Tag Archives: Japanese Garden

Change of Pace

“Japanese Garden”
Yakima Area Arboretum, Washington

Today’s post moves away from Heatherwood to the Yakima Area Arboretum. Almost all of my recent photography work has been in our Heatherwood garden. I feel like I need a little change. Reviewing this week’s “Nature TTL” web site, I noticed the weekly challenge to be wide-angle images. It has been over a year since I created my last infrared images in the Palouse. So I gave myself the assignment to go to our local arboretum and photograph wide-angle infrared scenes. I quickly noticed how “out of practice” I was. I had to focus much harder on managing contrasts between tones, highlights and shadows, as well as details. Critiquing my work, I feel it was about a 3 on a scale of 10. But that is OK … it just means that I need to practice more! More to follow on future posts …

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Up to the “Perch”

“Stepping Stones Up to the Perch”
Heatherwood Japanese Garden

On this day I decided to take the back path up to the “Perch.” From the entrance of the stone steps, I can see the Adirondack chair and the small mountain lantern. I can hear the sound of a rushing stream, but cannot see anything. A surprise waits at the top.

My mission for this day’s photo excursion was to record a baseline for the state of the Japanese garden before we start our spring planting project. I want to have before and after perspectives of the different vignettes in the garden. Our objective for this area will be to encase the area around the path with various ground covers and maybe a couple of deciduous shrubs.

Since this post talks about the path up to the “Perch”, I decided to change the overall web site header to the surprise at the top of the steps.

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Enough Daffodils, Time for Cherries

“Weeping Cherry & Path of Learning”
Heatherwood Japanese Garden

This part of Heatherwood’s Japanese Garden is a “works in progress”. Year 1 we removed the grass, placed the rocks, and planted the evergreen trees and shrubs. Year 2 we added a few more shrubs. Year 3 we planted the creeping phlox, several ground covers, and the weeping cherry. This year we will focus on adding more ground covers.

The series of rocks curving up the hill is intended to portray a path of learning. Last year we added the phlox to highlight the path and the weeping cherry to lead a student up the path.

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Evolution

“Red Twig Dogwood”
Heatherwood Japanese Garden

Developing a garden is an evolution of ideas and time. Our Japanese-influenced garden started with my first planting of a Bloodgood Japanese maple in 2016. Additional trees and shrubs were added as I created a small section of garden next to the house in 2017 and 2018. In 2019, my ideas expanded to create a large Japanese style garden on the north section of our property. The concept of Heatherwood began. We converted a grassy slope into a large rock garden, complete with a pond, stream, and waterfall. Monsterous excavators reshaped the landscape. We planted the foundation trees and conifer shrubs for the garden. The foundation was complete, but there were many open areas to be finished. The work had just begun. In 2020, we added several ground covers around the garden pathways. This year we continued with the ground covers, additional border and shade trees, along with many evergreen and deciduous shrubs intended to fill in space and create a little contrast and multi-seasonal interest.

This little red twig dogwood was planted this spring. It looks small now, but when mature, it will reach 5-6 feet tall and wide. In the spring and summer it has light green foliage contrasting with the darker green conifers. In autumn, it is turning into yellow and red shades. In winter, its red stems create a beautiful contrast, especially when the ground is covered with snow.

The garden will continue to evolve. Each year we will add ground covers and additional fill-in plants. As the shade trees grow, we will replace sun loving specimens with shade specimens. Rhododendrons and azaleas are in the plan once we have enough shade to protect them. Developing the garden will be a never ending activity of joy.

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Heatherwood Japanese Garden Stroll #21 – Conclusion

“View From the Perch”
Heatherwood Japanese Garden

Before settling down in the “Perch’s” Adirondack settee, our visitor takes a few moments to enjoy the scene that folds out below. From here, the stroller can view the Selah-Yakima gap, the rural Selah valley and rolling hills, and the Heatherwood landscape as a background to the Japanese garden stream and waterfalls. The dense cloud cover provides a contrast to the normally bright blue summer skies of the Yakima Valley. It is now time to sit down, relax, and enjoy a little peace with the rushing water and the song of birds providing nature’s wonderful music.

This posting is the conclusion for our stroller’s walk through Heatherwood’s Japanese Garden. There is much more to see and enjoy, but those will be left for a future stroll.

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Heatherwood Japanese Garden Stroll #12

“Yukimi Lantern and Waterfall”
Heatherwood Japanese Garden

It has been a couple of weeks since my last post. I guess it is time to continue the stroll through the garden.

After exiting the garden path, the visitor walks around a couple of trees and starts to walk up the lawn bordering the Japanese garden. The sound of the rushing waterfall catches his/her attention and they look over their left shoulder and catch this small vignette. As we developed the Japanese garden, we tried to create small windows of interest from various view points. This is one of my favorites.

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What I Am Trying to Achieve (Continued)

“Lower Waterfall in Early Morning Sun”
Heatherwood Japanese Garden

Continuing from my prior post, this image illustrates the design opportunities that we have to create my vision for the stream, waterfall, and pond. We have laid the foundation for the stream’s surrounding areas with a few conifer trees and shrubs. To compliment these, we need to add contrasting shapes and textures along with a lot of ground cover. I hope to achieve this with interesting evergreen and deciduous shrubs and a few more deciduous trees. I am looking also for fast-growing ground covers to keep the bark in place. When we have a strong wind, the surrounding bark is blown into the stream and pond, causing quite a mess and a lot of maintenance work. While adding framing plantings, we need to make sure that we allow “windows” for morning and afternoon sun to highlight the flowing waterfalls. Plant placement will be critical.

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A Start

“Yukimi and Waterfall”
Heatherwood Japanese Garden

In the summer of 2019 we built a stream, waterfall, and pond for our Japanese Garden. We also added several Japanese lanterns and small trees. This year we added a little ground cover. Our vision is to have the pond and stream lined with lush evergreen shrubs, trees, ground cover, and textured perennials that will cascade over the stream and pond’s edge. Additional trees will be planted to create a shaded environment. Time, a little work, and patience along with nature’s care is all that it will take to fulfill our vision. Our enjoyment will be to watch it evolve over time.

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Start of a Nice Day

“Kotoji in Morning Light”
Heatherwood, Indian Summer

I love to start the day enjoying the morning sunlight on our Kotoji Japanese Lantern guarding the waterfall. The Yakima Valley “Indian Summer” is one of my favorite times of the year. The evenings and early mornings are cool in contrast to the warm (sometimes hot) days. Fall colors start to appear on the deciduous trees. The conifers also start to transition to their fall and winter shades. It is a beautiful time of the year!

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Something a Little Different

Japanese Garden Entryway Gate
Yakima Area Arboretum, Washington

It was hot (>95F) and it felt good standing in the shade for a moment. Why did I take this image? I was drawn to the line of wisteria and the bright blue sky. It was another good opportunity for infrared photography to pull out the bright wisteria foliage and highlight the brilliant blue sky of a summer day in Eastern Washington.

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