The Creek Bed

Landscaping isn’t just about putting new plants in a particular place. It is about creating a mood, a style and image of what you see in your mind’s eye and making it happen. Your “touch” needs to be involved in order to give your outdoor living area a soul… your soul. Everyone can see it — the sturdy anchors of trees; the frivolity in swaying wildflowers; the elegance of climbing roses; bees and butterflies covering their favorite flowers; the organic growth of fruits, vegetables and herbs in slated garden plots. All of these landscapes can fit in one yard, showing off pieces of personality and feeling.

Landscaping is also about upkeep of the yard and gardens. One of the more difficult tasks of my spring clean-up is the rejuvenation of the creek bed. The creek bed was created to feed the pond fresh water from an underground aquifer. This helped keep the pond at a comfortable water level and at the same time offer fresh, running water to wildlife.

But after a long winter, leaves collect among the rocks, the smaller rocks get shifted by heavy rains and winter ice, and the deer displace rocks as they cross over the creek bed to get to the back yard. Therefore, maintenance needs to occur, and it is a nuisance. But like most landscaping projects, the reward is almost instantaneous.

This past weekend gave us a beautiful Saturday, which meant a perfect time to be outside. Off to the creek bed.

My husband blew the leaves out of the bottom of the bed and crannies of rocks onto the grass. I then raked them into piles and put them in the back of my utility vehicle.

Then came the hard part as I replaced rocks along the sides of the bed and put the smaller river rocks that were displaced by heavy winds and rains back into position. And I do mean heavy rains, those midwest torrential “gully washers.”