Category Archives: Flora

Catching Up …

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“Daffodils and Meadow”
Heatherwood Spring

Where have I been? It has been over two weeks since my last post. A lot of things have been happening here at Heatherwood. I will try to catch up in my next several posts.

Our sea of daffodils have peaked and are starting to fade. They are still attractive at a distance but are starting to get a little tired and hanging their heads. The perennials in the meadow area are poking their new foliage above ground. Some of the grasses are starting to grow, while others are waiting for warmer weather. The red twig dogwoods in the background of the above image are just now starting to get their first leaves. Overall, it seems like we are 2-3 weeks behind a normal year.

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Happy Easter

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“Almost Opened Daffodills”
Heatherwood Spring

Today we will host our family Easter celebration. We will have three generations of Grafs, Downeys, Pecks, and Powells with us this year. The older generation will relax and laugh as we watch the youngsters search for the Easter eggs. There are plenty of spots to hide them in our Heatherwood garden. While we relax and laugh, the middle generation parents will nervously make sure their kids don’t get carried away.

While we enjoy the day, we will all thank our Lord in our own way for the life He has given for us.

Happy Easter to all!

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It’s Time to Prune the Roses …

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“Forsythia”
Heatherwood Spring

As the Farmer’s Almanac says, “When the forsythias bloom, it is time to prune the roses.” I will be busy this coming week.

I spent a couple of hours walking around our garden with Mary today. She gladly volunteered to be my sherpa. I worked with two cameras, switching back and forth between a macro and a telephoto zoom. While I was using one, she held the other. It sure was a lot easier than changing lenses back and forth. Thank you Mary!

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I don’t know what it is, but it’s sure pretty.

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“Ground Cover ?”
Yakima Area Arboretum, WA

Meandering along in the Yakima Arboretum Japanese garden, I looked down and saw this stringy ground cover. It was full of oranges, purples, greens, yellows, and turquoise colors. I don’t have any idea of what kind of ground cover it is, but I really need to get some for our Heatherwood garden.

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Winter Walk #4

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“Winter Colors and Textures”
Heatherwood Winter

Today is Ground Hogs Day, the midpoint of winter. It is bright and crisp as I walk through the garden. It feels like spring is just around the corner. But, who knows what the next six weeks of winter will bring.

Walking though Heatherwood’s meadow area, I look up the hill and see a plethora of color, shapes, and textures. Contrasting browns, reds, oranges, yellows, and greens brighten up the scenes. The different textures and shapes of the feathery ornamental grasses, bare branches of the red twig dogwood, and various conifer shrubs and deciduous trees provide additional interest. Our Heatherwood garden sure is not dull in the midst of winter.

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Winter Textures

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“Winter Yarrow and Grasses”
Heatherwood Meadow

There is always something to see and photograph in the garden. Something as simple as the varying textures of spent yarrow and grasses make me stop and click the shutter. It happened in our garden over 16 thousand times last year!

Now I am paying the price of sorting through and picking the “keepers.” Each year I have been making a “Heatherwood Highlights” photo book. I am in that process right now and have to reduce my 16-plus thousand images down to about 300. I have been working on the project for about a month and am down to around 600. It hurts me each time I through one out. I have a lot more blood to give to reach my target. Wish me luck!

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Winter Meadow Textures

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“Textures in Winter”
Heatherwood Meadow

A key element of our Heatherwood garden design is to provide various textures and shapes throughout the four seasons. The stiff vertical liatris stalks contrast with the soft flowing grasses. These are framed in the bottom by spent seed heads of rudbeckia and the top by spent asters. The straw and gold colors of the grasses contrast with the dark browns of the other perennials. All together they provide an eye-catching vignette to enjoy on a winter stroll through the garden.

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First Day of Winter – Officially

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“Snow and Frost-covered Meadow”
Heatherwood Winter

Today is the first official day of winter. Winter came much earlier than its official start this year. We had our first dusting of snow in mid-November. Then a week after Thanksgiving we had our first substantial snow fall. We had another significant snow fall in early December. Heatherwood has now been covered with snow for the last three weeks. In addition, the temperatures have been very cold adding hoarfrost to our trees, shrubs, and perennials. It is truly a beautiful winter scene.

The image above is a section of our Heatherwood meadow area. In the spring through fall, the meadow is full of color and various texture. Even in the winter it has shades of gold, orange, and browns with even a little hint of red. We elect not to cut back our perennials to provide this winter interest as well as provide seeds and berries for the wintering birds.

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