Now, it's a playground of a different sort, defying the monotonous traditions of suburban landscaping and proving that no matter where you live, how much space you have, or how much you know or don't know, you can create an extraordinary garden.
"This is the outcome of thinking, creativity, and planning," says Thinnes, an unabashedly confident sort who plotted out every detail of every phase of his garden project, in pencil, on graph paper over many winters. Lots and lots of graph paper.
There's a reason professional garden designers make a plan. It works! And Thinnes is proof that the same can be true for amateurs. "It's a lot of work," he says, "but more fun than work, much more fun."
First, the work, which the self-taught Thinnes - who spent 20 years as director of graduate programs in training and organizational development at St. Joseph's University - did himself.
Three waterfalls, three small ponds and a stream anchor the backyard, which has a 25-by-30-foot patch of grass in the middle and mature trees on the perimeter. Brick, pebble, and stone paths and a network of low walls - 25 stone pallets in all - wind through the perennial gardens that frame the lawn.
Interspersed throughout are a dozen sitting areas with inviting benches and chairs, including a small patio for dining; seven birdhouses, all occupied; and one granite bird bath and two feeders that attract cardinals, hummingbirds, finches, and more.
Thinnes built a gazebo out of cedar slats and an arbor he calls a "tunnel." Both are covered in native honeysuckle vines with coral blossoms.
Look through the "tunnel" and you'll see all three waterfalls.
