Nature’s Art

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Spent Milkweed Seed Pod
Heatherwood Meadow

Art is everywhere in nature. All I have to do is look around. Little things just seem to pop out as I stroll around in the garden. This little milkweed has caught my attention throughout the year. When the first pink and white blooms emerged in the spring, it stopped me. As the plant grew and the green seed pods started to form, it stopped me. It stopped me again as the pods started to open. And now when the pod fully opened and the seeds burst out, it became an art piece on the edge of the meadow.

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A Scene I Keep Coming Back To

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North West Corner
Heatherwood Fall

This vignette is a scene I keep coming back to. It ties our garden together with our neighbor’s yard, the pasture and orchard, then up to the hill above which separates our little valley with the Wenas Valley to the north. The fall colors accentuate the scene while the piece of the flume reminds me of the agricultural history of the area.

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Bright & Shiny Throughout the Year

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Bright & Shiny Cherry Allee
Heatherwoood Autumn

When we began to design our lower Heatherwood garden, I asked Mary what she would like to see. She replied, “Something bright and shiny!” We designed and built the “Cherry Allee” to accomplish her request. In the spring, the cherry trees display their beautiful pinkish-white blooms. In the summer, the perennials burst out in a brilliant mix of yellows, reds, whites, and purples while the grasses provide a subtle contrast. In the fall, the cherry trees display their purple and orange leaves and frame the changing colors of the beds below. In the winter, the browns and tans of the spent perennials and grasses provide a stunning contrast to the reddish bark of the cherry trees along their side. Mission accomplished!!!

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Overlooking the Pond

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Japanese Garden Pond
Yakima Area Arboretum

A Japanese maple in its brilliant fall colors and a stately boulder protrude over the Yakima Arboretum’s Japanese garden pond. Built in the late 1970’s, the Japanese garden has been the center piece of the arboretum. Guests use the garden as a background for wedding, celebration, and other photographs to record key moments of their respective lives. Besides enjoying the garden myself, I relish watching strollers slowly walking through the garden hand in hand as well as youngsters running merrily along the paths.

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A Gift from Itayanagi

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Japanese Lantern Gift from Itayanagi, Japan
Yakima Area Arboretum Japanese Garden

This Japanese lantern was given to the Yakima Arboretum by Yakima’s Japan sister city, Itayanagi. It highlights the entrance view to the arboretum’s Japanese Garden pond. In the past, representatives from Itayanagi have made annual visits to the arboretum. Last year, representatives from the Arboretum represented Yakima to a visit to Itayanagi.

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Mid-Autumn Stroll in the Yakima Arboretum

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Winter Garden
Yakima Area Arboretum

A bright mid-autumn day was a great opportunity to stroll through the Yakima Area Arboretum and Botanical Gardens. The Winter Garden welcomes visitors to the arboretum. This is the fourth autumn for the garden which was installed in the spring of 2023. During these first four years the initial plantings have established themselves. A large walnut tree originally provided a beautiful background for the curving path. It has since passed leaving an open vista through the crabapple and nut groves. It is time to start planning for a second set of plantings through the garden.

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Time to Play

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Leaf Abstract
Heatherwood Fall

Sometimes when I walk around with my camera, nothing catches my interest. It is a signal for me to start playing around to get my creative juices flowing. Usually after playing around a bit, many opportunities for a good photograph magically appear. This multiple exposure image of three yellow Japanese maple leaves laying of a patch of brown maple leaves was one of those play times.

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When You See Red … Shoot!

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Waterfall and Maple Leaves
Heatherwood Japanese Garden

A good friend and photography mentor, John Barclay, stressed the idea of “When you see red, shoot!” in my first workshop with him. Red always demands attention as it does in the photograph of our Japanese garden stream. We have only three weeks more to enjoy the main stream and waterfalls in our Heatherwood garden. We will need to shut the stream down as we prepare for the winter ahead.

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Water, Evergreens, & Rocks

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Upper Waterfall
Heatherwood Japanese Garden

One of the prominent elements of our Japanese-inspired garden is the waterfall and stream. I love when the falling red Autumn Brilliance maple leaves decorate the stream and surrounding banks. Weeping conifers (Uncle Fogy Jack Pine, Hillside Creeper Scots Pine, and the Blues Weeping Colorado Blue Spruce) along with Little Dipper Cotoneasters flow over the stream bank. Together with the water cascading over the rocks, they make a beautiful vignette.

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