Not long after purchasing their Snohomish home, Andy and Cindy Zerbel came to an agreement.
The inside of the home is her domain, the outside is his.
That means he zips his lips when his "man" bathroom is decorated with Parisian accents and feminine colors.
That means she can't stamp her foot when a delivery man shows up with a 42-inch black industrial pipe measuring 32 feet long. And she has no idea what it's for.
Andy Zerbel didn't have a lot of experience with plants or heavy equipment or giant industrial pipes. That didn't deter him from embarking on the mother of all do-it-yourself projects, one that transformed their back yard into a play land Tom Sawyer might enjoy. You can see the results if you buy a ticket to the Snohomish Garden Tour, set for noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.
The Zerbels, who grew up in California, started driving north on their honeymoon 20 years ago and never looked back. They lived in Kirkland, then Mukilteo and finally settled in their Snohomish home in 2001. Andy Zerbel works as a window salesman, Cindy Zerbel for a custom closet company.
By the time Cindy Zerbel signed the delivery papers for that $1,000 industrial pipe, her husband was committed to an epic landscaping project.
The Zerbels own more than an acre of property that sits against a greenbelt. Andy Zerbel wanted to create something that fit into the natural scene but also offered playful elements for their three children, Christian, 15, Chase, 11, and Savannah, 6.
Andy Zerbel's first attempt at improving his yard taught him an important lesson about scale. His wife didn't even notice the addition of 20 rhododendrons to the back yard. He had to go big, very big.
He rented a backhoe and dug a hole for a pond and used the dirt to create a hillside. He positioned the industrial pipe at an angle at the top, forming a slide into another pool at the bottom. Now the entrance of the pipe slide, covered with plants and logs, looks like the beginning of a miniature Disneyland attraction. The children shoot down it on tubes and rubber boats in the summer.
Nearby he built a rustic cabin from salvaged boards that would serve as his children's playhouse. The inside is decked out with a ladder leading up to a sleeping loft, a pretend cooking area and a real antique wood-burning stove. Open a trunk and find a secret escape hatch at the back of the cabin.
The family enjoys fires around a pit in the evenings. Savannah can almost touch her toes to the tops of the trees when her dad pushes her on a super-long rope swing. The children play endless war games, hiding in the trails Dad blazed through the underbrush and defending the rock fort he built with boulders moved with the help of a 5,000-pound logging tool.
Andy Zerbel didn't forget his wife. For her he created a formal garden room with roses and vintage wrought-iron furniture. He also built a charming potting bench with salvaged woods.
The yard is meant to feel natural. Zerbel planted large quantities of evergreens, salal and rhododendrons, and he mixed in boulders and decaying stumps for the kids to climb on. He doesn't know much about plants and doesn't find books about gardening particularly helpful.
"Arranging sticks isn't that hard," he said.
He learns through trial and error, and there have been a few of both.
He wanted tall hemlocks for the property and talked with nursery people before ordering 20 at a $150 a piece. When they arrived, he realized he had slow-growing mountain hemlocks, which would take dozens of years to reach the height he had imagined. He incorporated them into the landscape anyway and ordered more trees.
One of the expensive pond liners he purchased leaked, and an arduous fix followed. Then he stocked one of the pools with trout. They died in the shallow water and he spent one hellish afternoon pulling out hundreds of stinking, rotted carcasses.
Many of his plans are a mystery to his wife until they happen. When Andy Zerbel decided they needed a water feature, for instance, he swore the kids to secrecy.
He told them: "Don't tell Mom, shhhhhhhh. Mom says, 'I hate streams, they're all sticky and slimy.' "
She takes it with a laugh and a smile. Inside she's thinking, "Oh my gosh, he sells windows!"
Maybe she handles it so well because it turns out fine. More than fine.
The Zerbels' yard is a kid's dream, a place visitors have compared to Tom Sawyer's island.
The outdoor project also encompassed the house, and Andy Zerbel's attempts here are equally skilled. The home, while built well with quality materials, resembled a "giant exploded pink tract house," he said. He added trim work to the exterior, laid a flagstone path, revamped the entryway and built a large trellis supported with Greek columns over the backyard patio.
Why go to so much effort?
It's something to do and it's fun, said Andy Zerbel.
His wife offers a more pragmatic explanation.
"If he didn't, he'd be in the house doing it!"
Reporter Debra Smith: 425-339-3197 or dsmith@heraldnet.com.
Proceeds from the tour pay for community projects sponsored by the Snohomish Garden Club, including the hanging flower baskets in downtown Snohomish.
More information about the tour is available by calling the Snohomish Chamber of Commerce at 360-568-2526 or Sue Jensen at 360-568-7913.
