Enjoying a summer garden

Every winter I start planning a fantasy garden. Arbors with hanging roses, lush plantings of colourful perrenials, potted herbs and tomatoes. Of course, all this would happen immediately. Materializing from thin air and fertile soil. Every year I realize a beautiful garden takes years to produce, hours of tending and weeding. And Peter and I would have to do it.



In our home, we inherited a unkempt garden from the previous owners. The back garden did have a few beautiful mature shrubs and a decent lawn, but we surely had our work cut out for us. Four years since, and so far, we have added a flower bed, a couple of new trees and a couple of shrubs, and so many perrenials. Our battle against weeds is eternal. There are bellflowers and thistles in the rose bed. Can't see the roses hardly at all. Ants run amok.



I can see the future. Digging up the substantial rose bed to remove the invasive bell flowers, dandelions, thistles, and daisies. Fighting back the ants who have dug well under the patio, flower beds, and driveway. The garden is magazine perfect (I hear Peter groaning) and we are relaxing on a circular brick patio, surrounded by blooming plants, overhung with weeping willow branches. The birds are chirping.



In the meantime, we have to find the beauty amongst the chaos. This summer I am weighed down with fibromyagia fatigue, so Peter has to shoulder the burden of the garden's upkeep. A big job. Time consuming and physical. So I have to see past any shortcomings and find the jewels we have planted. Best way to achieve this? Avoid the bigger picture. Look for the small beauties and tiny successes. Realize that it doesn't have to be absolutley ideal to be idyllic.