Some people's backyards are as ugly as hog wallows. When we were shopping for a house, we truly enjoyed spending time at the homes of total strangers, criticizing their backyards.
We visited an Open House where the owners had decided to install a swimming pool. They dug the hole, but then apparently they lost interest. Their backyard was a big hole in the ground.
Another family had installed a drought-proof landscape of red lava rocks. There were no plants or other pointless distractions, just lava rocks. Perhaps the couple was homesick for their old house, on the planet Mars.
Now that we've lived here for five years, the backyard is really starting to suit us. We've made changes every year, and I'll bet we keep changing things forever. Besides, over time our garden actively changes itself.
You don't just see change in a garden. In spring, the air is voluptuous with the perfume of lilacs and orange blossoms. In autumn comes the more somber smell of damp, fallen leaves. In winter the wind whines through the bare branches of the oaks, while in summer it murmurs richly through the leaves.
Changes from season to season are obvious, but gardens change from year to year. They change quickly, too, day by day and sometimes hour by hour. Click on the topics at the left to see what I mean.
All text, graphics, and HTML are by NuMoon Creations, except for the font in the header. We downloaded the font, called Incantation, as freeware from Leon del Muerte. He hoped it would feature in the cover art for a heavy metal band's CD. Sorry, oh Lion of Death.