The New Garden Nook

You all may remember the time back in mid-March when our biggest tree fell. It was a huge, 200-year-old, red oak, weighing in at 50 to 100 tons. As I watched from the window, terrible winds caught the tree, and lifted it up, and smashed it down onto the ground (and onto our shed), leaving big gashes and depressions in the earth. 

We realized that if either of us had been in that spot when the tree fell, we would likely have been killed. So we were quite fortunate on that account. Only the shed was really injured, and the insurance paid for that to be fixed. However, it was an awful experience, and we feared that area would never be the same. (By the way, the last bit of the big tree's trunk may be seen in the upper right corner of this shot.)

Fast forward to . . . Monday. We were running errands in town, when I discovered and brought home four interlocking trellis fence panels from the recycle unit. We experienced some challenges to our plans that day due to monsoon-like rains. However, somehow, the panels (each 36 inches wide and 42 inches tall) arrived at the recycle place just before I did, and I nabbed them right before somebody else came along and wanted them, too. It was a case of fortuosity, and good timing.

On this day, I assembled the panels (the edge of each has two clips that slide into the next panel quite easily) and placed them in the spot where the big tree fell. This is also the place where I do much of my winter frozen bubble work. Somehow, in all the tree removal, my original tree-stump-slices I used to work on got moved out.

I placed a chair, a table, a slice of the big tree (I love you still, my big old red oak, and so I keep my souvenirs to remember you by), a plant, several shepherd's hooks, some pretty glass containers I bought at the Boalsburg People's Choice fest years ago, and three red monarda blooms. 

My view straight ahead from this new garden nook is the original butterfly garden, on the sunny southern side of the house, which features bright red monarda, and is often chock full of hummingbirds.

I RECLAIM THIS SPACE. I reclaim this space of tragedy, and I turn it into a HAPPY space. I will not forget what happened here, but I have made something pretty in the place where the big tree fell. I will sit there each day and watch and listen to the hummingbirds, with their chirps that sound like the laughter of children. I will be happy here again.

I wanted this little nook to be pretty, and somehow the trellis panels around it give me a feeling of protection when I sit in front of them. I wanted there to be something for our creatures, so there is the plant pot (which has some annuals that will bloom again), and there are the bright red monarda blooms. I've already seen the hummingbirds checking them out. So that makes me glad!

A thought that came to mind as I tried to create yet another pretty garden space in our yard is that every single day, we have the power to choose peace; to choose love. We can choose to enhance our living spaces in ways that make other creatures happy; in ways that take care of them and look out for their needs, as well as our own. My soundtrack song is the Judds, with Love Can Build a Bridge.