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Deliberate Beauty

For two years I have had a vision. That being the all new redesigned back yard garden that I had completely created in my head. For any of you that know me pretty well, know that I love to garden. I think I came by this love for all things beautiful from my Dad. When I was little I would trail around him by the hour asking him all kinds of endless questions because I was fascinated with how things grew. Even wanted to know about bugs and worms!

So the vision I have had for my own garden started when it was apparent changes needed to be made due to our new addition, Suzie-Q, my dog. She was tearing up the grass, so I asked myself If I could live without grass? What could be done instead that would be really beautiful?

My very favorite style of garden is English, the ones with raised beds brimming with perennial flowers, narrow little pathways filled with finely crushed gravel, places to sit and read, plus lots of birdies and a water feature.

There's just something neat about the crunch you make , when you walk about the garden picking fragrant flowers or savory herbs. So last summer, my husband Bill, and I drew up plans from my vision for a very radical back yard to the one we currently had!

I wanted an English garden. I envisioned a corner for herbs, and an area for a scented garden, complete with lilies and other evening scented flowers. I'm crazy about birds, and learned how to attract them by the dozen ! And now have an abundance of wild yellow Californian singing canaries that come back every year, because I created a feeding area for them, complete with a bird bath, and a statue of St. Francis. My vision for a beautiful garden had to have butterflies coming to it as well, all I had to do was research what plants butterflies like, and created space for them too!

This week, we are only a few hours away from completion. You could call this whole exercise in reshaping our backyard, a study in 'deliberate beauty'. It's like any time in life that we 'deliberately create' any-thing we want. We focus on it, and attract it. The finishing touch will be a fountain, that we purchased last week, to be placed near where we can enjoy our scented garden in the late evening.

The whole project has been a ton of work, as Bill can tell you. All told about 25 yards of gravel, 25 yards of top soil, hundreds of large rocks to form the edges of the walkways, and about 300 square feet of paving stones to create a patio. Not to mention the endless trips to the garden centers for 'newbies' coming to live in Cathy's garden.

Has it been worth it? You bet. Is it how I created it my mind? Yes.

I deliberately created this beautiful place first in my mind.

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