Beauty

Beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder. There are many people, things and ideas I keep close to me because I find beauty in them. And beauty makes me happy.

When we decided to landscape our yard we tried to think of the top 5 things that we would want the yard to be ~

1. It would be what we wanted it to be, not what our professional landscaper talked us into, or out of, as the case has been before.

2. It would be hummingbird, butterfly, bird and squirrel approved.

3. It would be frilly and the plants and flowers would seem to dance in the breeze.

4. It would be a retreat, an escape, an outdoor space of tranquility and grace.

5. It would fill the heart and soul with beauty.

Having laid out the vision, you have to see what we started with (bearing in mind this really cold winter we had which just decimated the yard of last summer).

The before:

I think you get the idea....basically good bone structure is the starting point for most beautiful things. This was no exception.

The plan was to use native Texas flowering plants when at all possible. I went with roses, azaleas, iris, plum delight, indian hawthorne, lantana, agapanthus, day lilies, black-eyed susans, mexican heather, hibiscus, jasmine, honeysuckle, passion flower, butterfly bush, wisteria, white ginger, hostas and various potted seasonal color. Oh, and an herb garden, of course.

The after:

The front yard:

The patio:

The backyard (you have to have a little vision to know not every single thing is finished yet...like the banana trees that are behind the fence...they will go away!)

And, of course there had to be this view from the dining room:

Beauty! Oh my. I believe the vision was indeed realized. Thank you so much to our friend, Shane, for the invaluable input, help, and most of all extreme hard work without which none of this would be possible.

Everywhere I look I see something beautiful. Just while sitting on the patio writing this blog I was able to capture these images ~