Sometimes I love that my memory is terrible. Like right now when I am experiencing my yard almost like it's the first time. When we moved into this house 7 years ago this month it was a big deal. We had been living in the apartment above Brian's parents 3 car garage and neither one of us had a full time job (a.k.a. very little money). Neither one of us had lived away from our parents for very much of our lives. Yes, this house was kind of a dive, but it was ours.


We moved in about mid-April and I remember the child-like joy that I experienced each week as our yard was new with fresh blooms. Because we had looked at the house in the winter we had no idea that the yard was a treasure-trove of perennial plants, lovingly tended by the aging widow who lived here, and frankly were not at a point in our lives where we would've even thought to look at landscaping when touring homes.

First it was the lilac bush. Deep purple, wonderfully scented and pretty old. It's more of a small tree than a bush. Then came the forsythia (which unfortunately are now gone--a sacrifice to the new porch!). Then the poppies. The gloriously beautiful poppies. The whole length of our yard is filled with them and once they get their large buds they seem to pop open within minutes of each other. Later in the spring the iris, purple and white clematis, and white hydrangeas.

I'll be honest, I've pulled several things and moved others to make room for things that are more...me. The vining rose bush had to go, the sweet peas were too messy looking for me, and we've been making room for plants that produce food in some of our flower beds. Now we can also look forward to some newer plants that we've added, like the ones lovingly shared by friends and family at my 30th birthday party.