Category Archives: Flora

Today’s Challenge

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“Woodland Garden”
Heatherwood Spring

Today’s challenge is where do we place all the new perennials, ground covers, and understory shrubs that we will start to plant this morning. I ask myself many questions. How do I accent and outline the garden path? Does this plant need filtered sun or can it withstand the harsh summer sun of Central Washington? Will it complement the existing plantings or interfere with them? How can I create special little vignettes that draw special interests for viewers? Where do I need to block views from the street and where do I need to create windows looking through the garden?

I better stop thinking and start laying out plants. The crew gets here at 7:00 AM!

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Looking In

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“Front Yard”
Heatherwood Spring

As well as view windows looking out to the surrounding hills from our garden, we have also designed windows looking into Heatherwood from outside the garden. This one is from our driveway looking down through our front yard. The bright green of the spring grass snakes through the various planting areas. Most of the perennials are showing their fresh new growth while the deciduous trees are just starting to leaf out. It is May 1, time for the spring explosion of life!

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Time to Plant

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“2022 Spring Planting”
Heatherwood Spring

Our driveway looks like a garden nursery. The plants for our spring planting project arrived last Friday, two weeks later than what we had originally planned. The crazy early spring weather has put us behind schedule. We have a zillion plants to layout and plant during the next couple of weeks. The weather has turned warm. We will need to carefully stage our planting with our irrigation system modifications. Wish us luck!

Planting starts today!

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Getting Ready

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“Purple Lilac Buds”
Heatherwood Spring

Our lilacs are getting ready to burst out into their spring bloom. I planted a row of lilacs along the north eastern part of our property about five years ago. The bushes were about 18 inches tall. The first year, each plant had only a couple of blossoms. Now they are over six feet tall and are laden with beautiful blooms. One of the things I enjoy the most about our garden is watching how plants grow and mature over time.

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Easter Emergence

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“Celebrating Easter”
Heatherwood Lower Garden

Easter is a time of emergence and new life. Heatherwood welcomes Easter with its early spring burst of bulbs, trees blooming and leafing out, perennials popping out of the ground, and grass greening up. It is a celebration of life that nature and our Lord has given us.

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Daffodils Day 4

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“Daffodils in Crabapple Grove”
Heatherwood Spring

One more day and all the daffodils are in bloom. From the time that the first daffodils bloomed it only took four days for the whole daffodil drift to bloom. In the same time period several of the crabapples started to leaf out. Shortly they will start to bloom one by one.

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Daffodils Day 3

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“Daffies in Late Afternoon Sun”
Heatherwood Spring

Another day brings out more daffodil blooms. The field is now about 75% in bloom. One day makes a big difference.

Yesterday’s garden walk was in the late afternoon just before the sun dropped behind the western hills. The warm light was gorgeous as it spread across the garden onto the daffodils in the crabapple grove. It was a nice way to wrap-up a beautiful spring day!

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First Daffies

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“First Daffodils”
Heatherwood Spring

Yesterday we woke up and looked out our window, and there they were, the first daffodils of the year. There were about a dozen blooms among the field of green leaves. We took a morning stroll to admire them. Looking around we could see little reddish leaves starting to emerge from the spirea shrubs. Leaves were also starting to emerge from the crabapples. Once a few daffodils bloom, the remaining bulbs soon follow. We are just starting a series of blooming/budding color in our crabapple grove. First the daffodils, then the various crabapple trees one species at a time. Each week will have a different surprise.

We love spring!

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Spring is Here!

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“Yukimi & Siberian Iris”
Heatherwood Japanese Garden

Today is the first day of spring. Early spring bulbs including the Siberian iris and crocuses are in bloom. Daffodil chutes are poking up through the ground. Their blossoms are still a couple of weeks away. The forsythia is blooming along with the first blossoms of the star magnolias and the Cornelian Cherry dogwood. All of the grasses and perennials have been trimmed. The garden spring weeding has been completed. We will celebrate the first day of spring today by pruning our roses.

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