The title for this post came to me as I saw our terrier pup Teddy enjoying our new path in the garden. It has taken some time to come to pass. (Pun intended)
Getting to this jaunty place of enjoyment wasn’t easy.
Don and I had been talking about what to do with this part of our garden for some time. Before the fence, this area had become a “naturalized” part of the garden. In other words, it was full of perennials that offered much for our local deer to feast on!
Last year it became really overgrown and disheveled. Don suggested we “start over “by putting in a new aluminum fence and having a nice bed behind it that the deer couldn’t reach.
I liked the idea of a fence as a sanctuary for my plantings. The “start over” part was more daunting! In my mind I decided that a clean up was all that what was needed. So I started to move plants and divide as part of the sprucing up of this area.
The fence took a while to get set up as the wrong parts kept being sent, but by Spring we were ready!
Then Don came back from Home Depot with a new saw…. a special one for cutting concrete slabs and stone.
V “Slabs? … What for?”😑
D “For the new path!”😊
V “What new path? … I thought we were just cleaning up this bed” 😕
And then we both shared our very different visions for the space. Don’s vision was of a full path with flowers and shrubs on either side. It sounded good so I said, “Why not lay out the slabs and we’ll see what it looks like.”
I went back into my office and came out again as he shouted for me to come down and see. See what?…
D “You have to move these plants so I can put the path in” 😏
V “I’ve already moved, replanted and thrown out plants. No more!” 😠
D “But we agreed on the new path” 😬
V “So you’ll just need to put the path around the plants! Not the other way around!” 😡
D “So show me!” 😶
And I did. I laid the slabs out around the plants and then he cut them to size.
The next day we went to the garden center and decided on the additional plantings – white azaleas, hostas, geraniums and astilbes.
I’m sure there are several morals and metaphors in this story, but the one that comes to my mind is:
Be open to whatever path comes along … and be prepared to work on it!
Find Your Middle Ground 
I’d love to hear from you …