“Louie Eastern White Pine Tip”
Heatherwood Spring
Early morning sun shines brightly through the tip of one our Louie eastern white pines. A shaded blue spruce provides a great background. The bright yellow is the Louie’s winter shade. Soon it will be turning into a light green as spring moves to summer.
I love my morning walks in our Heatherwood garden.
“Emerging Daffodils”
Heatherwood Crabapple Grove
Here come the daffodils, finally! They are emerging two to three weeks later than last year. The cold snap we had in late February has held back our spring outburst of new growth and color.
We are still searching for the right plants to carpet the floor of Heatherwood’s crabapple grove after the daffodils bloom and their foliage dies back.
“Cornelian Cherry Dogwood”
Heatherwood, Early Spring
Our Cornelian cherry dogwood is Heatherwood’s first tree to start blooming. The buds are just starting to break. Soon the forsythia and star magnolias will start break into their spring glory as well.
The first day of spring was five days ago. Today is the first time that I have been able to take a walk in our garden with my camera to welcome spring.
“Mary’s Bright & Shiny Garden”
Heatherwood, Early Spring
Our Heatherwood garden is the least interesting at this point of winter’s transition to spring. All the grasses and perennials have been trimmed back. New growth is waiting for the warmth of spring to sprout up. Typically, this garden patch between the cherry trees and yellow twig dogwoods is full of color and textures. We will just have to wait for about a month for the new growth and blooms to emerge into Heatherwood’s spring beauty.
“Trimmed Grass-Lined Path”
Heatherwood, Early Spring
This little s-curve leads a walker from Heatherwood’s central meadow area to an open grass area with a woodland area in the background. When one starts on the path they do not have an idea of what is around the bend. As they move through the corner, the view opens up to a conifer lined path framing the lawn and the woodland. Surprise!
“Yellow and Red Twig Dogwoods”
Heatherwood Winter
Friday morning we woke up to 3 inches of snow. By Saturday afternoon the snow had melted. The sun came out and the winter colors beamed.
“New Blanked of Snow”
Heatherwood Meadow
I woke up this morning to a new blanket of snow. It was beautiful, but … my spring clean-up crew was scheduled to start cutting back the grasses and perennials. I guess I will have to wait for a few more days.
The beauty of the new snow blanketing Heatherwood was worth the delay. I enjoyed a two hour walk around the garden with my camera. Each day is a gift. My challenge/opportunity is to make the best of each day. Yesterday was a great day!
“Fountain Grass”
Heatherwood Meadow
Even though we have had a lot of snow and strong wind through the winter, this stately fountain grass still stands tall with its head held high. We have started pruning and cleaning our Heatherwood garden. By the end of the week, most of the grasses should be cut back ready for their spring growth surge. We have only a little over two weeks before the first day of spring.
“Winter Grasses and Perennials”
Heatherwood Meadow
What a difference one day will make! This image was created on 1 March. Compare with the image in my last post, taken on 28 February. We woke up to two inches of snow on the morning of the 28th. By the next day, all the snow was gone and the temperature rose to 47 degrees. Mother Nature is very fickle!
Today we will start our winter cleanup. The pruning and hedge trimming shears will be busy for the next couple of weeks. By mid-March, we hope to have given Heatherwood its late winter haircut.
“Late Winter Snow”
Heatherwood Meadow
Mother Nature gave us a little warning on this last day of February, “Don’t get too excited about spring, we still have three weeks of winter left.” I have been getting ready to start cutting back Heatherwood’s grasses and perennials. The temperatures have increased from the 20’s last week to the 40’s this week. Yesterday, I was out in the yard with my pruners. Luckily this is the last snow predicted for our 10 day forecast. And, the temperatures are predicted to rise back up into the 40’s. Hopefully we will be able to start our clean-up later this week.
In the meantime, I took the opportunity to walk through Heatherwood for a couple of hours this morning with my camera. There were plenty of opportunities to create images from a late winter snow. The light snow was a heavenly gift.