Landscaping the Write Way

            Landscaping my yard is writing a paper in many ways.  I start with a few thoughts of how I would like the yard to look, but I tend to have quite a few ideas floating around in my head at the same time, and I sometimes get them confused.  That’s when I take out a paper and write down some of the items or ideas, just like free writing for an essay.  Jotting ideas down on paper helps me organize my thoughts to make sure I can come up with a good theme for my yard.  Always hoping to be a unique within my neighborhood to get noticed as someone drives or walks by the yard, always trying to grab someone attention, is like trying to make an essay grab the reader's attention. The beginning is usually the hardest part for me.  Once I get started on a project most of the details start to come together whether landscaping or writing.

            The first challenge is making sure that I have the tools necessary to do the yard work.  The shovels, rakes, mulch, and tractor are much like my pencils, pens and paper for writing.  Deciding on the symmetry or a theme for the landscaping is like developing a thesis statement.  It provides the framework to help the audience understand the central idea.  The individual flowers and small shrubs are details that draw attention so that someone would want to stroll through the entire yard, just as adding a few tantalizing facts to my essay keeps the readers attention.

            Landscaping is harder than most people would think.  There are details on top of details to make it look full and complete.   Making sure to have the right plant in just the right spot so that it will have enough sunshine or shade, is the same as making sure to dot my I’s and cross my t’s, or using the right adjective or averb.  Thinking of a color scheme for a small flower garden to keep the same theme flowing throughout the yard is much the same as placing or removing a comma or an apostrophe to avoid disrupting the flow of the words.  Like reading through my rough draft, I walk through the yard at the end of the first day to take a long look at how the yard is coming together.  I never know if I want to replace a bush here or a flower there, much like the decisions on whether to add more to one section of my paper to make it more interesting.

            When the final day of the project arrives, I find myself looking at the same details as the day before, as if to proof read the yard.  I walk through again, looking over the details and making sure there's no trash around the yard to take away from the scene.  And, just like my final draft of a paper, I always seem to find one or two items out of place.  Finishing up the project, I find myself becoming nervous, and the anxiety sets in because I know the dreaded landscape inspector, Mr. Dollieslager, has to give his final approval.  His expertise in the landscaping field is world-renowned, and I am honored to listen to his constructive ideas on how to improve the final product.  After the last few details have been picked up or replaced, I find myself feeling happy and content on a job well done.