So close! But...

I was so close to having this project go according to plan.

I would have everything finished on our wedding anniversary. Then I would say, "Instead of giving you some flowers, I give you this new garden!" It was such a great plan that it almost worked.

All I left out of my planning was the uninvited swarm of bees.

The south half of the back yard was a terrible waste.

The single, 4 foot by 8 foot planter box was overrun with lambs ear (it's soft, fuzzy, and lusts for Absolute Power), a eucalyptus tree (don't ever put a tree in a planter box), and our third artemisia (in a small yard, you only need one, thank you). A path of river rock sliced the space in half; when constructed, it had curved beautifully between a cherry tree and a willow. But we chopped down the cherry tree, no lie, because it produced only 8 cherries each year, and the birds ate half of those. Then the willow began dying of old age. One windy day a thick branch tore off and slammed the house. The next weekend, the willow was gone. The curving path was then pointless.

Time for some serious renovation.

First, the path had to be removed.

I pulled out 10 wheel barrow loads of stones. The bender board that defined the edges of the path was rotten and full of ants, which boiled up whenever I pulled out another hunk of board. Sometimes I had to stop moving stones and pull up the plants that were choking the path. The white gaura alone half-filled one of the trash barrels we use to haul plants to the compost pile.

In my plan I had allowed extra time for such things. I had no worries.