“He was proud of all the landscaping jobs he did,” Steve Amberger said. “That was his hobby, that was what he liked to do. Redoing people’s yards and making them look good.”
Herbert Amberger was born in Norwood in 1934, and his family moved to West Chester Twp. — then called Union Twp. — in the 1940s.
In 1954, after completing a landscaping program in trade school, he started selling vegetables and corn at a roadside stand, a venture that included redoing people’s yards.
In 1960, he built the garden center, which was run by his mother Ruth, and started selling plants and chemicals. He handed off the business to sons Steve and Tony in 1999 but was “always around” to help in some way, Steve Amberger said.
He said his father was “very giving and kind-hearted,” a trait he exemplified in many ways, including donating plants to area schools for fundraisers.
Herbert Amberger Jr. was preceded in death by Sylvia Ann Amberger, his wife of 29 years, who died in 1993. He is survived by three daughters, two sons and five grandchildren.
About the Author
