TURQUOISE FOR ALL SEASONS

BY AMY KORTUEM

There are sparkly turquoise Easter eggs hanging from her hydrangea trees and turquoise bunny figurines in her window boxes in the spring.

There are turquoise planters, flower-shaped decorations, and all manner of dangling, spinning, and shining things in the yard surrounding her house all summer.

There are even turquoise pumpkins in the fall.

“I’m glad they chose that color to signify a house offering nutfree candy for Halloween,” says Sandy Zellmer, “The Turquoise Lady,” as she has come to be known. “It makes it so much more fun to decorate for autumn.” She does make sure to have nutfree candy options for trick-or-treaters in addition to getting to decorate with her favorite color for the season.

How did this turquoise wonderland get its beginning? In 2008, Sandy began tucking a few turquoise items amid the hostas and hydrangea trees and other plants surrounding her house at 342 Nicollet Avenue — look for the turquoise house number above the front door — in lower North Mankato. The corner lot is at the junction of Cross Street and Nicollet Avenue. Now the yard is so filled with bright turquoise things, you really, truly can’t miss it.

“I know it’s over the top,” Sandy says. “But every day people tell me they like it, and I like making them happy.”

Countless trips to thrift stores for unique items she can repurpose (those are old lamp bases on her front step), the North Mankato compost site (for winter greenery and interesting sticks and wood elements), and even her own basement and garage (where she stores her archive of decorations from years past) have provided the treasures that now adorn her garden.

Every year, adds a little more. There’s a raised area on the corner for shrubbery and turquoise pots of flowers. Spaces around the trees on the boulevard show off her turquoise mosaic crafts, turquoise lanterns, and hanging planters. She’s even spruced up the area around the fire hydrant on the boulevard with a few turquoise touches, while leaving full access to the hydrant should it be needed.

“Many times I get lucky and find things that are my exact shade of turquoise,” Sandy says. “But if they’re not, I’ve got a LOT of spray paint. My grandson once asked me why my garage floor was turquoise, too!”

Speaking of her garage, many have mistaken it for a “she shed.” After all, there’s an arbor over the entry door, turquoise shutters and turquoise curtains in the window, turquoise gazing balls, and shiny turquoise ornaments hanging from the eaves.

Sandy laughs and says it’s no she shed for sitting and relaxing, but a regular garage crammed full of seasonal storage with just enough space to squeeze her car inside. “Good thing I have a small car,” she says.

Amid all the turquoise you’ll find other things Sandy loves. Flowers in shades of pink, her second-favorite color; several welcome signs; painted rocks with inspirational and tongue-in-cheek messages like, “Gardening… less than therapy.”

And angels. One year, Sandy wrote on the sidewalk (in turquoise chalk) asking if passersby could count the number of angels in her garden. While there were many guesses, nobody came close. “There were 65 angels!” Sandy says.

As is unfortunately the case when we place things we love outside, Sandy says there has been some theft of her beloved turquoise items. But that’s minimal to the damage done by her mortal garden enemies: the squirrels.

“I must have a pack of squirrels that can’t remember where they hide their nuts, because they dig up my grass every single day looking for them,” Sandy says. “But they stay away if I’m outside. I try to intimidate them,” she says with a smile in her soft, gentle voice.

So she is outside every day, sometimes eight to ten hours, puttering, rearranging her turquoise tableaus, deadheading flowers, pulling the rare weed — and reseeding the areas the squirrels have dug up, sticking plastic forks tines-up in those areas to prevent the critters from revisiting the scenes of their crimes. It doesn’t always work, as her latest addition to the yard, an artfully arranged “Squirrels Be Gone” message proves.

“People laugh at that one,” Sandy says.

Many cars driving by slow to a crawl to take in all the turquoise. And a lot of people stop by to laugh, to talk, to marvel at Sandy’s talent of mixing and matching and layering details. Sandy is happy to give them the tour, walking gingerly among her treasures in her rhinestonestudded turquoise sandals, turquoise-painted toenails bright and stylish.

“I talk to people all day long — some regulars, and lots of new people — every day.”

When it comes down to it, Sandy says that’s why she spends the time and effort to create her turquoise paradise. “Like the rocks say, it’s my therapy,” she says. “But most importantly, it brings so much joy to people. And that brings joy to me, too,” she adds.

If you’ve missed seeing The Turquoise Lady’s summer display, don’t despair — she’s already dreaming of a turquoise Christmas.

Amy Kortuem is a writer, harpist, and gardener from North Mankato.