Tag Archives: winter

A Beautiful Early Winter Day

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The Woodland on a Bright Winter Day
Heatherwood Early Winter

It is hard to believe that it is December 23, just two days before Christmas. Our early snowfall has vanished. Today was an absolutely gorgeous early winter day. The sky was blue. Warm winter sunshine spread across our Heatherwood garden. Even though I had a lot to do inside, I could not help myself from strolling around our little Eden with my camera.

Based on today’s beauty and looking ahead to the forecast, it does not look like we will have a white Christmas. Last year we were blessed with snow. This year we will be blessed with what ever nature will bring. We look forward to a beautiful day filled with family and friends as we reflect upon the wonder of Christmas.

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Late Fall vs Early Spring

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Woodland Path in Late Fall

Woodland Path in Early Spring

I love the four seasons. Above is one of the reasons. In early spring the red buds are bursting and the daffodils are blooming. Leaves on the woodland maples are just starting to emerge. Six months later, the leaves on the red buds have dropped and the leaves on the maples have turned brown and are just starting to drop. The foliage on the perennials have turned brown and are starting to die back. As winter moves in, the branches of the red and yellow twig dogwoods along with the red winterberries will provide winter color to the woodland.

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More Snow !

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“New Blanked of Snow”
Heatherwood Meadow

I woke up this morning to a new blanket of snow. It was beautiful, but … my spring clean-up crew was scheduled to start cutting back the grasses and perennials. I guess I will have to wait for a few more days.

The beauty of the new snow blanketing Heatherwood was worth the delay. I enjoyed a two hour walk around the garden with my camera. Each day is a gift. My challenge/opportunity is to make the best of each day. Yesterday was a great day!

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In Process

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“Future Garden Room”
Heatherwood Lower Garden

Throughout our Heatherwood Garden, we have designed several sitting areas that have a nice view of the garden and the surrounding hills. This area is in the southwest corner of the property looking east over an in-process garden room area and toward the background bluff. As we fill in the planting areas around the lawn and behind the chairs, this sitting area will be a secluded peaceful retreat. It will be a special place to watch the morning sunrise or a late afternoon’s amber glow on the garden and bluff.

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Still Holding Its Head Up High

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“Fountain Grass”
Heatherwood Meadow

Even though we have had a lot of snow and strong wind through the winter, this stately fountain grass still stands tall with its head held high. We have started pruning and cleaning our Heatherwood garden. By the end of the week, most of the grasses should be cut back ready for their spring growth surge. We have only a little over two weeks before the first day of spring.

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What a Difference One Day Will Make

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“Winter Grasses and Perennials”
Heatherwood Meadow

What a difference one day will make! This image was created on 1 March. Compare with the image in my last post, taken on 28 February. We woke up to two inches of snow on the morning of the 28th. By the next day, all the snow was gone and the temperature rose to 47 degrees. Mother Nature is very fickle!

Today we will start our winter cleanup. The pruning and hedge trimming shears will be busy for the next couple of weeks. By mid-March, we hope to have given Heatherwood its late winter haircut.

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Warning!!!

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“Late Winter Snow”
Heatherwood Meadow

Mother Nature gave us a little warning on this last day of February, “Don’t get too excited about spring, we still have three weeks of winter left.” I have been getting ready to start cutting back Heatherwood’s grasses and perennials. The temperatures have increased from the 20’s last week to the 40’s this week. Yesterday, I was out in the yard with my pruners. Luckily this is the last snow predicted for our 10 day forecast. And, the temperatures are predicted to rise back up into the 40’s. Hopefully we will be able to start our clean-up later this week.

In the meantime, I took the opportunity to walk through Heatherwood for a couple of hours this morning with my camera. There were plenty of opportunities to create images from a late winter snow. The light snow was a heavenly gift.

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Winter Walk #10

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“Winter Color Vignette”
Heatherwood Winter

This simple winter vignette is a mixture of color, textures, shapes and types of plants. The foreground of orangish-red ice plants form a platform for the round dense form of the dwarf evergreen conifer shrub. The densely packed brown spent yarrow details provide the backdrop for the vignette. Simple images capture my interest.

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