of the garden and its structure have grown organically. “As we do one part, it just leads naturally to the next,” she says.
She credits Gary with having a “good eye” when it comes to both creating components for, and designs of, the planting areas.
Laura starts most of her annuals from seeds. The couple has banks of lights in their basement and begins the process usually in February, but has already started seeds as early as Christmas. Her go-to nursery for flowers and plants is Red Oak Creations in Kutztown which, she notes, is only open between April and June.
The front yard, far more limited in size than the rear, features shrubs and a red Japanese maple that are “deer-proof.” There is also a red birdbath as well as a small red wooden bench planter featuring prickly purple brushy flowers. A bird feeder, crafted out of an old pressed-glass candy dish and green bud vase, is an attention-grabber for the Seiberts’ winged and human visitors. There is also a seasonal mission for the front yard so the birds “will always have something to eat.”
Digging new adventures
Despite the maturity of the Seiberts’ front and rear landscaping, Laura is always ready to take on something new at the property. “If I see something I like, I work on it,” she says.
Laura encourages residential gardening aficionados to seek advice from the local extension office. “There is so much good information for free,” she says. “They will help you decide what is going to work best for your yard, really everything that will help you with your garden, flowers and vegetables.”
She advises taking that information and incorporating it with one’s individual taste. She stresses that gardening should be a learning and relaxing pursuit.
“I personally am more interested in the natural evolution of a property,” she says. “While some prefer formal sketches (to create a garden), I think the wilder, the better. You’ve got to go with what you like. Don’t be afraid to make a mistake. If you put in something and it turns out to be the wrong spot, you can move it somewhere else.”
