The Notyear Of The Yard

This was going to be the year of the yard. The summer of the garden. For the first time in the eight years I have lived in my house, I was going to act like a home owner. All the "volunteer" trees were going to disappear from the fence line and all the weeds from the cracks in the driveway. I was going to have a real flower bed and rein in the runaway mint plant. Notice the use of tense here. All these things were going to happen and I was going to do them.
Well, the summer is going, going, gone and it's still a jungle out there. I've managed to remove some of those invasive trees a time or two. I've weeded the flowerbed here and there and put in day lilies and hosta. I've given the mint plant a stern talking to on occasion. But, still the term "landscaping" does not spring to mind when I look at my yard.
Thank God, the lilies and hosta are hardy plants otherwise they would be dead from dehydration by now. I know they're in the bed somewhere between all the weeds and wild grasses. My lilac bush is surrounded by a threatening gang of fierce saplings but holding fast. And my irises just ignore the mint plant and hope it will go away.
One of the more tenacious incursions in my flowerbed has been a viney climber and crawler. . No matter how many times I believed that I had traced it to its source, I'd catch it climbing once again. I tried cursing it, ignoring it, ripping it out afresh. It was vicious, persistent, and clearly unstoppable.
I noticed the damn thing the other day. It had climbed and twined its way around the pole of a double hook bird feeder I had placed in the bed in a fit of optimism. It had managed to scale a full five feet into the air. I took a good look at my nemesis and was amazed. It had blossomed! Small, purple, trumpet-shaped flowers covered the vine; in appearance like a wild morning glory. It was no invader. No encroacher. It was a gift. A beautiful addition to my forlorn garden. Simple, unasked for, and precious. Wow!