Finding Beauty In Your Own Backyard

Years ago, I lived in a small town with big beautiful trees, including an apple tree and a peach tree.  My landlord lived next door and allowed me gardening space in his backyard where I planted strawberries, peas, onions, and potatoes.  Just down the road was the best picking spot for sandhill plums, and a jar of that delicious jelly was a wonderful bargaining chip for just about anything you could want.  I had a swing in the shade and I spent many, many hours outside enjoying the cool beauty of my small town yard.

Then I moved to a more humid climate with a backyard that, at first, seemed much less beautiful.  From my back door, I could see the neighbor’s trashy yard and in my own yard were piles of trash (including an aqua blue toilet) that had been left there by our landlord.  I couldn’t do much about the neighbor’s yard, but in an effort to find beauty in this new place, I determined to clean up my own yard.  As I worked, I was pleased to find that 3 of the trees in our yard were pecan trees and the big tree in the corner was a pear tree!  So, there was beauty back there!  I positioned my swing so I could no longer see the neighbor’s yard and managed to find a bit of peace amongst the hot and humid air.

A few years later, we moved to the city.  I had never wanted to live where I could see in my neighbor’s windows, but here I was in the only house available at the right price and the right size for our family.  I had to make do.  I had to find beauty here as well.

Already in this new yard was a lilac bush, a few irises that bloomed (and a whole bunch that didn’t), a Rose of Sharon, and a mulberry tree.  It was a good start…even if I could see into at least 6 neighborhood backyards.  I’m slowly, but surely, adding to the beauty back there in little ways, making it mine even if it is a rental smack dab in the middle of the city.

I’ve learned that if you lift the tubers of the iris a bit so there is less earth covering them, they will bloom.  I’ve added free columbine and phlox to the back porch area (generously given to me by my step-mother-in-law).  I’ve transplanted a trumpeter vine to crawl up the poles of the cover over my back porch.  I’ve been babying the sparsely growing ground cover, begging it to spread further across the back of our tiny yard.  I hope to gather up some free forsythia clippings from the yard of my mother-in-law later this year, and I’m saving my pennies for a new swing as we had to leave our old one behind when we moved here.

Sometimes beauty is naturally there and sometimes we have to create it.  At home, we can add pots of flowers and bird feeders to encourage beauty in our own backyards.  Sometimes we have to step outside our backyard and enjoy the local parks and gardens to find beauty where we live.    However, in the end, it must be our perspective that allows for us to see beauty where we are.  It may sound like a silly cliche’, but it is so true:

Bloom Where You Are Planted!

About The Author

Amy has written 14 articles on this blog.

Amy is the homeschooling mother of soon-to-be 6 living children and a precious little girl named Emily in Heaven. You can find Amy blogging about the joy and grief of raising these wonderful little arrows at Raising Arrows.

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