Most people bring knick knacks or t-shirts home from vacation. Debe and Lou Terhar brought home a garden.
Of course they didn’t stuff plants, pathways and a fountain into their suitcases, but they were so enchanted with a formal English garden they saw while vacationing in Australia, they vowed to recreate it in their Cincinnati backyard.
From Down Under to the West Side
Inspiration hit while the Terhars were staying at Lillianfels Resort and Spa in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, Australia. “It was listed as one of the thousand places to see before you die,” Debe says. “When we were walking from the resort down to the restaurant, there was this English garden on the grounds of the restaurant. I was so taken by it.”
Debe lived in England for several years, and a formal garden like those she’d seen there and throughout Europe had always been a dream.
Lou began pacing off the size of the Lillianfels garden, back to front and side to side. From his rough measurement, it seemed like they could make it work behind their house on Cincinnati’s West Side.
Dream to Reality
When they returned home, Debe pulled out the email address she had used to make reservations for the restaurant, crossed her fingers and sent a request for more information on the garden. “I got an email from the chief engineer of Lillianfels, with answers to all my questions, plus the design for the original garden,” Debe recalls.
The Terhars took the information to local landscape designer Martha Wasserman to adapt the plans for their space. Then they contacted Seiler’s Landscaping to begin construction.
“When I met Will Seiler, I thought it was a perfect fit,” Debe says. She knew he understood the vision she had for the garden. “Everyone with Seiler’s has just been phenomenal,” she says.
As the garden is taking shape, Debe is getting more and more excited. She can’t wait to see the Korean lilacs, white hydrangea and coral bells blooming. “We originally wanted to have white climbing roses over the trellises, but it seemed more practical to have clematis.”
Until that first blooming season, Debe is enjoying walking the garden paths and relishing their elegant and unique souvenir from a trip across the world.
Tell Us Your Vision
Do you have a dream garden in mind or want to give your landscaping a facelift? Contact us: We’d love to talk about your options in a free consultation.