When we first moved into this RV park we discovered that we were allowed to have small pet fencing and “some” plants. This was a first for us in over 10 years of traveling, and we definitely wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to give Jack a fenced in area so he could lay outside and watch the world go by. I also really wanted to have a few plants, if for nothing else than to block the large pipes next to our site, so before I left I found some pots on clearance and was excited about filling them up when I came back.

For those of you who know Lee what happened next will come as no surprise, but even after 35 years of marriage I have to say his commitment to doing something that really matters to him surprises even me. When I came back he had a beautiful little white picket fence constructed, with a front and back gate, all set up, and a handful of maybe 6 or 8 plants. That same weekend we went to a wonderful small nursery I had found, and bought a few shrubs and trees and plants.

My other three plants were all flowering and we got hummingbirds and bees right away. The roses in particular were absolutely beautiful and will bloom here all year. When I saw my first hummingbird I bought one feeder and we got so many hummingbirds Lee bought 4 more. At times we have as many as 30 hummingbirds snacking in our yard and Jack really likes watching them through Lee’s desk window.

So in no time we had flowers, and plants, and hummingbirds. We even had a tomato plant, cilantro, green onions, and strawberries. For me it was perfect. But Lee, well Lee had other ideas 🙂

I should say at this point that Lee’s Mom and Dad have a gorgeous garden. And when I say gorgeous I mean they were on the front page of the Columbus Dispatch newspaper gorgeous. I recommend taking a moment here and clicking this link to a previous blog post about their garden. You truly have to see it to believe it. I mention that because when Lee decided he wanted to try and put a little water feature into our little space it’s not as crazy as it might initially sound. I will say though I was pretty dubious for a variety of reasons, but I should have known that when Lee wants something he generally makes it happen. He spent the next month scouring Facebook marketplace and little by little he created his pond.

Next he bought some stone pavers and then flowering plants to put all around the pond. Along the way he asked my opinion about colors and types of plants, which I appreciated but largely I stood back and tried not to get in his way lol.

I had the idea to put a couple of long hanging plants on hooks right behind the fountain to sort of frame the water fall with greenery and give it a background, and I bought the frog at a swap meet and added the spiky plant so he would look cool, and Lee just popped him into the spillway where he stands guard over the pond.

I was a bit worried that we were overdoing it and someone would say something, because some people are like that, but so far the responses from neighbors have been very positive, and the kids in the park are really fascinated. One older gentleman even stopped and told me we were the pretties site in the park, which was nice to hear. Beauty is contagious, too. Our neighbor added a bunch more plants, and some outdoor string lights, and a couple of hummingbird feeders, which was fine by me because they are greedy little buggers, and now we’re going through a lot less sugar. 🙂

Since Lee likes sitting outside so much he also added some RGB LED pond lighting, a long string patio lights, and a few dozen flicker flame tiki lights hidden all over. I really like how the lights make the garden look at night. It really is beautiful, and since it’s temperate here year round we are really hoping we will be able to enjoy it in the winter months.

Knowing Lee this will be a work in progress as long as we live here, but I wanted to catch you up. Yes, we know that if we move ALL of it will have to go, but building something with that in mind is kind of freeing. I am sure there are lots of people here in the park who would be happy to buy or take various pieces of what we have done and in any event we have no plans on moving in the near future so why not enjoy it while we can? Our quality of life went up exponentially when we moved here from the previous park in the valley, and now it has shot up again, which is nice.

We very much appreciate your support of our blog.

• You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
• You can purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperback version on Amazon or buy the Apple version on Itunes