The Yard

The yard at our home is Mark's pride and joy.  He loves working in the yard, creating and maintaining a place of unique beauty and peace.  

I, on the other hand, have never really been a gardening kind of guy.  Throughout the years of my marriage, my yard work was limited to mowing the grass and trimming bushes, hedges and trees.  That being said, a memory came to me the other day as I was entering a store and passed a display of flower seeds.  I recalled a period of my childhood when I tried planting various flowers.  It was funny: I hadn't thought about that in who knows how long, but simply seeing that display brought those memories back to me.

Mark has been working in the yard for several weeks now.  One of his projects was re-doing the top of a retaining wall at the east side of the yard.  Another was spreading topsoil throughout various beds in the back and front yards.  He also cleaned out the pond and got the waterfall going and started working on the sprinkler system.   I did offer to help, and did in fact carry bricks and stones back and forth, but this is Mark's creative space.  I am happy to help with the big chores, but know that he likes doing the little things himself.

I thought it would be fun to chronicle the progress of the yard and garden through the seasons, starting with how it appeared this morning.  Pictured above is the central courtyard in back, recently decorated with all the stuff that fell from the large maple tree that shades the west half of the yard.  We had a lot of wind yesterday, followed by rain, and that has made a bit of a mess.

The pots contain, among other things, a "bonsai aspen" that Mark is trimming and shaping and a new red bud that was purchased this past winter and planted in the large blue pot.  The jury's still out as to whether it will make it.

The beautiful Japanese maple to the left of the pond.

The pond and waterfall.

The hostas coming up around the base of the linden tree

The Buddha framed by Bleeding Heart.

The back pergola seen through the beautiful flowering branches of one of the Red Buds.

Confucius watching over the back yard.

Maple tree droppings on the flagstones.

The Japanese Maples in front are leafing out and frame the Tibetan prayer flags.

Mark loves Red Buds.  It's easy to see why.  This one is in front, right in front of our kitchen eating area bay window.

As I write this, it is late afternoon, and we are experiencing spring along the Wasatch.  It was in the upper 70's a couple of days ago, but it has been snowing for the last hour or so.

The countdown to Maui has begun.