A Mississippi Courtyard and Waterfall: Outdoor Wednesday

I'd like to thank our gracious hostess Susan at A Southern Daydreamer, for taking the time to host our "Outdoor Wednesdays."

I always look forward to seeing what's going on in everyone's outdoors, especially now that Spring is here.

Speaking of Spring ... everything looks so lush and green right now that I thought I'd better get some photos of our courtyard and waterfall areas before the long, hot summer arrives (we've already had temperatures in the high 80's here in Vicksburg!).

I created a slideshow of my pictures, beginning at the front of our house outside the gate to the courtyard. Next, are views of the entire area, including the covered porch, patio area, side yard and path leading to the backyard, and the waterfall and pond, with connecting stream.

I hope you enjoy the slideshow. If you'd like to hear the music, turn your sound up before clicking on "Play."

I hope you have a happy outdoor Wednesday ... however and wherever you spend it!

A Backyard Sanctuary ...

We have a very narrow, but long, backyard area which is enclosed by a wooden fence.

We planted shrubbery and flowers along the fence right after we moved in two years ago, but it still lacked something.

This spring I bought several birdhouses, some functional and some decorative, and my husband attached them to the fence for me.

[Click on pictures to enlarge them]

I added a few garden accessories and statuary, and now I love looking out my office window at my little "birdhouse garden" ...

I saw these three tin birds at a local garden gift shop and there was no way I could leave them there. I had a perfect place for them ...

The morning glories in the background of the picture below are the ones Avery (my three-year-old granddaughter) and I planted back in the spring.

They're fading now, but here's a picture of them when they were at their prettiest ...

There's a story behind them, if you'd like to read it, in my post called Sharing Simple Pleasures with a Granddaughter.

This little statue is called "First Love," and I've moved it from house to house through the years, or I should say that my husband has moved it, because it weighs a ton ...

Although this pretty little girl statue is not in the backyard, I wanted to share her with you anyway. I've had her for a very long time and she's my favorite.

She sits on the edge of our pond in our courtyard and makes me happy every time I see her ...

This is a path leading from the front courtyard area to the backyard. I took this picture early one morning when the sun was just coming up and there was a mist over the pond and waterfall ...

For the story of how the path was made, please read my A Stone Path, Bridge, and Courtyard Waterfall post.

The last picture I'd like to share is the view I have from my office window of my lantanas. Butterflies love lantana and they're so pretty fluttering about ... I'm going to miss them this winter.

To every thing there is a season, and it's always kind of sad to see the flowers of summer fading into fall. But each season has its own special kind of beauty ...

The glory of fall foliage in the Blue Ridge Mountains ...

And snow drifts piled high in New England ...

Winter in Texas ...

And perhaps we'll even get snow in Mississippi this
year, like we did on New Year's Eve 2000 ...

I would love to visit all these places, but the next best thing is experiencing the beauty of the changing seasons through the words and pictures of my blogging friends ... and I look forward to it.

The Making of a Stone Path

We have an area on the side of our house between our house and our neighbor's house which leads to our backyard. We landscaped the area last summer, and made a path in the center. When it came time to choose the material to use for the path, I made a big mistake. I chose black lava rocks which looked okay, but we soon found out that they are very difficult to walk on.

A lot of hard labor was involved in laying the rocks. My husband is a firm believer in doing things "the right way," so the path area had to be leveled, then he put down a fabric mesh liner and installed edging on both sides of the path to hold the rocks.

[You can click on the pictures to enlarge them, if you'd like]

The rocks had to be hauled by wheelbarrow from our driveway in front of the house all the way around the back of the house to the side where the path is located. Then finally, the rocks were spread between the edging and leveled.

This is the lava rock path after it was finished ...

We lived with the path for a few months, but it didn't take us long to realize that it wasn't what we wanted. I really didn't like the way it looked, and, as I mentioned earlier, the rocks were difficult to walk on.

Naturally, after all the hard work (not to mention the money) involved in building the path, I was hesitant to ask my husband if we could take the lava rocks up and replace them with natural stones. I waited a while longer before I broached the subject, and he said, very sweetly, that if I wanted to take the lava rocks up, we could have stones put down, thinking that I'd never attempt to remove all those rocks by myself. Well, that just made me even more determined to tackle those rocks!

So, early one April morning, I decided I was going to begin the rather formidable task of removing the rocks. The first thing I did was go to Home Depot and buy gloves and a small wheelbarrow. This is the one I chose and I just love it.

It's lightweight, yet sturdy, a perfect size for me, and has a neat little storage place for my gloves, gardening tools, a drink, and my cell phone (in case I get bitten by snake or something and need to call 911).

I used a "flat blade" shovel and started where the path ended in the backyard, working toward the front. About an hour ... and three or four wheelbarrow loads later ... this is what I accomplished. I was pleased with my progress and when my husband came home that afternoon, he seemed to be surprised at how much I had gotten done in so little time.

This is where I put the rocks as I took them up (behind our house) ...

After two or three more rock-moving sessions (and probably a dozen more wheelbarrow loads), I finally found the rock I had been looking for all that time -- the last one! I was so happy to be finished, and was proud that I did it all by myself.

Another month or so went by and we hired a landscaping company to install an irrigation system and lay the new stone path. They "put us on their schedule" and work was begun two weeks later (no one gets in a hurry but ME).

We chose blue stone because it blended with the natural stones used around the pond and waterfall in the courtyard.

I discovered that there is definitely an art to laying stone ... even randomly. The guy who laid them does tile work in his spare time and it was amazing to watch him work. He did a beautiful job and we are thrilled with our new path.

But there was one more project to be done -- the addition of a stone bridge to connect the pond in our courtyard to the new stone path.

A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I went to the stone place and picked out the stone for the bridge. It is eight feet long, weighs approximately 1500 pounds, and has lichen and moss growing on it which gives it lots of character. And yesterday was the day they put it in place (I was sorry I didn't take pictures of the guys bringing it in, but I was so excited, I didn't think about it until it was too late).

Here is the stone after they got it set ... Doesn't it look like it was just made for our bridge? [You can tell more about it if you enlarge the pictures]

We waited so long for this project to be completed and couldn't be more pleased with the results, especially the bridge. I've walked back and forth across it I don't know how many times "trying it out," and I just love it. The only thing I worry about is our little granddaughter falling off of it. We'll just have to keep a close watch on her until she gets used to it.