Steve's garden is very secluded behind tall bushes that offer only a very small opening to see through. You might have mistaken the three "people" standing in the garden as the Smith's, but in reality they are the garden's "scarecrows" (as some people call them).
Steve and Patty's property takes up half a city block plus another six surrounding acres of mostly natural habitat, with the exception of a few paths for Patty to walk the dogs. The yard, flower and vegetable gardens, and resident home, surrounded by the tall hedges and woods, provide for an exceptionally tranquil atmosphere. The vegetable gardens, planted from seeds nurtured in the small greenhouse, are well tilled. The flower gardens are planted all around the property and are converstation pieces in themselves.
Steve has a clever way of watering some of the flowers with terra cotta colored pots that are stacked in a way that water only needs to be placed in the top one and the water trickles on down through the other pots and thus water is used over and over on its way down.
He has a turtle enclosure and a pond for colorful koi that Steve keeps heated in the winter so the water stays warm enough if the pond is iced over. The koi are kept company by small artificial alligators, snakes, frogs and turtles. There is a rock garden nearby.
The next time you travel down Smith street, at the big white house (used to be a funeral parlor years ago), peek through the tall bushes and wave at the three characters standing in the beautiful garden.
