86-Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, May 25, 2002
Strangers often tour the grounds surrounding the Sensenig home. Brenda dug out the
pond and stream by herself.
Brenda*'s Secrets For Turning
Castaways Into Flowering Assets
LOU ANN GOOD
Food And Family
Features Editor
EPHRATA (Lancaster Co.)
A bathtub in the front yard? An
ironing board in the side yard?
That’s exactly what passersby
see and much more when travel
ing past Ed and Brenda Sense
nig’s home, 188 S. Market St.,
along a rural road in Ephrata.
Always on the lookout for
novel flower containers to incor
porate into her landscaping
decor, Brenda snatches up mun
dane castaways from yard sales
and auctions.
The old adage that one man’s
junk is another man’s treasure is
certainly proven with one glance
at Brenda’s yard.
Except in this case, much more
than a casual glance is required
to capture the full magnitude of
Brenda’s ability to turn junk into
flowering assets.
The yard and home of this
bubbly “over 50” woman has
been featured on numerous house
tours, and in newspaper and
magazine articles. These days,
she is digging into dirt from
sunup to sundown to plant and
get things in order on the cou
ple’s 1 '/2-acre plot.
Brenda said her adventure
with the unusual began eight
years ago, after things had settled
down from having four new
grandchildren added in one year.
That’s when she dug out a
pond using a rototiller and shov
el.
“Things sort of evolved ever
since then,’’ Brenda said. First
she picked up rocks to add to the
' Xv *
landscape. She built a stream, a
patio, and had a wooden bridge
installed across the stream.
At yard sales she kept seeing
items that she envisioned would
make great containers for con
tainer gardening.
“I just kept buying things.
They cost only a few dollars—it’s
a lot cheaper than buying new
planters and containers. I mean
what could hold more flowers
than a bed?” she asked.
So that white-painted iron bed
bursts with color during the sum
mer season.
The bathtub makes an ideal
water garden. Circulating pumps
There’s more than one
way to use an ironing
board.
keep the shower running
throughout the outdoor season.
If she had a bathtub and a bed,
Brenda figured she might as well
turn that spot in the yard into “a
bed and bath.” She added a
washbowl planted with petunias,
/ *(, **
- $
and a hampers, washtubs, and a
few other items.
It seemed only natural to hang
a pair of her husband’s jeans
nearby. She stitched the pant legs
shut, filled them with plastic pea
nuts, and fastened a plastic pot
inside the waistline with twistie
ties. Voila! A unique container to
hold flowering geraniums.
The ironing board was Bren
da’s mother’s. Now it’s covered
with cat and kitten plants.
Another area, dubbed “Maw
Maw’s Nursery” features a tod
dler bed, pedal car, and swing
covered and multiplying with
flowers.
Although the landscaping
ideas mostly flower from Bren
da’s imagination, she said her
husband Ed helps out by painting
many of the objects and assists
with the layout of an outdoor
railroad. That’s right. In the front
of the house is a wonderful train
chugging along through the min
iature village.
“1 do the landscaping. I don’t
use any weed killers and sprays. I
use lots of mulch four dump
loads, in fact.”
Under the mulch lies a secret
weapon against weeds. Brenda
buys old sheets at garage sales,
tears them up, lays them in posi
tion, and covers them with
mulch. The sheets keep weeds
from popping up but allows the
moisture to seep through and
eventually disintegrates into the
soil.
“If I want to plant a flower, all
I need to do is cut a hole in the
sheet,” Brenda said.
(Turn to Page B 12)
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Strangers often tour the grounds surrounding the Sen
senig home.JSrenda dug out the pond and stream by her
self.
“Bed and Bath” is what Brenda designated this area of
the yard. It features an iron bed, washbowl, hamper, and
a clawfoot tub with a circulating pump that keeps the
shower running throughout the summer. Visitors inspect
a pair of Jeans that hold a flower pot, which will burst
forth with colorful blooms later in the season.
This outdoor railroad can bo admired by motorists trav
eling past the Sensenigs’ home and from inside the
home’s sunroom.