Tag Archives: daffodils

Spring is Coming

Emerging Daffodils
Heatherwood Crabapple Grove

Today we change over to Daylight Saving Time. Spring is just around the corner! These emerging daffodils are harbingers of what will soon come.

We are far behind on our winter clean-up to prepare for spring. New growth is starting everywhere, but we have not started cutting back last years spent grasses and perennials. I have started a little pruning, but have a long, long way to go! We also have a lot of transplanting to do before we start our spring planting. The new plants are scheduled to be delivered in mid-April. I’m getting a little nervous.

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Sea of Daffodils

“Daffodil Sea”
Heatherwood Spring

I am always trying to create an image that reflects what I see and feel when our sea of daffodils are in full bloom. This view is from the southeast corner of our property looking north to the surround hills and a couple of our neighbor’s homes. The daffodils are planted in a grove of crabapples. We still researching for a ground cover solution for the grove when the daffodils have expired.

As I walk around the daffodil bed and focus on the mass of blooms, I get a little dizzy. With a little help from my camera, my vision appears.

“Daffodil Dizziness”

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Catching Up …

“Daffodils and Meadow”
Heatherwood Spring

Where have I been? It has been over two weeks since my last post. A lot of things have been happening here at Heatherwood. I will try to catch up in my next several posts.

Our sea of daffodils have peaked and are starting to fade. They are still attractive at a distance but are starting to get a little tired and hanging their heads. The perennials in the meadow area are poking their new foliage above ground. Some of the grasses are starting to grow, while others are waiting for warmer weather. The red twig dogwoods in the background of the above image are just now starting to get their first leaves. Overall, it seems like we are 2-3 weeks behind a normal year.

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The Daffodils Are About to Burst

“Daffodils and Red Twig Dogwoods”
Heatherwood Spring

This is one of my favorite early spring vignettes. The view is looking through our crabapple grove to a wall of Spartan junipers in the background. In the mid ground are the brilliant winter red twig dogwoods. In the foreground are drifts of yellow daffodils. Any day now they should burst out in their yellow blooms. As the daffodils fade, the crabapples start to bloom. Then soon after, the leaves emerge on the dogwoods. We have a continuous change of spring color in this part of our Heatherwood garden. We are still looking for a solution to cover the ground after the daffodils die back.

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Happy Easter

“Almost Opened Daffodills”
Heatherwood Spring

Today we will host our family Easter celebration. We will have three generations of Grafs, Downeys, Pecks, and Powells with us this year. The older generation will relax and laugh as we watch the youngsters search for the Easter eggs. There are plenty of spots to hide them in our Heatherwood garden. While we relax and laugh, the middle generation parents will nervously make sure their kids don’t get carried away.

While we enjoy the day, we will all thank our Lord in our own way for the life He has given for us.

Happy Easter to all!

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Here They Come

“Emerging Daffodils”
Heatherwood Crabapple Grove

Here come the daffodils, finally! They are emerging two to three weeks later than last year. The cold snap we had in late February has held back our spring outburst of new growth and color.

We are still searching for the right plants to carpet the floor of Heatherwood’s crabapple grove after the daffodils bloom and their foliage dies back.

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Happy New Year !

“A Field of Daffys”
Heatherwood Crabapple Grove

I thought I would start the new year with a thought of what Heatherwood will look like in the spring. The winter snow has been beautiful, but I am getting a little tired of plowing the driveway and shoveling snow. During these winter days, I enjoy the time to sit back and plan for the next projects we will undertake in the garden. I close my eyes, dream, smile, and think of the coming new year.

I wish all a Happy New Year filled with happy times, new experiences, and wonderful adventures.

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What?

“Daffies in Snow”
Heatherwood Crabapple Grove

What is going on? A week ago it was beautiful spring weather. Spring buds were bursting open. This week it snowed. The snow melted, then it snowed again. It started to melt once more. Now the forecast is for more snow.

I think nature is trying to tell me that it is not time to plant yet. This crazy week has caused us to delay our spring planting for a week. It is hard to adjust the irrigation sprinkler system when the lines and drippers are covered with snow.

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Looking Down

“Daffies and Yellow Twig”
Heatherwood Woodland Garden

It is easy to become focused on looking up at all the trees when walking through a woodland. However, there is so much interest looking down at the ground level as well. We are trying to replicate this in our Heatherwood garden. We have planted about 25 various trees in our woodland garden area. Tall-growing standard maples and birches will provide the basic shade for the understory redbuds, dogwoods, and Japanese maples. We are now gradually filling in the middle and ground tier of vegetation. For the mid-tier we have yellow and red twig dogwoods, various viburnums, winterberries, buckthorns, beauty berries, ornamental grasses, barberries, and other shrubs. This year we hope to add a few hardy rhododendrons. For ground-level interest we currently have only a few spring bulbs. This year we will add Oregon grape and other low growing plants in addition to more bulbs.

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Daffodils Day 4

“Daffodils in Crabapple Grove”
Heatherwood Spring

One more day and all the daffodils are in bloom. From the time that the first daffodils bloomed it only took four days for the whole daffodil drift to bloom. In the same time period several of the crabapples started to leaf out. Shortly they will start to bloom one by one.

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