Out & About: Greensburg Garden Center event features tips from radio's 'Handy Andy'

Shirley McMarlin, Tribune-Review, Greensburg, Pa.
·2 min read

Oct. 4—Hardware store owner and all-around handyman Andy Amrhein said he likes presenting programs for the Greensburg Garden Center.

"You have a lot of questions, and I have a lot of answers," he told about 80 attendees at the group's annual Meeting Out on Tuesday at Greensburg Country Club.

Amrhein, who owns Evey True Value Hardware in Bethel Park, talked about ways to prepare the home and garden for cold weather.

He also gave a quick biography to establish himself as an authority on his topics. A lifelong Bethel Park resident, he learned a lot about home improvement from his father and built his first house at age 16.

Now 62, he got his first hardware store job even earlier, at 13. He purchased the Bethel Park store in 1995 from founder Ed Evey.

As "Handy Andy," Amrhein shares his expertise on various local television and radio programs.

One of his favorite tips for gardeners is this: "If the soil is healthy, everything grows."

Garden center members and guests enjoyed a luncheon at tables set with white linens and seasonally appropriate centerpieces of pumpkins and gourds in a variety of sizes, shapes and hues.

Programming chair Joan Stairs was in charge of the event, which also featured election of 2023 officers, a basket raffle and vendor tables from Spa 309 in Greensburg and Shadowwood Gardens in Unity.

The first-time addition of vendors to the event "gives the ladies another opportunity to spend their money," joked garden center co-president Carla Rusnica.

The Garden Club Federation of Pennsylvania, of which the local group is a member, was represented by First Vice President Leeanna Ryba and District 7 Director Sharon Bryner.

Seen at the country club: Co-president Diane Dale, Elizabeth Pesci, Nadine Mason, Janet McNerny, Ann Miles, Becky McGee, Carol Ross, Fran Colby, Glenda Gebert, Donna Lee, Jeanne Siecinski, Donna Detore, Terry Rodgers, Agnes Lapa, Anna Quiggle, Eileen Dorfman, Michael Kelly, Mary Ann Artman, Patti Benton and Marian DeBone.

Shirley McMarlin is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Shirley by email at smcmarlin@triblive.com or via Twitter .