Rural retreat in Chester County became the perfect place to take up gardening

In her late teens while she was living in India, Nina Banerjee painted a watercolor of horses in a pasture — a subject she had seen only in photos and films. “I wonder if I had a premonition,” she said.

Nowadays, Nina, 67, and her husband, Siddhartha, 70, live in Oxford, in southern Chester County, among pastured horses, cows and sheep.

The couple had grown up in cities in India and then lived in urban areas in the United States. By 2002, with their son and daughter grown, they yearned for a rural life.

A friend, knowing the couple’s desire, drove Siddhartha to a property in Oxford that was on the market. “There were so many trees you could barely see the house,” Siddhartha said.

Nina, who was at a conference in Toronto, got a call from her husband. “He gave me this glowing description. I told him to go for it.”

The saltbox house built in 1978 was sturdy but needed work. The Banerjees quickly befriended Amish craftsmen who installed a new roof and made other repairs and improvements.

The previous owners had not gardened much, so the couple were free to create a naturalistic landscape. Before moving to the country, “we had only ever grown a few things in pots,” Nina said.

She and her husband attended gardening talks, read books, and shopped at plant sales to become proficient horticulturists.

They replaced an above-ground pool with a greenhouse, where, in early spring, trays of lettuce and pansies wait to be planted.

With helpers, the couple spread 65 bags of mulch on their acre-and-a-half property. In the vegetable garden, which is fenced to keep out deer and rabbits, they cultivate a variety of herbs, arugula and romaine lettuce, kale, cucumbers, potatoes and tomatoes.

The Banerjees are creating a “secret garden” by a stand of pine trees. There is a red bench near a trellis, which will be covered with climbing black-eyed Susans by summer. “This will be a meditative place,” Nina said.

The pines were there when the Banerjees bought the house, as were oaks, hickory and apple trees and dogwoods. “We added more dogwoods,” Siddhartha said.

And there is enough sun in the understory beneath tall trees for shrubs and flowers.

They were purchased at sales such as the ones sponsored by Tyler Arboretum in Media, the Brandywine Conservancy in Chadds Ford, and Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve in New Hope. The couple have traveled as far as Ithaca, N.Y., for a sale, Nina admitted.

“What’s so nice is that the sales people are so willing to share their expertise,” Siddhartha said.

Next to a garden shed is the detached garage that Siddhartha, who worked in several industries including financial services and taught in area colleges, including Drexel, has converted into a writing studio, where he focuses on German history. Inside the white house with red trim, Siddhartha has a book-filled office in the loft at the top of the open staircase. The bedroom and bath are also on the second floor.

Downstairs is a living room with a Franklin stove, family room and kitchen. In the 1990s, previous owners renovated the kitchen with oak cabinets and flooring and extended it 10 feet. The Banerjees installed two skylights. “We can see the trees leaves,” Nina said.

A couch is covered with an Amish quilt, and there are pillows in Indian block-print fabric on chairs and sofas.

The first floor also has a guest room and Nina’s study, both filled with books. “With two academics, you have a lot of books,” she said.

The Banerjees married in India in 1979 and came to the U.S. to attend graduate school at Pennsylvania State University. She studied human development. He studied mass communication. Later they lived in Ohio and Wilmington, Del. Nina now teaches psychology at Delaware State University.

On the wall in the family room is a watercolor by Nina of bare trees rising from a snow bank. She painted it before moving to Oxford, but she said it resembles the winter scene outside her home.

The view is lovely even when the growing season has ended, and gardeners rest.

Do you have an interesting garden? Nominate your home by email (and send some digital photographs) at properties@inquirer.com.