Playing in the dirt

When we moved into our new home, DH took claim to the narrow piece of real estate at the edge of the house to create a Japanese garden, that was 4 years ago. He hummed and hawed - researched garden ideas - designed a small garden on paper - looked for local plants and stones that may work - received a Japanese lantern as a gift for "his" garden and then thought about it some more over the last 4 years. Last year, he got out his shovel and started to de-rock, de-weed, and prepared the ground for "The" garden. After working for a couple of months in 30 years of hard pack soil, collecting a ton of stones and rocks and getting 4 feet done - it stopped. This summer, he announced
"This just isn't going to work for a Japanese Garden, it's all yours".

I sketched out an idea for a simple garden,
working with local plants for color & size and a few stepping stones,
dug out the spots for said plants, weeded out the rest,
plotted the spot for the Japanese lantern
and 4 days later had a simple, appealing showcase at the edge of the house.