The Fence - A Story About Appreciating Beauty Where You Find It

It seemed like nothing but an old fence in a neglected garden. Or so that was my first impression when we looked at the house back in June of 2010. Really, I didn't take much notice of it as I sized up the odd shaped backyard and contemplated the work that needed to be done to restore it to it's former glory. The fence was just there.

As Alan and I started to talk about the "vision" for the backyard, it became clear to me that the fence had to go. After all, it was sat on a diagonal line starting at the back of the property line and working it's way through the yard until there was about 30' behind it to the property line. What was I to do with that mess?, I said time and again.

And then, to make matters worse we built a new fence along the property line creating awkward spaces where nothing would grow. "Oh, that fence has got to go" was my lament through the autumn months. "It's an eyesore, it cuts the yard in two, it's covered in bugs, it's leaning down". "I hate it". And so the plan was to take  it all down, throw it in a junk pile and move on with creating my cottage garden.

And then one day, I took camera in hand to take some photos of texture for a series on Garden Walk, Garden Talk - see my post here  and suddenly my ugly duckling of a fence became the swan it always was. As they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Behold this beauty:

Covered in multi-hued lichens and moss, the old fence is gorgeous. The pale chartreuse of the lichen seems to complement all the plants growing near it, the gold moss simply shines in the sunlight. And the wood, oh the wood. At least 50 years old, beautifully constructed pickets of glorious cedar. Even after all those decades, the posts (centre picture) dug into the ground were still intact.

All of a sudden, I understood that we need to appreciate the beauty before us. Sometimes we need to take something old and "rusty" and turn it into a treasure. And so our little fence has found a new use. No longer a boundary fence along the side of the property, keeping neighbours dogs out or kids from running across (what was) the front lawn. Now it is a centerpiece of my back perennial border, an entrance to the new vegetable garden and a security fence to keep our visiting family dogs in the yard.

The moral of my story? Take the time to find the beauty in the things around you. New isn't always better. Appreciate the small details in the big picture.

Linking with:

Mary from Little Red House for Mosaic Mondays