This Week in the Garden

Nineteen years ago, when we moved into our house, the front yard consisted of a few overgrown cedars and the requisite suburban lawn. Much to my husband’s horror, I immediately began digging it up and turning the entire area over to perennial beds, gravel pathways, and a terrace (19 years ago, you just didn’t do that). It took several years, and I’m sure my neighbours also considered me insane at the time. I remember one lady stopping on the street when I finally connected two seemingly random areas of gravel to form an actual path. Her comment? “So that’s what you’re doing!” 😀

Fast forward to the present, and I couldn’t be happier with how my oasis has taken shape. Some of the things I love most about it:

The variety of critters that visit. We have a resident chipmunk, a toad, at least one garter snake, and more birds than I can count. We’ve even had visits in past from a fox, who napped under the currant hedge one afternoon. Oh yes, and I recently discovered two bumblebee colonies (up from one last year).
The privacy. The terrace is under a big linden tree, with shrubs that shield it from the view of casual passers-by. Many times I’ve sat out there without pedestrians even noticing me…not an easy trick in a highly walked neighborhood.
The lack of maintenance. Okay, I have to be honest here: a few years ago, when my mom died, I let things run a little wild and I’m now suffering the consequences of having to reclaim great swaths of garden from utter chaos. But when it is under control, it requires about 20 minutes a week, tops. It’s pretty cool to sit out with an iced tea while the neighbours do their weekly lawn-mowing. I just need to get it back to that state! 😉

And my very favorite thing? Watching the changes that take place from week to week — and sometimes even day to day. Which brings me to the real point of this blog post: pics from this week in my garden. 🙂