2016 began with a bang. Literally. Actually three of them.
A neighbor’s tree fell on my house in March, damaging a small section of my tile roof, a fence, and an old oak tree in my yard.
Then, less than a month later, that damaged oak lost its footing during the next significant rainstorm and fell. It took with it a second, huge 50+-year-old oak tree in my yard. Both trees landed on my house, badly damaging my roof.
My yard was a tangled mass of twisted limbs, and my environment was changed forever.
I no longer enjoy a private, sheltered, shady front yard surrounded by acid-loving azaleas, rhododendrons, ferns, and primroses.
Now, I have full day sun, a place to grow flowers that bloom profusely, and the ability to attract hummingbirds and butterflies to my world. Realistically though, right now I actually just have a lot of bare dirt.
And I have a badly damaged antique tile roof and a completely altered to-do list for the next five years!
Regrettably, I also have utter and complete disdain for my homeowner’s insurance company. They succeeded in putting me through living hell while I argued tirelessly that this chain of unfortunate events was one claim, not two. (Eventually my logic trumped their greed, and they relented.)
So, the insurance nightmare is now behind me. The trees are off my house and removed from my yard. I’m looking for a roofer to repair my roof to my standards. And I have a plan for relandscaping my yard.
Turning Negatives into Positives
Somehow in life, I have ALWAYS managed to turn negatives into positives. I do it all the time. I’ve done it forever. And I’m about to do it once again.
I’m going to turn my newly exposed (bare) yard into a new kind of sanctuary – one surrounded by beautiful things and flowers and hummingbirds and butterflies.
I will create a garden that’s worthy of a Sunset Gardens photo shoot. It will be a color-coordinated, layered, floral calling card for hummingbirds and butterflies. It will include the world’s most beautiful bird bath, flowers made from colored glass dishes, and distinctive hummingbird feeders. If it makes me smile, it belongs in my new garden.
And you’ll get to see my brainstorms unfold right here.
You’ll need to be patient, though. Relandscaping my already perfect front yard was not on my list of things to do!
To be continued…
