Category Archives: Flora

Heatherwood Fall Color #4

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“Fall Roses”
Heatherwood Fall

The roses are hanging on to their last burst of color. They have provided five months of beautiful enjoyment. It is now time for them to rest. The following is Mary’s perspective:

Fall Roses

As the end of the summer comes, 
one last gasp of velvety red hangs quietly from the stem.

The season of roses gave us color and imagination 
with every gaze of the thirteen rose bushes planted here two years ago.

Some made their way inside, but most lost their petals 
in the summer winds and carpeted the ground with red, pink, yellow, and white.

Now the cold nights are here, and the fall sky grays dully 
during the shortening days.

Here, two red blossoms hang on, sharing their last gasp of fragrant beauty, 
delicate yet defiant of the nature of things.

The uncut rose hips signal a winter nap to get ready for next year’s bloom, 
and their cycle reminds us of the ebb and flow.

Thank you, little roses, for teaching us that the difference 
between the end and the beginning is simply a little time to get ready.

                                                                           Mary Graf, 2020

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Heatherwood Fall Colors #3

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Liquidamber Styraciflua ‘Worplesdon’ (Sweet Gum)
Heatherwood Fall

A pair of liquidambers frame the entry area to Heatherwood. I planted them three years ago, before we added the other entryway planting areas and replaced the flowering plum trees with Green Vase Zelkovas. I am attracted to them because of their prominent upright shape, their brilliant fall color, and their “spikey” fruit.

I first planted three liquidambars in our Woodinville, WA garden 25 years ago. I did not have much luck. The first winter after I planted them, we had a very wet snow storm followed by a freeze. The trees still had their leaves and the weight of the snow and ice bent them over to the ground. While we lived there, they never regained their form. Our first year in Fountainville, PA we planted a row of five liquidambers along the road in our front yard. They became the star of our front yard landscape. So when I moved back to Selah, I had to add a pair to a prominent place in our landscape.

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Heatherwood Fall Colors #2

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Oak Leaf Hydrangea
Heatherwood Fall

Oak Leaf Hydrangeas are my favorites with their four season interest. In the spring, their dark green leafs unfurl. Summer brings out their beautiful conical flowers. Brilliant fall colors surround the faded brown blossoms in the autumn. In the winter most of the leaves drop leaving their exfoliating cinnamon-brown bark and their brown flower heads. A light dusting of snow highlights their beauty.

Heatherwood displays several Oak Leaf Hydrangeas throughout the garden, including a few in the Oak Grove.

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A Little Brightness for the Day

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Yellow Rose
Heatherwood Rose Garden

Our rose garden is still full of color. However, most of the blooms are past their prime and are a little tattered. It is hard to find a full crisp fresh rose without a few defects in the petals. So with my macros, my focus is on color, shape, and lines. I am continuing to work with creating “softness” with some of my rose images. I combined two images, one in focus, and one out of focus and blended them together to achieve the above result.

So here’s a little brightness for your day! There is always something in the world to celebrate.

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Soft

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“Soft Beauty”
Heatherwood Rose Garden

As I was photographing in our rose garden, I came across these two roses snuggled together. I remember thinking, “How soft and peaceful.” In post processing I tried to enhance that feeling.

There are so many interesting things to focus on in our Heatherwood garden. I have a difficult time really working a specific image since there are so many other distractions all around me. I tend to hop from one flower to another flower, vignette, or view constantly. When doing so, I tend to fall into a “photo-snapping” mentality and loose my contemplative creativity. I really need to work on this.

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A Walk Along a Garden Path (Part 3)

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“A New Perspective”
Heatherwood Garden

As I follow the path to the west, a new perspective opens up in front of me. My eyes leave the “bright and shiny garden” to gaze up along the hillside in front of me. I see the large homes on the ridge above. Fence lined pastures create the bucolic countryside feeling that attracts me to this area. The remnants of an apple orchard line the bottom fence. Our neighbor’s old horse is usually grazing amongst the apple trees.

The tree line path leads me first to a sloping lawn, then to the entrance to an informal path among a grove of young dogwoods and red buds. I missed their blooms this spring and look forward to a bright surprise next spring.

The meandering paths scattered throughout Heatherwood are designed to guide a visitor through the garden as well as introduce surprises at each turn. The plantings are young and will need several years to mature. My imagination is constantly at work envisioning what it will be in future years. In the meantime, I enjoy watching the little changes in what we have created and identifying items that we will need to add.

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A Walk Along a Garden Path (Part 2)

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“Peek at Bright & Shiny Garden”
Heatherwood Garden

Here I stand just starting to make my turn on the path, I catch a glimpse of Mary’s “bright and shiny garden” directly ahead. (Aside: When we started planning the garden, I asked Mary what she would like to see. She quickly said, “something bright and shiny.” So we designed a small garden of bright perennials that would bloom from spring through autumn.)

Before I make my turn to the west, I look back south where I had come from. I see the garden’s center circle with a specimen Zelkova. Over time the tree will grow covering the center pathway with its branches. It will be a great shade spot. Beyond our neighbors houses I can see the gap along the hill separating Selah from Yakima.

“Center Circle”
Heatherwood Garden

Now I finally turn westward to exit the path. Patience … see Part 3.

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First Year’s Growth

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Rock Garden and Meadow
Heatherwood Summer

Last year this area was all green grass. We broke up the solid lawn with various planting areas. The slope in the foreground was turned into a “alpine-like” rock ground patterned loosely from Ohme Gardens in Wenatchee, WA. In the flat area below, we created a small meadow area. The plantings are a little sparse now as they get accustomed to their first year in the landscape. It will take 3-5 years for the plants to mature and cover most of the ground. A big part of enjoying the new landscape will be to watch how the plants mature and adapt. This area is designed to have continuous color throughout the year.

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Purple & Pink

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“Purple & Pink”
Heatherwood Rock Garden

Our Heatherwood garden continues to change through the summer. Color is everywhere. Most of the perennials are relatively small since they were just planted this spring. Small vignettes are the best way to represent what is happening in the garden at this time.

Mary and I usually walk through the garden at least once a day and are always amazed at the beauty that is presented to us.

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Thistle by Georgia

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“Thistle Impression”
Heatherwood Meadow, Summer

It’s time to come back home and add a couple more images from our Heatherwood garden. I used to think thistles were just weeds, but we decided to plant a couple of different varieties in our meadow. This one is planted between white daisies and yellow yarrow. It provides a nice contrast in the meadow. With the hot temperatures (>100 degrees) these thistles have quickly bloomed then lost their color. To accentuate the artistic flair of the thistles, I added a little Georgia O’Keeffe impressionism to it.

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