Jan. 28—Editor’s note ‘What’s That?’ is a recurring feature in the Tribune-Review’s Westmoreland Plus edition. If there’s something you’d like to see explored here, send an email to gtrcity@triblive.com.

Jeffry Meyer spent his career as an engineer, which didn’t leave a lot of time for gardening. So when he retired and wanted a hobby, Meyer realized quickly that he didn’t have much of a green thumb.

Instead, he put his engineering background to work and designed a “solar garden” in his Hempfield yard, a small sea of shifting color that catches many a driver’s attention as they drive Route 66 just north of Shop’n Save.

But instead of the sun powering actual plant growth, it charges solar panels that bring the whole area to life at night.

“I got into making wind spinners,” said Meyer, 75, of Hempfield. “I think the official term is ‘kinetic lawn art.’ I wanted to have something moving outside, and on a number of them, I also installed solar flowers so you can see the flower rotating. It actually looks really wonderful at night.”

Initially, Meyer ordered a handful of the spinners and solar flowers.

“The spinners you buy commercially are just garbage, so I decided to just design my own,” he said.

Meyer’s side yard is a giant splash of color that grabs drivers’ attention as they head south toward Greensburg. He purchased plastic bowls online to create large cups that catch the wind. He put his engineering background to work creating moving parts that are as close to friction-free as he can reasonably get. He machines custom parts to create several varieties of wind spinner — some have only a few cups and spin in one direction, while others have multiple free-standing cup arrangements and spin in several directions, anchored by equally colorful chains.

He orders “solar flowers” for his garden from overseas, and they come in a wide variety of species, which are all connected to small amorphous solar panels. For extra emphasis, he added what he calls “galaxy lights” atop several of the spinners, with up to 120 lights suspended on thin wire in a spherical pattern that wags with the wind.

“If I come home after dark and they’re all lit up, usually I have to stop and admire it a little,” he said.

Over the years, Meyer has sent several to friends and family.

“I have about nine or 10 different designs I’ve come up with,” he said. “The easiest takes about five hours of work to build. The most difficult one, which is my favorite, probably took about three times as long to make.”

Occasionally, a passerby will stop to inquire about the garden, and Meyer has made a few for random strangers over the eight years since he started “gardening.”

Meyer said the hobby has kept him plenty busy in his retirement, something he makes sure to mention to family and friends who are also retirement-age.

“I’d admonished them that they need to have something they want to do,” he said. “There are always things that you have to do, but keeping busy with something you like is very important.”

Patrick Varine is a TribLive reporter covering Delmont, Export and Murrysville. He is a Western Pennsylvania native and joined the Trib in 2010 after working as a reporter and editor with the former Dover Post Co. in Delaware. He can be reached at pvarine@triblive.com.