From a ridgetop garden

Nature’s treasure hides out

Offering its harvest

Flora lives all about

Flowers blooming early

Winter now disappears

Colorful bouquets reign

Sweetest fragrances cheer

Warming springtime sunshine

Changes the ground cover

New, tender shoots of grass

Young deer will discover 

Trellis roof shelters grapes

Ripen in summer’s sun

Fill with juicy flavor

Birds enjoy tasty fun

Apple and black walnut trees

Shading nature’s grand shrine

Fruit dropping to the ground

Squirrels and deer will dine

Former home site lives on

Garden paradise waits

Coming alive each spring

Winking back at its mates

All of the photographs were taken during a couple of recent morning walk at Chestnut Ridge Metro Park, which is just minutes away from Canal Winchester, Ohio.  The hilltop garden remains long after the house (built in the 1930s) was abandoned.  I was blessed to spend several minutes photographing a very cooperative deer while I was quietly standing near a tree.  

Originally published July, 2020.