Terry and Dave McMenamin are the winners of this year’s 26th Spirit of Union award!

Terry and Dave McMenamin are the recipients of the 2020 Spirit of Union Award.

When Terry McMenamin got the call that she and her husband Dave were the 26th recipients of the City of Union’s Spirit of Union Award, they were both delighted and surprised.

“We have no idea who nominated us for the award, but we are so honored to receive this recognition,” Terry said. “There’s such a strong sense of community here, and we feel blessed.”

The couple bought their home at 107 Peggy’s Path in Union’s Lindeman Commons neighborhood three and a half years ago. Terry’s parents had moved to Union several years before, and they all fell in love with the area.

The McMenamins’ colonial-style home was built in 2005. The neighborhood was platted in the 1990s and today is well established, although a few lots still are available for new construction.

“We love how quiet the neighborhood is, and all of the walking paths,” Terry said.

The McMenamins appreciate how well the previous owners cared for the property. Since moving in, they’ve been adding even more to the landscape.

An expanse of green lawn and a profusion of color greet visitors and passersby as they approach the reddish-brown brick home with “latte” trim. Well-established shrubs, pink roses and fountain grass line part of the driveway.

Near the garage is a large area of black-eyed Susans and, nestled among them, a decorative wheelbarrow brimming with pink petunias. More shrubs anchor the front of the garage. The walkway up to the front porch features day lilies, marigolds, geraniums, lavender and Thread Leaf Tickseed coreopsis (which bursts with little yellow flowers).

“I like the contrast of the yellow Thread Leaf Tickseed coreopsis and the purple lavender against the brick,” Terry says.

She recently added more varieties of hostas and some different colors of day lilies, along with coralbells, “blonde” lavender, viburnum and a dwarf lilac tree.

“I love annuals for color, and I try to add a few more perennials every year,” she says. “The goal is to keep the color going from season to season.”

Of the perennials, lavender is her favorite and can be found not only in the front but also in the backyard.

Big, leafy hostas line both sides of the step leading up to the front porch. On the porch, decorative containers spill over with salvia, coleus, dusty miller plants, alyssum and sweet potato vines. Terry designed the containers herself. Two hanging baskets boast pink New Guinea Impatiens. Throughout the property are a number of containers filled with coleus and geraniums. 

Several trees out front add some shade, although Terry says this property is much sunnier than their previous home in Huber Heights. In the backyard, evergreens and a flowering cherry tree offer additional shade and privacy. The McMenamins recently installed a wood fence around the backyard.

In the backyard, Terry tends to a “container garden” – a series of pots and tubs filled with various lettuces, cucumbers and zucchini. She’s also experimenting with heirloom tomatoes. Some of the vegetables are mixed in with flowering plants.

She enjoys gardening and decorating for each season, although spring is her favorite.

“I love seeing everything coming into bloom.”

She says none of her love of gardening would be possible without her husband, Dave, who “does the heavy lifting. … He does the mowing, the trimming. He indulges the different things that I want to try.”

Terry’s green thumb started when she was growing up on several country acres in Trotwood. Her father had been a Future Farmer of America. Her mother had taken a landscaping course at the nearby Joint Vocational School. Together, her parents did a lot of vegetable and flower gardening.

Terry participated in 4H for eight years, focusing on gardening and cooking. She started her very first bank account with $16 from the sale of pumpkins that she had grown with her dad.

Her advice to other gardeners? “Don’t be afraid to move a plant and try it in a different area,” she says.

She keeps a gardening journal with notes and photos from year to year, reminding her what worked and what didn’t.

Now that the McMenamins have lived in Union for several years, they feel all settled in.

“We’ve gotten to know our neighbors by walking our dog (a Labradoodle named Baxter) on the paths, and by working in our yard,” she says.

The Park Board established the Spirit of Union Award in 1997 to encourage exterior enhancements of residential and business properties. More information about the City’s Spirit of Union Award can be found on the City's website at www.unionoh.org.