Garden Guilt

It is when the sun fills my backyard that I start suffering from ‘garden guilt’. And I am not the only one. My friend was showing me around her backyard with a partial landscaping project in process. She apologized for the messy, weedy garden. Note that her backyard is the size of a football field or larger. I laughed and said, "it looks great … I can’t keep mine weeded and it is 1/4 of the size of your yard."

As I took in her wonderful garden, the smell of fertile, moist dirt filled my nostrils and lots of new plants popping up … I thought, why do we worry so much about the weeds? When it is the smells, colors and flowers we should be focusing on.

I know when I walk around my own yard, all I can see are the weeds that need to be pulled, fence needs mending, grape arbor that needs to be replaced, a Snowball Viburnum that needs to be pruned. And honestly, the guilt makes me NOT want to venture out there very often.

When I came home from visiting my friend’s huge patch of garden-in-process, I decided I was only going to focus on the good things in my yard. Not to be so critical of myself or the nature growing up around me.

So for the last couple of days, I have been looking up at the scores of birds flitting around the yard. Singing, nesting and making glorious, loud, springtime merriment. Noticing new buds, taking in the purplish-green color of Honeysuckle new growth. Watching dead beds become alive with peonies shooting up to the sun. Stop and smell the newly blooming Daphne!

Our yard will never be perfect. There was a time I thought it would, but long gave that up to reality. I will eventually have the money to replace the arbor and fence. I will learn how to prune more efficiently. I will forever be moving bushes and flowers that have outgrown their original place.

Today I will embrace the delicate, white-flowered weeds and the happy, yellow dandelions popping up. Enjoying them instead of fretting over them. Yes, I will eventually pull them, but for now … just let them be.