Bethel Park Flower Shops

Bethel Park PA News

Jul 27, 2016

Sunken garden features colorful flowers, true hardscape

Between the raised beds and many containers, there are enough flowers to please any bride. Evan Evanovich, of The Landscape Center by Evanovich in Bethel Park, chose nearly all of the annuals, perennials, shrubs and trees that surround the Pennsylvania bluestone patio. Annuals include vinca, begonias, verbena, lantana, SunPatiens and petunias — lots of petunias. The Orangises found some unusual seedlings this spring. Before ripping out what they thought were weeds, they asked florist Pete Donati to identify one. “That's a petunia,” he said. They moved them to containers and the white flowers now spill over the sides. Colorful perennials populate the beds that wind around one-third of an acre. Sun lovers include coneflowers, coral bells, daylilies, golden creeping Jenny, dwarf Shasta daisies, "Blue Star" juniper, "Alpenglow" hardy geraniums, "Zagreb" coreopsis, "Marcus" meadow sage and "Drift" and "Knockout" roses. All were planted after the stonework was installed by A & S Landscaping of Canonsburg. Albert Bier's crew had to think big when it realized that the patio and deck it replaced were several feet lower than the surrounding yard. “They had to crane in the stone and the fireplace,” said Carl Orangis, a “semi-retired” mechanical engineer with People's Gas. He used those skills to engineer a system of hoses and spigots to water this sprawling garden, which gets sun nearly all day. Have they considered sprinklers? “Boy, are we thinking about sprinklers!” his wife joked. They're also talking about adding a pergola near the outdoor fireplace. The furniture in the two seating areas came from Outside Inspirations in Pine. A garden this large takes years to come together — eig... (GoErie.com)