It didn't hit any cars and, mercifully, it didn't fall back on the house, where the Pollacks' two children, then ages 11 and 14, played on the second floor.
The tree's wide branches did damage the neighbors' driveways and yards. And the whole business left the Pollacks' yard a muddy mess of deep gashes, including a tree-crater that was 6 feet deep, 15 feet wide, and filled with water.
"We found ourselves with truly a blank canvas," Amy says, which was both daunting and exciting.
What to do? That was the daunting part. On the exciting side, the crater gave birth to an idea. What about a pond in front of the house? (Several contractors would later demur. Ponds are private, for the backyard, they insisted.)
And the yard was now sunny, which made Amy the artist happy. She loves color, and many of a garden's most colorful plants thrive in sun.
"I'm not from the beige, white and black school," Amy says.
Nor, truth be told, was she much of a gardener. She grew up in Queens and Long Island and worked as art director for large advertising agencies in Manhattan before moving to Philadelphia.
Even now, Amy's not sure how big the family's Swarthmore property is, but when she and her husband bought it 24 years ago, real estate agents described it as "a parklike setting."
"I was used to seeing rats on my way to work and here I was, in a 'parklike setting,' " she says.
For more than a decade, Amy's had her own design firm, Twist 'n Shout, specializing in logos, invitations, brochures, and annual reports for nonprofits. No question she has design credentials - just not the garden variety.
