Garden Club Presents Second Calla Lily Award to Peters Resident

The Lexington Court Garden Club awarded its second Calla Lily Award of the summer to Peters Township resident Ruthi DeSimone Bosco on Friday, for what club member and Calla Lily chairwoman Kathy Tomamichel referred to as a “truly remarkable garden.”

Bosco’s award-winning garden stretches around her expansive property, which sits in a cul-de-sac on Abbey Brook Lane. A veritable rainbow of colors blooms across her landscape, created by the dozens of species of flowers and other plant life she has reared there.

Zinnias, begonias, cosmos and hydrangeas are but a few of the many flowers throughout Bosco’s garden. Towering large-head sunflowers line up against the left end of the hillside in the property’s rear, as lush bushes of other flowers stretch out across the remainder of the hillside.

Among the types of flowers donning the hillside is the datura, commonly referred to as the moon flower, which fully blooms for only one day and has a very distinct, enchanting floral aroma.

A patch of herbs grows near the dining patio adjoining the home, easily accessible from the backdoor of Bosco’s kitchen. Sage, parsley, chives, oregano, rosemary, licorice plant, allium and four varieties of lavender sprout up next to the basil from which Bosco regularly makes her homemade pesto.

The yard’s gazebo, fish pond, bocce court, and pair of reclined outdoor lounge chairs allow Bosco and her family and guests to enjoy each other while enjoying the outdoors. Indeed, Bosco said that one of her favorite pastimes is to relax with her husband, Rich, in the lounge chairs and watch the sun set on the horizon.

Standing by those very chairs, Bosco pointed out a number of Peters Township streets and landmarks visible from her property’s panoramic view, including the white steeple of , which is where the Lexington Court Garden Club holds its monthly meetings September through May each year.

During those months when the club is in session, Tomamichel said the club hosts guest speakers and holds luncheons, in addition to sponsoring events to benefit area organizations such as the , Watchful Shepard, the Washington Women’s Shelter and the .

A series of several Calla Lily awards are doled out each summer, to recognize exceptional gardens and landscapes in and around Peters Township. The was given to Roberta Renzelli-Cain of Sherborne Drive in early August, and Tomamichel said she would like to hand out five more awards before the end of summer.

“What’s absolutely astounding about (Bosco’s) garden,” Tomamichel said, “is that it is only two years old.”

After residing in Whitehall for 28 years, Bosco and her husband designed and built their home in Venetia two years ago. She owns and operates RDB Design, an interior home and exterior landscape design company. Through skills honed by her personal and professional experience, Bosco, who has gardened for well over 35 years, single-handedly designed her home’s landscape.

“What (Bosco) has accomplished in the short time she has lived here is incredible,” said Tomamichel. “It’s obviously a labor of love.”

According to Bosco, the love for which she labored is not just a love of gardening, but also a love of her family.

Of all the many flowers in her yard, Bosco said that two of her favorites are her purple Siberian irises and her white roses, heirloom plants plucked from her grandmother’s garden and transplanted into her own, each dating back nearly 100 years.

She carried these flowers with her from her former home, and designed and rebuilt the fish pond that is in homage to her father.

The legacy of love continues in the slopes of garden that cascade down the property’s hillside. There, Bosco has anchored several plaques alongside rocks and low-grow flowers, in memory of people in her family who have died.

“It’s a place where members of my family can sit and reflect on our lost loved ones, and watch flowers grow from year to year in their honor,” Bosco said.

Another plaque now joins Bosco’s landscape. Staked in the flowerbed in front of the Bosco home, the sign reads: “The Calla Lily Award.”  

The sign was planted there on Friday afternoon, when Tomamichel presented Bosco with her award. It will remain posted there until the next award winner is selected.

And who will the next Calla Lily Award winner be? You can email residential and/or business nominations to tomamichel100@comcast.net.