Monthly Archives: February 2021

Happy Valentine’s Day

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“Bleeding Hearts”
Heatherwood Spring

Happy Valentine’s Day to all!

Hearts and Valentine’s Day go hand in hand. Our Bleeding Hearts (Dicentra) symbolize the Holiday. May your Valentine’s Day be a beautiful one filled with love and happiness.

A Little Trivia on the “Romantic” Valentine’s Day

The romantic Valentine’s Day was first brought to the public’s attention by Geoffrey Chaucer in his 1375 poem “Parliament of Foules.” Valentine’s greetings were introduced in the Middle Ages. Written greetings came after 1400. The oldest existing greeting is from 1415 in a poem by Charles, Duke of Orleans to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London.

Valentine’s Day celebrations began in the 1600’s. The next century small tokens and handwritten notes were popular. Printed cards started to replace handwritten notes by 1900. Printed cards along with lower postal rates contributed to sending Valentine’s cards by mail. Ester A. Holland introduced mass-produced Valentine’s Day cards in 1840. Today an estimated 145 million Valentine’s cards are sent each year.

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More Winter Color

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Berginia and Yellow Twig Dogwood
Heatherwood Winter

The deep reddish purple winter color of the bergenia provides a striking contrast to the yellow winter color of the yellow twig dogwood. In the spring the Bergenia turns to a deep green as it prepares for its deep pink flowers. Spring brings green leaves and white delicate flowers to the dogwood. Over time we plan to add various ground covers to provide additional color and texture contrasts.

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Winter Color

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Dwarf Blue Spruce and Ice Plant
Heatherwood Winter

We are now in the middle of winter. The temperatures are down in the 20’s and it is snowing again. My mind goes back to last weekend and the almost tropical weather (in the 40’s & 50’s) we were having. We had just completed marking out locations for trees and shrubs that we plan to add to the Japanese-style segment of the garden. We are ordering plants now for our spring project. Planting should start in about another month and a half.

Winter color is scattered across various parts of our Heatherwood garden. In one corner of the garden, we have a small planting area of dwarf conifers. Between the conifers we have added various ground covers. This image shows the contrasting colors of the dwarf blue spruce and the red winter color of the ice plants. In the spring, the ice plants turn to a light yellow-green tone providing a different striking contrast to the spruce’s blue.

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Memories From Longwood

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Witch Hazels
Longwood Gardens, Pennsylvania

When I was admiring our little witch hazels, my memory reflected back to the beautiful witch hazel grove in Longwood Gardens. The grove is comprised of mature yellow, orange, and witch hazels. It is a star attraction in mid-winter, especially when there is snow on the ground.

Longwood Gardens is a real treasure and a must see when in the Philadelphia area.

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First Bloom of the Year

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Jelena Witch Hazel
Heatherwood Winter

Just before the arctic blast is suppose to hit us, our witch hazels are blooming. Over the years, witch hazels have been the harbinger of the coming spring in our winter gardens. We planted our first witch hazels in our Woodinville, WA garden. They were planted them later in the spring after their blooms had been replaced by leaves. I didn’t know what to expect the next winter, but in late January we were pleasantly surprised by the little fragile blooms. When we lived in the Philadelphia area, we frequently made the adventure down to Longwood Gardens to see and photograph the displays of large (10 foot) yellow, orange, and red witch hazels. Here at Heatherwood, we planted six Diane and Jelena witch hazels last spring and are enjoying their first winter bloom now. Our little guys are only 12-18 inches tall. They look a little lonely in the large open planting areas. Looking back on the Longwood Garden specimens, I can visualize the beauty in which they will grace our winter garden as they mature.

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Borrowed View and Memories

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Front Yard View
Heatherwood Winter

Looking out over our front yard, I reflect on memories of bygone childhood years. Outside our farmhouse door, in the foreground I see the snow covered apple trees with a few remaining apples hanging on the wild branches that need to be pruned. A little farther out I see our neighbor’s newly planted apple orchard. Behind the new apple orchard, I reminisce running through the old cherry orchard looking for low hanging delicious treats. And above the cherry orchard, I dream of the hours I would spend roaming around the sagebrush hills behind our orchard.

I enjoy looking over our Heatherwood landscape as I appreciate the borrowed views from our neighbors’ properties.

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Keeping My Mind and Eyes Open

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“Winter Sunset”
Heatherwood View

One of my favorite places to sit, relax, and read is in our family room by the window. I frequently look up and gaze over the our garden and the ridges in the distance. Most times I see something that catches my attention and causes me to pause and contemplatively think about what I am seeing. The more that my mind is open, the more that I see. The more that I see, the more I appreciate the wonderful world we live in.

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Persistent

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“Japanese Maple in Snow”
Heatherwood Japanese Garden

This Japanese Maple is persistent. It just will not drop its leaves. Most of our Japanese Maples have a similar habit. They add to contrasting colors in the winter landscape as well as provide interesting “nesting spots” for winter snow. If the snow gets too heavy, we do have to gently dust it off the fragile branches to protect them from breaking. Later in the early spring we also need to gently run our hands through the branches to remove the leaves on some of the trees to prepare for the fresh new growth.

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