Master gardener Phyllis Shoenberger and her husband, Mark, were searching for a new, simpler life that would suit them during their retirement years. It had to be a place that would allow her to garden, have space for his workshop and, finally, it had to feel like home.

        They had been looking at condos for a year. Nothing was quite right. And there were added concerns: “If we become ill, we don't have children to help us,” Mrs. Shoenberger says.

        Happily, the couple found a home and much more. In April, they left their home of 30 years, a spacious, secluded contemporary house in Finneytown and a three-quarter-acre shady woodland garden.

INFORMATION

• Llanfair's Healing Garden and Enabling Gardens will be dedicated 3-5 p.m. Tuesday. 1701 Llanfair Ave., College Hill. Volunteers, plant donations and monetary gifts to build and maintain Llanfair gardens are appreciated. Information: 681-4230.     • The Master Gardener program will offer a series of classes beginning in late August at the Civic Garden Center of Greater Cincinnati in Avondale. Information: 946-8986.

        Now they are College Hill residents, in love with their 1930sscaled-down brick cottage on a postage stamp-size lot. Colorful blossoms spill from window boxes and containers. Rocking chairs n the porch beckon new friends and neighbors.

        Their new home is adjacent to and owned by the Llanfair Retirement Community, opened in 1998 as the first registered Eden Alternative Community in Greater Cincinnati. Mrs. Shoenberger has been a Llanfair volunteer for more than a year.

        The Eden Alternative originated at an upstate New York nursing home in 1991. Dr. William Thomas and his staff dreamed of transforming nursing homes into lush, lively human habitats. Gardens, animals, birds and children bring life and involvement to settings once associated with infirmity.

        Steven LeMoine, executive director of the Llanfair Retirement Community in College Hill, and John Duke, Master Gardener program president, met at a 1999 celebration at Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum, hosted by Gardener's Network in 1999. They formed a committee of residents andmaster gardeners who were eager to see the gardening initiative grow at Llanfair, a community on 14 acres with more than 200 trees.

        The committee's first goal was to design a master plan for the grounds. In progress is an inventory and labeling system for all of the trees.

        The committee helped start a garden-appreciation club, called the Late Bloomers, which has educational programs and visits Tristate gardens.

        Other initiatives include:

        • Master gardener Chris McCullough wrote a manual for the maintenance of indoor plants for staff and residents.

        • Students from McCauley High School in College Hill have been lending a hand in the Llanfair gardens.

        • Some residents have been learning sign language in preparation for students from St. Rita's School for the Deaf coming to help with gardening projects this fall.

        Residents are always interested and always watching, Mr. Duke says. When they are not able to come outside to work, they eagerly observe the gardening activity from the windows. One woman, who is 93, likes to take photos of the gardeners at work.

        Mrs. Shoenberger's Llanfair relationship began when she donated many of her shade perennials. Frustrated by the deer population in her wooded garden, she was eager to share and create a garden that could benefit many people. Little did she know that the new gardens at Llanfair would one day be part of her extended yard.

        Now, Mrs. Shoenberger says, she starts each day by asking, “Where will I garden today?” Her latest goal is to plant a perennial garden under each resident's window overlooking the Llanfair courtyard.

        Mr. Shoenberger's wood-working skills have also been put to good useo. He built attractive wooden enclosures around the water hose outlets.

        Mrs. Shoenberger is deeply touched by the sense of community she and her husband have gained at Llanfair. For instance, she met resident Erma Bantz, who likes to help plant tomatoes. Mrs. Bantz comes with her cane and fold-up stool and trims the grass with her scissors. She tells Mrs. Shoenberger: “When I get in your little garden, I forget all my troubles.”

        “If the new owners of our house decided to give it back to us, we'd never return,” Mrs. Shoenberger says. “Giving away myself and the garden is joyful. Every day is marvelous. I feel free. I have a new mission in life.”
        Contact Peg St. Clair by phone: 541-4680; Web site: www.gardenersnetwork.org.
       
       

Start making scents
Fewer attend, but debuts ignite Coors Light fest
Theater review
No place like Llanfair
Ornamentation ruled in late 19th century
In the know
Get to it