A Sad Scene

The expression on this fellow's face pretty much expresses how I feel about the condition of my backyard.

A few years ago, I had a pretty little garden in my backyard. I've never been any great shakes at gardening, but I found that if I put some work into it, I could have a nice little place to grow flowers and other fun flora. It wasn't easy, with the fibromyalgia crap and the back that was none too stable. But for a few years, my little garden flourished.

And then the back problems got worse, and worse, and worse. At the same time, arthritis made its presence known, and the fibromyalgia continued to plague. So I had to give up any semblance of gardening. My backyard has suffered greatly.

I have a man who keeps the grass mowed and the shrubbery trimmed, but that seems to be the extent of his talents. There is so much that needs to be done. I was out in the back with Skipper a bit ago (even that isn't easy any more since the ground is quite uneven), and what used to be my garden is now quite shabby. I started taking pictures, but then quit. Just too big a mess.

I did find a couple of happy spots that when cropped away from the overgrowth and dead stuff, look a little cheerful.

One of my French hydrangeas has survived so far. It has even presented me with a bloom, here in November.

This is Vann's cypress tree. He always loved his friend Paul's cypress. So a few months after Vann got sick, Paul planted Vann one beside our house. It's not in the backyard, but it is a bright spot all year long. In spring and summer it's a verdant green. But it's not an evergreen. In fall, it's needles change to a rich rust color. And in winter, even it's bare brown branches are pretty. When Paul planted the tree, it was no more than waist high, if that. Now, 12 years later, it's taller than my three-story house.

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On 11/17/2020, Barbara Anne said ...

I love the little stone face in the grass! Too cute.

Vann's cypress tree is lovely and the story that goes with it is even lovelier. Like love, with time, it grows.

Perhaps you need to explore the possibility of hiring a gardener to take care of your borders and edges around the grass? You could look into getting plants that require little care and are native to your area so the gardener would be needed only a few times a year.

Hugs!
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