The perfect example

We sometimes dream of living on acres in the country.  Truth be told we can scarcely manage the 1/4 acre we have now.  There is so much to watch here.  There are the plants we think we have organized, and those which will always be volunteers from past years.  Every year it is a surprise to find what returns and what is new.  And yes, TruGreen stops by two, three times a year, sure that we must be unhappy.  We*re not.

It is amazing what full out sun

Does for the spirit

And plants.

The clematis on the last pillar

Will definitely survive

Now that its octopus feet

Are covered,

The two short vines

Trellised.

I sing to it in the morning

When no is listening

Patient growing songs.

The lilies of the valley

connected as one

underground

Have crept to fill the empty spaces

Behind the garage.

The chemical lawn people

Declare our yard a disaster area

Every year.

Every year we answer the door

To the TruGreen man

With a chart.

He outlines all they could do

To bring back an even smooth

One shade of green lawn.

A person could use it

For a putting green,

Nothing with a broad leaf

In sight.

I like the peonies and lilies of the valley,

They tryst behind the garage.

There is something low and green with little purple flowers

Under the crabapple.

It too is probably invasive,

Has its own checkbox on the TruGreen chart.

There is still forsythia visible

Behind the crabapple, but barely now.

The redbud in front has begun

Its purple burst through the bark.

Our yard is the perfect example

Of the TruGreen nightmare.

We think it might be Eden.