Flowering Pear
Heatherwood Spring
Our flowering pear is one of our springtime garden stars. This pear along with the columnar maple were on the property when I moved in ten years ago. Today it anchors the southeast corner of the upper lawn and provides welcomed summer shade to a part of our lower patio. It is leaning with the prevailing winds and it leaves behind messy little pear drupes. Yet, it has character and is still one of our senior garden stars.
Looking Through the Japanese Garden
Heatherwood Spring
A narrow stone path leads around the corner of our house. Immediately my eyes are flooded with spring color from Japanese maples, a flowering viburnum, a Japanese umbrella pine, and a weeping white pine. Then the Kotoji lantern by our hillside stream pops into view. It feels like the lantern is a scout looking over the garden.
The view as I walk around the corner is almost too much to take in all at once. Do I focus on the trees, shrubs, and ground covers that surround me? Or, do I look up through the trees and see the surprises peeping out through the foreground? Or, do I just pause and take it all in one little piece at a time? I usually do the latter.
Akebono in Full Bloom
Heatherwood Spring
The white blooms of the Akebono cherries accent the edges of Heatherwood’s Japanese garden area. Two Akebonos anchor the eastern and western edges of the garden. A third shields the edge of the pond. While the length of the blooms are fleeting, the grace of the trees continue throughout the year.
Daffodils and Flowering Pear
Heatherwood Spring
Today is a time to pause and think about what is right with the word around us. It is a time to be thankful of what our Lord has given us. It is a time to be with family and friends and enjoy life. Happy Easter !
Pink Flair Cherries in Late Afternoon
Heatherwood Spring
Nothing is more beautiful than late afternoon sunshine raking across our garden as a last hurrah on a cloudy day. Flowering cherries are the main subject again in our spring landscape. Eight Pink Flair cherries form an allee border for our perennial garden. As the trees mature, they will form a wall of color along the garden hillside.
These trees are a haven for spring nesting. Last year, I counted around a dozen nests. Robins are constantly fluttering about building new nests. Soon the allee will become a hatchery.
Cornelian Cherry Dogwood
Heatherwood Spring
The Cornelian Cherry dogwood, star magnolias, and the forsythia are the first trees to display their blooms. They shortly follow the witch hazels in the sequence of color in our Heatherwood garden.
The first Cornelian Cherry dogwood that I discovered was in the Morris Arboretum in Philadelphia. I had no idea what it was. When it broke out in bloom it lit up the whole end of the Arboretum. I had to wait fifteen years to have one of my own!
Okame Cherry
Heatherwood Japanese Garden
Strolling in the Yakima Arboretum, I noticed the bright pink of the Okame cherries in the flowering cherry collection next to the Japanese Garden. I just had to have one for our Heatherwood garden. This one, still in its pot, has since found a spot in our Japanese garden area. It adds to our collection of Akebono, Pink Flair, Kawansan, and two unknown varieties. We now have 17 flowering cherries that brighten our spring garden.
Blue Spruces, Flowering Plum, & Louie White Pine
Heatherwood Spring
Early spring has brought a plethora of color to our Heatherwood garden. I have been so busy working in the garden expanding a new conifer garden that I have not taken the time to photograph the evolving spring color. Over the next several posts, I will try to record some of the spring evolution in the garden.
This image shows the mid-morning sunlight exposing the flowering plum, two blue spruces, a Louie Eastern White Pine and an Ivory Halo red-twig dogwood. The pink and chartreuse provide a nice contrast to the blue spruces. This is one of the colorful vignettes that we see from our upper patio.