Cincinnati February/March 2024

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Water meets art
To create the water feature, Lorie reached
out to Tony Niekamp owner of H2O Art
and Stone. “I wanted it to look natural and
knew Tony was who I needed to work with,”
Lorie says. “He and his team just did a phenomenal
job.”
Goodin agrees that Niekamp was the perfect
person for the job and says when it came
to design details for the pond, he needed
to let Niekamp “do what he does best.” He
adds, “You don’t tell an artist what to paint.”
Niekamp started working a week after
Thanksgiving 2021 and finished the week
of Christmas. “It was insane how fast Tony
worked,” Goodin says.
Then in January, the Siebenthaler’s team
was planting beds at the front of the home.
With Lorie’s encouragement, spotted yellow
and green Aucuba plants were included.
The selection was a gamble, since these are
marginally hardy plants, but the plants were
backed with a warranty, so it seemed worth
taking a chance. The plant became a favorite
immediately and got scattered throughout
the project. It not only survived the Ohio
winter, it thrived. All of the plants are
healthy and have seen tremendous growth.
Next the team turned their attention to
planting the back yard in March. The area is
mostly shady, so plant selection had to factor
that in. There is no traditional grass anywhere
on the property. Lorie has a penchant
for perennials and wanted their grounds to
be low maintenance. Goodin agreed and
placed shrubs and plants so they would grow
together and require little mulching.
When it came to specific plant selection
Lorie and Goodin walked through the greenhouses
together. “That was a blast,” she says.
Lorie happens to know a lot about plants.
“My grandparents were farmers. My dad
loved plants and grew rhododendrons when
he lived in Seattle, orchids when he lived in
the San Francisco Bay area, and he had 150
rose bushes in Phoenix.” ➻
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