By By ERIKA PICKLES / Niles Daily Star
NILES – John Bair surprised his wife, Cathy, with a lily garden in the early 1990s.
Cathy was out of the country and upon her return, she was pleasantly surprised to find the flowers awaiting her.
Since that day, the Bairs have been adding to their outdoor garden and now have a beautifully-landscaped yard.
"We mostly have perennials, but we do have some annuals as well," which include Cathy's favorite flower of snapdragons, as well as impatients, begonias and other yearly-planted flowers.
"I really like the English-Cottage garden look. I like things that look wild. We're not too big on the yard decorations, though we do have some," Cathy said.
Two bears, one they brought home from California that is made out of a Redwood tree, and a windmill are among the few decorations. An arch sits at the edge of a flower bed, which features a water fountain, bird bath and several flowers, which include the snapdragons and tiger lilies. That's just one of the many beds the two have created in their outdoor escape.
"We have a lot of different flowers – Hollyhocks, lilies, tall flocks, bloom flowers, daises, indigo bunnies. We haven't seen a flower we didn't like," the two explained.
"I like the spring time because I like the pastel colors more. John likes the summer because he likes the bold, bright colors," Cathy said.
Any outdoor enthusiast knows that with bright, blooming flowers comes a wide variety of outdoor life. The Bairs enjoy the different bird and butterfly species that visit their garden on a daily basis.
"Wrens, cardinals, bluebirds, orioles, we get a lot of them. We had a lot of baby birds this spring," and it's easy to see why with 10 birdhouses resting among the flowers.
John stated that the bluebirds often stay around during the cold winter months because the Bairs placed heated bird baths in their flower beds.
"It's really neat to see. It's nice too because in the summer we sometimes see 10-12 birds in the bird baths. We had a bluebird and an oriole taking a bath together the other day, that was fun to watch," John said.
It was easy to see why as birds can be heard chirping from inside the home, while butterflies roamed the gardens in search of food.
The Bairs haven't always had the picture perfect garden, though. Just a few years ago, when the tornadoes went through the area, the Bairs lost a total of 13 trees in their backyard, most of which provided shade for their flowers.
"We had a lot of rearranging to do. Flowers that needed shade had to be moved to a different location and those that needed mostly sun were moved to the back. It took a while to clean things up, as fences were also damaged," John said.
Cathy added that the second-story roof was also damaged. "At least we got a lot of fire wood out of it," Cathy joked.
Despite the mess from mother nature, the Bair's did a great job of cleaning up as their flower beds have been back to looking amazing for quite some time now.
"I had to laugh because John just retired this year and said he was done adding to the garden, but after going on the garden tour last weekend he now wants to build a pergola," Cathy said.
A pergola is a garden feature forming a shaded walk or passageway of pillars that support cross beams and a sturdy open lattice, upon which woody vines are trained.
"It will be very nice, it's very Italian looking," John explained.
Cathy said that John does a lot of the yard work, including watering the flowers daily. "It's all done by hand. We don't have a sprinkler system, just a hose. We are really hoping for rain," Cathy said as John continued. "We don't even worry about our lawn, just the flowers. It's like throwing money down the drain when you try to save your lawn at this point."
Despite the hard work, John and Cathy both enjoy their garden. "Pulling weeds keeps me young," John said. Cathy added that she enjoys picking flowers and taking them to church or giving them out to people. "I just snipped a lot of my snapdragons this morning," she said.
From flowers and decor, to birds and butterflies, the Bairs have created a wonderful outdoor escape that not only keeps them busy and relaxed, but also provides a home and safe haven for a number of different wild life.