Monthly Archives: October 2024

Sharing With Our Neighbor

Upper Grass Bed
Heatherwood Autumn

When I first moved in, this area was an ugly weed patch on the edge of my neighbor’s property. It is on a steep hill side and not visible from our neighbor’s upper yard. It was directly facing our upper lawn and was an eyesore. I asked if I could experiment a little with grasses and maintain the area. They gladly agreed. Now I have a colorful low maintenance planting bed that ties the neighbor’s yard to ours. And our neighbor has a colorful border of grasses that they do not have to maintain.

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A Glimpse of Selah Ridge

Looking Through the Upper Garden
Heatherwood Autumn

Several walkers pass by our garden on their daily walks. One of Heatherwood’s design objectives was to provide view windows through the garden up to the ridge above. This image is taken from the road through one of the windows into our upper garden. Frequently a walker will stop for a minute or two to take a peek.

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More Fall Colors in Heatherwood

Akebono Cherry, Fingerling Japanese Maple, Yukimi & Kotoji Lantern
Heatherwood Japanese Garden

I was sitting in my office doing a little work and looked out the window. The morning light covered the garden outside my window. The heck with work … I grabbed my camera and started playing in the soft light. The color was amazing, I moved from one position to another searching for little vignettes. Three hours later, my creative juices stopped flowing. I had covered less than one-third of the garden. Well, there is always tomorrow morning to do some additional exploring.

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Beautiful Day!

Woodland Edge
Heatherwood Autumn

Fall color abounds in Heatherwood on a beautiful autumn day. Just six years ago this was just a pasture with only the background birches. It is amazing how fast nature takes hold. We are pretty much finished with the design in this woodland area. Next year we will focus on another corner of the garden.

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Looking Up to the Northeast

Dogwoods and Selah Bluff
Heatherwood Autumn

A planting bed of grasses and deciduous shrubs separate Heatherwood from our neighbor’s back yard. As we were designing the lower part of our garden area, we reviewed our concepts with our neighbors. We wanted to make sure that what we planted did not distract from their view of the bluff looking over our yards. This is their view from their back yard looking northeast up toward the surrounding hills. We both think the design has worked out!

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Fall Color in the Meadow

Fall Grasses and Perennials
Heatherwood Meadow

How fast the fall colors are changing. It is difficult keeping up with the daily changes in the garden. The garden seems to be a little mixed up this fall. Some plants seem to be peaking earlier than normal while others seem to be lagging behind. Right now, the meadow seems to be in its peak fall glory. The grasses are golden with a remaining hint of summer green. The sedums have turned into their autumn gold and orange. The asters are in full bloom with their showy bright purple coat. Most of the perennials have faded in color, but have interesting spent blooms full of seeds for the birds. Every once in a while a bright new bloom pops up like those of the red hot pokers. Throughout the garden the red twig dogwoods are displaying their bright red, yellow, and orange fall foliage. Every day is a treat!

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Watching Over the Water

Viridis Japanese Maple
Heatherwood Early Fall

Our green Viridis maple is changing to its fall orange as it patiently watches over our garden waterfall. Each year it extends further toward the falling water. The combination of the flowing water and the flowing branches of the Viridis is one of my favorite scenes I keep coming back to.

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