Heartbroken to see my late neighbor's garden leveled

Rob Joswiak was the first neighbor I ever met when I moved into my house in 1998. We hit it off right away, and gardening was one of our common bonds.

He and his wife Mary would traverse the area, driving hours searching for plants and anything else that would fit their style. They were always looking for something unique to add to his landscape. He would find rocks in the middle of nowhere and bring them back to his garden. One time when my boys were teenagers, we came across Rob with a pry bar trying to move a rock that three people would have trouble with. That's the kind of guy he was, he always got the job done. We all pitched in to get the rock up to the garden.

The two of us would meet often at our property line, sit and have a beer, talking about gardening and fishing. We did that a lot, and we fished together too. One time he accidentally hit the lock on my truck up in Erie while steelhead fishing and when I went to call AAA, he found a way to get the door unlocked.

His garden was a work in progress as he was always adding to it.

The process began years before I arrived. It was while recovering from heart problems, that he began to read about gardening, specifically Japanese gardens. When he was better, he began to convert the front and back yards into the most incredible garden you've ever seen. It included thousands of trees, shrubs, perennials, and bulbs. He built various structures, a tea house, and others all part of the tradition of the Japanese style. He was a skilled carpenter too. There were ponds filled with fish, clematis trailed along the fence, each step offered a unique surprise.

One of his most brilliant creations was the fence surrounding the backyard garden. He used PVC and painted it to look like bamboo.

He called me one day and said the Post-Gazette had contacted him and wanted to come see the garden, someone had nominated it for the first garden contest the paper held. At the time I worked for the PG, so I told him, "don't tell them I'm your neighbor, then you'll win or lose on your own merits." The garden was the first ever to win the coveted "First Place, Non-Professional" category. We were all so proud of him, it was well deserved.

Rob passed away in 2018 and Mary passed this year, the house was sold and is being renovated by the new owners.

I got word that over the last two days, the front garden was leveled. I didn't know if I had it in me to drive up and take a look, but after thinking about it for an hour, I had to see what happened. I was horrified by what I saw. Leveled is the right word as all that remained were two flat squares of dirt.

The ancient beech that overlooked Darwin tulips each spring was gone, along with the arbor that supported a mature blue atlas cedar, the spectacular tree peonies that towered over the hostas...gone. It was all gone. A lifetime of love, blood, sweat and tears disappeared in just two short days.

It's no one's fault, when you buy a property, you have every right to do what you want with it. I'm not trying to lay blame or a guilt trip on the new owners. It just breaks my heart, because I appreciate how special that space was, and treasure the days I spent up there with Rob and Mary.

It's a reminder for all of us, to enjoy every day in our own gardens, because there's no way to know what will happen to them when we're gone.

I mourned the loss of my dear neighbors, now I mourn the loss of the front garden. The backyard looks pretty close to what it was, but who knows what's next.

The first spring after I moved in, I met Rob at our border. He told me that the daffodils in full bloom were actually on my property and that I could pick whatever I want.

Whatever happens to the landscape, I'll always have those daffodils each spring to remember Rob, his passion for gardening and the great times we had together.

This 2003 article from the Post-Gazette talks about the win and how he created such a special place.

This 2010 blog post from a garden visitor to our gardens explains the wonder of seeing Rob's garden in person.