No place like home
Bill and Donna Witwer have created a paradise on 3 acres in Cumru Twp.
Bill Witwer’s job requires a lot of travel.
So coming home to the 3 acres of paradise in Cumru Township where he and his wife, Donna, live is like having their own vacation destination.
Witwer, the sales director for Loading Automation Inc. with headquarters in Wilmington, N.C., said he comes by his love of gardening naturally.
“I grew up in Lancaster County, and I picked up the green thumb from my mom,” he said. “She always had great looking flower and vegetable gardens.”
Bill said he gets inspiration from his mom by looking at how she arranged her gardens and took the time to nurture everything to promote good growth.
The Witwers each do their share of the work in their garden. Donna, 71, has an eye for color, and Bill, 66, enjoys building things in his free time, he said.
“Donna takes care of doing all of the annual plants, all the potted flowers, and I do a lot of the perennials and hardscaping,” Bill said. “Donna has a decorator’s eye in her potting and flower arrangements.”
The Witwers moved into their farmhouse property in 1994 and have been renovating the inside and outside ever since.
“We look over all the old photos and see how much of a transformation has taken place here in over 26 years,” Bill said. “It seems just like yesterday when we started all this. Everything goes by so quickly, so take time to enjoy it.”
A focal point of their garden is a quarter-acre pond, which had been neglected for many years before the Witwers bought the property.