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Holiday decorating is about neighborliness
A lantern, scarecrow and some straw are all Pat Gerko needed to accent the shrubs in her side yard.
The without which nothing of fall flora: mums. Pat Gerko takes great pride in the yellow and orange mums that have been growing along her Plymouth property for 20-some years.
CLARK VAN ORDEN photos/THE TIMES LEADER
Some homeowners spend hours upon hours primping their home interiors for fall, but for others, such as Pat Gerko of Plymouth, paying special attention to the exterior is about neighborliness.
“As I’m getting older it’s in angst, but I love it,” Gerko said, noting everyone should have “pride in their neighborhood.”
This 69-year-old, proud of her small abode but a bit camera shy, even has a special friend on her front porch to greet visitors.
“She’s just a little autumn lady waiting for the snow to come,” Gerko said from that porch one recent windy fall day.
“She is 32 years old,” Gerko said, explaining she purchased the doll 32 years ago for $2 at an auction in New Jersey. It now stands upright on the porch.
Dressed in fall attire and holding autumn leaves, flowers and straw, the doll is one of many decorations Gerko and her husband, Stephen, use to dress up their yard.
“My husband says he’s going to move out because I’ve got so much stuff,” Gerko joked.
Perhaps he tolerates her obsession because he agrees with her motivation.
“We have to get back into our neighborhoods,” Gerko said, explaining why she takes the time to fix up the yard each fall. “Some of the neighbors will stop by and say how nice it looks.”
The neighbors also probably notice the orange and yellow mums growing in planters and in the ground in the front and side yards, which have been beautifying the landscape for the past 20-some years. Gerko makes a point to “deadhead” the mums as often as possible.
Picking off the wilted tops of the flowers is a task she often undertakes while walking around the yard with her 24-month-old Jack Russell Terrier, Luke.
“I pull them, and then they come back next year,” she said. “God is good to whatever I put in the yard.”
Red and white begonias complement the taller mums, but, come first frost, both the mums and begonias die.
That doesn’t sadden Gerko, a woman of obvious faith.
“God will take care of them,” she said.
On a side porch, she has another seasonal display: a scarecrow sits among pumpkins and potted mums that she’s been arranging for many years.
While it may be the Lord’s job to tend to the flowers, it’s Gerko’s to tend to the rest of the yard.
Her husband has his own responsibilities.
“He takes the pictures.”