LIFE IS A GARDEN MOSAIC

 

Don't throw away broken marble pieces.

When our house was built some some thirty years ago, I discovered that a lot of broken marble pieces were carelessly dumped by our flooring contractor on the adjacent property. I gathered them all and used some to cover our backyard walkway. 

At first, I thought this was a good idea because they were very visible in the dark and looked beautiful on moonlit nights. However, I learned that they can be slippery when wet and unsafe to walk on.

A New Look Using Old Stuff

Last year, we had to do major house repairs and renovation and needed to dispose of unnecessary items that occupy space. The sentimental junk collector in me prevailed and I had to find a way to make use of these marble cuttings or else they get collected by the garbage truck.

At that time, my front yard fence garden needed a fresh, new look which to me should be something that is very easy to manage, with minimal if not zero expense for landscaping, yet unique and different with a touch of old and new.

Rough Surfaces Repel Snakes

It was then I decided that the marble scraps and gravel stones which were also left-overs from the renovation works would look beautiful together as a rock garden mosaic. 

After leveling the soil with the help of a construction worker, I covered the area with plastic amazon screen so the marble and gravel stones do not get buried in the soil and stays flat on the ground. Every now and then, grass would appear between the spaces, but they just need to be pulled at first sign of growth. 

Later on, I found out that if you have bamboo trees in the garden which attract snakes, this type of ground cover can repel snakes because they do not like to slither on rough surfaces.

Lessons Learned

Working as a novice on this landscaping project without professional help until completion brought to mind an important lesson.  That just like this garden mosaic, our lives are made up of bits and pieces of broken marbles and stones. 

These are our unfulfilled hopes and dreams, frustrations, and failures - which only we ourselves and no one else can creatively and passionately put together with our successes, triumphs, victories and daily blessings - in order to make our life a complete whole.

Let your life be a beautiful garden mosaic!

Apple Bleza-Morales

About the Author:

Apple is passionately interested in community greening and beautification, organic and ornamental gardening, environment protection and preservation as well as related arts and crafts. She shares her professional, personal and travel experiences to spread knowledge and information in these areas which may not be accessible to all who are similarly interested and aims to inspire others to develop and create new ideas from her blogs.

Apple holds a Master's degree in Industrial Relations from the University of the Philippines. She held leadership roles in Human Resources during her employment with the private sector, developing and implementing HR and Organizational systems that help employees to grow their careers and employers to achieve a mutually beneficial engagement.