Butler Township couple don’t need to leave home to visit paradise
BUTLER TWP — Terry Steighner and her husband, Larry Sassone, don’t need to book a cruise or fly off to a Caribbean island to grab a little paradise, because it’s right in their backyard.
Steighner, who was Butler High’s Golden Girl in 1977 and 1978 for her twirling skills, bought her house off Whitestown Road in 1998 upon the advice of her late father.
One year later, when she met her artistic future husband, little did she know he would eventually transform the level, modest backyard into a Shangri-La for the two lovebirds and their little pups.
“He came into this backyard and said ‘This is what we can do’ and I said ‘I don’t know …,’” Terry recalls with her signature giggle.
In addition to the traditional deck on the south side of the home’s rear, the backyard boasts a cozy and unique bungalow containing comfy furniture and Larry’s watercolor paintings; a sizable koi pond complete with fish, a tinkling water feature, water hyacinths, lilies and iris; perennial and annual flowers; garden art; and seating areas tucked into the inviting English ivy.
A large maple and locust tree shade either side of the backyard.
Privacy fencing affords the impression that Steighner and Sassone have the whole world to themselves even though they live in a fairly busy and populated neighborhood.
The small front yard had just a stoop that led from the front door to the yard, which sloped down to the street when Terry bought the house.
Enter Larry, who had the yard leveled and stonework installed to hold several perfectly spaced large pots of thriving annual flowers, which spill over with blooms each year thanks to Larry’s care.
“I feed them, I water them, I talk to them,” he said.
The property boasts 36 huge pots of flowers in their front and backyards.
They take the pots to Brenckle’s Farms & Greenhouses on Evans City Road each spring, where workers fill them with soil and the plants of Larry’s choosing.
Petunias, geraniums, and a smattering of ivy and other greens are always included in the pots, in addition to other selections that strike the couple’s fancy.
Larry admits he spends thousands every year on the flowers.
“We go (to Brenckle’s) every single year, and they’re so good to us,” Terry said.
“It might take them two trips to get them over here,” Larry said of having the filled pots delivered.
In the fall, the pots are filled with chrysanthemums and pumpkins appear between them.
He said it takes an hour or two to water all the pots each day using two hoses and a watering can.
Terry appreciates not only the beauty of the blooms all summer, but her emotional connection to them.
“My dad loved flowers, and it just passed down somehow,” she said.
Between the stone wall displaying the flower pots and the front door is another unique feature of the property — a 20- by 15-foot putting green complete with flags and cups.
Although anyone who sees the perfectly manicured green would assume the couple are avid golfers, neither pursue that hobby.
“I just like the appearance of a putting green,” Larry said.
“He wanted a green and I wanted a front porch,” Terry said.
Larry had help designing the green from a golf course superintendent, and added the correct sand/dirt mixture, drainage, and an automatic watering system that Larry can set using a timer.
“That’s the slickest thing,” Terry said. “Little things pop up and water it.”
Sassone built the bungalow — which they also refer to as the cabana, art shack or she shed — from a kit.
The unusual little building has wooden shutters over its windows, a stone facing exterior and small porch added by Sassone, and a terra cotta tile roof complete with cupola.
“It’s like an Italian bungalow, I’d say,” Larry said. “It’s heated, too. You can read a book in there in the winter.”
He built the whimsical structure in six months in 2000.
The koi pond, which is 3 or 4 feet deep, was the first thing added to the backyard. Sassone started excavation in 1999 and completed the pond, which is lined with large sandstone, in 2000.
The couple have done significant entertaining in years past, especially when they were partners in ownership of the Blue Sox baseball team and hosted a player at their home.
“We did steak (dinners) at the end of every season,” Terry said.
While Larry is retired from the silicon department at AK Steel, now Cleveland-Cliffs, and Terry has been a flight attendant for American Airlines for 38 years, the couple enjoy their dream yard every second they can.
Their two little dogs, Bella and Izzy, also enjoy the backyard and don’t dig in the ivy or disturb the koi fish.
“He made it into a paradise,” Terry said.
New this year is an apiary on the outside of the fence. Beekeeping is Sassone’s latest interest.
