Garden de Meadows....

"One who plants a garden, plants happiness."

My friend Karen and her husband

 live a few miles from me,

right across from the bay.

Here is Karen talking to her neighbors donkey.

Karen incorporates all kinds of creativity

into their homeplace.

For instance, one of the things she did was to

put sea urchins on some of her spikey plants.

 

We are living in the Wild Horse Desert

of south Texas,

and are close to the waters of Baffin Bay.

So, we get hot temperatures,

windy days, dust, and drought,

just to name a few of the extremes

we have to deal with.

We actually live on a moving sanddune,

according to the Botanical Gardens

or Corpus Christi.

To help with these extremes

Karen saves water by using the 'grey' water

that drains out

from their showers and kitchen sink.

They do things like have their version

of a 'key hole' garden.

Here's info on key hole gardens....

http://www.texascooppower.com/texas-stories/nature-outdoors/keyhole-gardening

The kitchen scraps etc. compost in the middle

of this 'raised' garden bed they

made from a horse water trough.

 My friends recently put in a patio,

made from pavers of different kinds, stones,

lava rock and bricks.

The mixture makes it interesting

and it seems like it's been there for awhile.

I love that 'grown over time' look.

The patio is located under 2 mesquite trees,

in a location where there is a nice breeze,

yet near the house.

There is a picnic table, chairs,

a chiminea for an outdoor fire in winter,

potted plants, and lots of whimsy.

A few bromeliads add to the look.

Against the dark lava rock and pavers

are some light colored stones,

like river rocks.

On top of that she has placed

some big chunks of colored glass.

I will bet they glow in the morning sun.

She used tree stumps for tables

beside her chairs,

and added whimsical dragonfly lights in the trees.

She grows pineapples,

blueberries, herbs,

vegetables

and many visually interesting plants.

There is much much more to their garden,
but this will hopefully inspire you
to have fun with your garden.

It's a wonderful, peaceful place to be.

"The garden is a mirror of the heart."

Savor the Day!

Yvonne