Cone Flowers, Phlox, Daisies, Yarrow, Russian Sage, Rudbeckia Heatherwood Summer in the “Bright & Shiny”
Summer is definitely here! Earlier this week the temperature showed 100 degrees as I was driving along the road. The hot temperatures are triggering the summer perennials to burst out in bloom. We have to water the beds every night. The water is directed to minimize waste and provide moisture only where needed.
This vignette of color is in a section of Heatherwood’s Cherry Allée. Mary requested that the design criteria for this area was to be “Bright and Shiny.” I think we have satisfied her request.
Our Heatherwood garden continues to fill in as the plantings mature. It is hard to believe that this section of the garden was a sloping grass lawn just seven years ago. Now, a gravel path gradually weaves up the hillside to the source of a stream and waterfall. Trees and shrubs have filled in to border the pathway. One can hear the rush of falling water but cannot see the stream. A new visitor questions, “What is around the corner?”
The summer garden is full of color. The meadow area in the center of the garden and the cherry allée are the stars of our Heatherwood garden in the summer. The blooming perennials and grasses provide an ever changing palette of colors. Things change daily as old blooms fade and new blooms emerge. Details pop out in small vignettes and sheets of color spread out as one looks over the landscape. Early morning is a wonderful time to sit above and enjoy the color below with a cup of coffee. Walking through the garden draws me deep into the small vignettes and individual flowers. It is easy to get lost!
Steps Up the Upper Level Heatherwood Japanese Garden
A few days ago I gave myself a photography assignment to photograph windows that drew me into our Heatherwood garden. These windows include elements like pathways, hidden views, and eye catching vignettes. This scene shows a series of steps that lead upward. From the bottom, one cannot determine where it leads to or what is beyond the top. The various textures and colors of Japanese maples, conifer shrubs, ground covers, and rocks entice a visitor to explore and see what is above. A surprise waits at the top.
As I read the morning news on my office computer and sigh for all the turmoil that is going on in our country and the world, I turn to my side and gaze out the window. This image is what greets me on an early morning. It helps me change my perspective and think what is right about our world. I see the many trees that I’ve planted and nature has taken care of as they have matured. I look at the background hill and reflect on how it came into being. I compare the dry slope of the hillside and am grateful for the water that has been directed from the mountains that makes our little Heatherwood oasis possible. It entices me to go outside and mingle with the treats around me that nature has gratefully provided. Thank You!!!
I remember when I first moved back to Selah, the Selah-Naches Irrigation flume ran across the base of the hill above. It supplied the water for the Selah and Naches valley farms and orchards for around 100 years. It was one of the highlights that attracted me to this specific site for my new home. Alas, a few years ago the flume was removed and replaced by an underground pipeline. I miss the historic scene, but was able to build a little tribute to it with this section of the flume and planting area in the NW corner of Heatherwood.
Path to Garden Bench SE Corner, Heatherwood Garden
We do not have many cloudy days like this in Eastern Washington. Cloudy days make colors pop in the garden. Tones of green mixed with yellows, blues, and pink draw me into this little garden path. Where does it lead? Around the corner in an Adirondack bench shaded by a Wireless Zelkova. It’s a perfect private place to sit and enjoy a view upward to the garden and hills above.
It has been almost a month since my last post. How time flies by! We have been very busy working on developing our new southern conifer bed. Meanwhile, other parts of the garden have been busy bursting out their spring color. This part of the garden is now its peak color of the year. My camera has been replaced by a shovel and I almost missed recording some of our spring color.
The part of the garden that we have been working on is not at the photographing level yet. It is a dirt path lined with small conifers with no bark or ground covers. It will take a year or two to get to a state of interest. So, in the meantime I will continue to focus my photography on the more mature parts of the garden.
Our Katsura is one of the first Japanese maples to leaf out in the spring. It has these beautiful yellow leaves outlined along the edges in red. It pops out among our other conifers and deciduous trees. Currently we have it planted in an open area in our woodland garden section. The leaves get a little scorched in late summer. Finding the right spot in our harsh eastern Washington summer environment is difficult and requires a bit of trial and error. Should I be patient and wait for other trees in the woodland to get larger and provide some afternoon shade, or should I make the move now and transplant it in a more protected area?
Shin Deshojo and Crimson Queen Heatherwood Japanese Garden
Good friends and Japanese maples go hand in hand. When I first returned to Washington from Pennsylvania in 2016, my long-term friends from the Ravenna area in Seattle and I took a stroll in the Washington Arboretum to see the spring highlights. We walked through the Japanese maple area and saw a beautiful pinkish red maple displaying its brilliant spring color. I asked if they knew what it was. They said that it was a Shin Deshojo and that they had one in their garden. It was one of their favorites. I knew that I really wanted to add one to my new home. I searched around and could not find one in our Eastern Washington area. A year later they came to visit and said they had a little surprise for me. As they drove up, I saw a beautiful little tree in the bed of their truck. It was their beautiful little Shin Deshojo in its broken pot. In needed to be replanted and thought my new garden would just be the right place. It became one of the maples that started the foundation of what is now our Heatherwood Japanese garden.
Today it gracefully displays its form and color next to our house along with other Japanese maples and dogwoods. The trouble is that even though it adds to the beauty of the garden, it is difficult to get a clear photograph of the tree by itself. Below is an image of its beautiful leaves.
Shin Deshojo Emerging Spring Leaves
The image in the top header is of our second Shin Deshojo that was added a couple of years later. It is planted more in the open and gets quite a bit more sun. We now have almost 100 Japanese maples in our garden. They range from established trees to small one-gallon starters. Every time I walk through our garden I think of our wonderful friends and our joint love of Japanese maples. Thank you Janet and Larry!
