Wife Remodels the Backyard Despite Objections, and 2 Years Later the Small Yard Stuns with a Complete Makeover into a Landscape Garden

The ideal state of life,

is to have life filled with the beauty of art,

and to enjoy life within art.

A restless society makes people yearn more and more for a garden life,

because only there can life bloom freely like flowers.

A good garden life is inseparable from having a good yard:

Planting each silent seed and yielding beautiful melodies; pruning pots of unruly potted plants into exquisite works; turning over the fertile soil in the yard to check on the plants' growth; getting close to the sun and feeling the joyful atmosphere of life growing!

2018 Garden Family Candidate Zhou Jianning

has just such a small yard:

In spring, a profusion of blooms;

in summer, lush greenery;

in autumn, abundant fruit;

in winter, blanketed in white snow.

Zhou Jianning: 2018 Garden Family Candidate

Zhou Jianning's yard is planted with all kinds of flowers, grasses and fruit trees: Chinese rose, hibiscus, jasmine, gardenia, Aglaia odorata, ivy, moss rose, periwinkle, spider plant, wisteria, osmanthus, camellia sasanqua, ginkgo, peony, lemon tree, pomelo tree...

There are so many varieties that one cannot count them all, as if it were a "little pastoral garden."

The most eye-catching is that patch in the backyardrockery fish pond，

Tall and upright, with murmuring flowing water,

when the breeze blows, the green waves ripple,

adding much vitality and energy to the whole small yard!

A Gardening Novice's Path to Garden Advancement

Zhou Jianning started growing flowers five years ago. At that time, the home had no yard, only a balcony and a small terrace. To cultivate her spirit and beautify the home environment, she grew some flowers and plants, but because she did not understand their habits, and was busy with work, she simply had no time to care for them carefully, so she killed many flowers. Even the easiest to keep, pothos and spider plant, would "tragically die" in her hands.

Just like that, Zhou Jianning once became a "plant killer," but because she loved flowers and plants, and even more loved the poetic touch of greenery in life, she persevered, buying more after they died, growing them after buying them, repeating this cycle all along.

△Bonsai forming a wall, quite elegant

It was not until 2015, when she moved house and the home had a large courtyard, and she herself was nearing retirement with more free time, that she began again to work with flowers and plants in her new home.

To avoid becoming a "plant killer" again, Zhou Jianning decided that this time she would learn about growing flowers from a professional teacher, soshe enrolled in the bonsai class at the university for the elderly, and from then on began her path as a "flower fanatic."

△Rose and honeysuckle, recommended climbing plants to grow

Through two years of unremitting study, Zhou Jianning went from "plant killer" to "expert," completing the perfect transformation of a gardening novice!

From basic flower and plant identification to profound bonsai making, in the process of learning, Zhou Jianning not only improved her professional skills in growing flowers and bonsai, but also truly felt the endless joy brought by tending flowers and plants.

"Learning in old age, finding joy in old age, gaining in old age"

From a few pots to a dozen pots, then to dozens of pots,

now Zhou Jianning's home has become a small garden

with not only herbaceous flowers, but also succulents and her new love, bonsai -

trident maple, Chinese ash, Serissa japonica, Chinese elm, Loropetalum chinense, Fujian tea...

They come in various shapes, lush and verdant,

as if transporting one into the famous mountains and great rivers of nature.

Since having more free time, Zhou Jianning spends several hours every day tending the flowers and plants in the yard. Especially in the hot summer, even when bitten all over by mosquitoes, she still persists in watering, loosening the soil and fertilizing the flowers and plants.

Though it is hard work, she feels very happy.

△Zhou Jianning busy at work

For Zhou Jianning, flowers and plants are like pets, companions that can live alongside her. Under your careful cultivation and care, their lives will sprout, bloom and bear fruit, and then you can enjoy their growth process, feel the passage of time, and welcome the changing of the four seasons.

Within close reach, in a tiny space, you can take in the beauty of nature and savor the greatest joy in the world!

White peach blossom

Red begonia

Kalanchoe

Nowadays, flowers and plants have become a part of Zhou Jianning's life. If she does not tend to these little things every day, she feels life loses much of its color. She says she has also met many flower friends through flowers and plants. Everyone exchanges ideas and learns from one another, truly enjoying"learning in old age, finding joy in old age, gaining in old age"and a beautiful life.

A scene of flourishing blooms

On a weekend afternoon, a yard full of flowers and plants,

a cup of fragrant tea, a wisp of fragrance,

leisurely enjoying the comfort and wonder of life!

Plant a flower or plant at home!

Let floral fragrance fill the house and joy fill your heart!