With her first glimpse of snow, Maddy was enthralled; she could not imagine anything more beautiful. Crisp white perfection blanketing the backyard of what was to become her new home.

“Wait until you have to shovel it from your driveway,” the Real Estate agent had laughed, but that first image had stayed with her and even with the inconveniences, she still rejoiced each time she pulled back the curtains to see snow lying crisply before her, or falling softly from a heavy sky.

Joel had moved in that first spring, and he loved to garden; Maddy sometimes wondered if it had been her garden that had precipitated the move. Deciding to concentrate his efforts on the front, he rediscovered paths in the overgrown wilderness, clipped hedges and planted borders of bright annuals. Soon the garden was filled with cheery snapdragons, and dianthus. Bright pansies peeked from carpets of white alyssum and the heady scents from the roses and the lilac greeted visitors. Maddy loved what Joel had created, but joked that it wasn’t as beautiful as snow.

“The backyard was where I fell in love with this house,” she reminded him, “just wait until it snows.”

Joel smiled. The backyard had been sadly neglected and the old orchard was badly in need of pruning; it would require more time than he could afford at present.

“Sorry love,” he laughed, “but I’ll never be able to improve on perfection, you’ll have to wait for your snow.”

Maddy welcomed the snow when it came that winter, showing off her backyard in its cloak of white. Joel acknowledged it was beautiful, but it was he who had to shovel each fresh fall.

One morning, an excited Maddy dragged Joel towards the back door, barely allowing him time to lace his boots.

“Look,” she sighed, her breath like puffs of smoke in the cold morning air. Among the gnarled old apple and pear trees a hidden beauty was revealed. A winter plum displayed its brilliant blossoms red against the snow.

They had both been wrong. It was possible to improve on perfection.

Learn more about the contest which inspired this story:  Fleur 2020-02 Plum Blossom