Category Archives: The Intimate Landscape

The small details, shapes, and textures that catch my eye.

Spring Glory 6

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“Golden Raindrops Crabapple”
Heatherwood Spring

“Golden Raindrops” is our sixth crabapple that has bloomed this spring. Each one blooms about one week after its predecessor. It would like to say that the sequence was meticulously planned. But I can’t. We did pay attention to notes that indicated if the species was a late, mid, or early bloomer. With the sequence, we have about three in bloom at one time after the third on starts.

This crabapple is unique in that it has little golden apples in the fall.

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Always Looking for New Ideas

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“White and Pink Dogwoods”
Yakima Area Arboretum, Washington

I enjoy walking through gardens and arboretums enjoying their beauty and creative insights. This springtime vignette of contrasting white and pink dogwoods at the Yakima Arboretum triggered my thoughts for future Heatherwood additions. In our garden we currently have seven white dogwoods and two pink dogwoods, all blooming at different times. The whites and the pinks are planted in different parts of the garden. On my future planting list, I will add a few new pink dogwoods to complement the whites.

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Woodland in Progress

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“Don Egolf Redbuds”
Heatherwood Woodland Garden

Last spring we planted nine redbuds as part of our new Woodland Garden. The blooms were gone at the time we planted them. This spring they erupted in bright pink buds. It will take years for this part of the garden to mature. But. we look forward to seeing it evolve over the years to come. As a comparison, the following image from the Yakima Arboretum is what we may expect these young redbuds to mature into.

“Mature Redbud in Spring Glory”
Yakima Area Arboretum, Washington

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The Newcomer

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“Sango Kaku Japanese Maple”
Heatherwood Woodland Garden

What would a woodland garden be without a Japanese Maple. Our “Woodland Garden” started out as a redbud/dogwood grove. This year we extended the grove to include a Saratoga Ginko, a flowering plum, three maple shade trees, as well as two additional dogwoods, and several virbunums and other woodland shrubs. This little ‘Sango Kaku’ is our latest addition. The additional shrubs and ‘Sango Kaku’ linked the redbuds and dogwood grove to existing birches and maples. As the new trees grow and create a little shade, we will be adding rhododendrons and azaleas and other understory shade loving plants to create the woodland garden.

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Spring Glory 5

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“Coralburst Flowering Crabapple”
Heatherwood Spring

The ‘Coralburst’ crabapple is a little guy. Right now the tree is only about 5-feet tall with an 18-inch spread. It is a slow grower reaching only 10-feet tall and 12-feet wide. It maintains its dense growth habit into maturity. It will be a real contrast to the rest of the crabapples in the grove.

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Enjoyment and a Little Sadness

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“Double Weeping Cherry and Naches-Selah Irrigation Flume”
Heatherwood Spring

As I look over our Double Weeping Cherry, I enjoy its beauty against the surrounding hills and the old Naches-Selah irrigation flume. But my heart also saddens. We have received information that the flume will be replaced with a pressurized pipeline this winter if the funding is approved. One of the first things that attracted me to this property was the beautiful hillside with the historic structure hugging its side. The need for efficiency and cost prevails and the historic flume built in the 1890’s will see its last use through this spring and summer. I will do my best to record this last remaining section of flume with my camera to remind me of a bygone era.

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“When the Forsythia Blooms …”

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Pruned Roses
Heatherwood Spring

As the old saying goes, “When the forsythia blooms, it’s time to prune the roses.” Before I learned this bit of advice, I tended to wait too long to prune our roses. Now, I have an automatic alarm clock right next to our rose garden to remind me. The timing has been perfect.

Throughout the year, this is one of my favorite scenes. In the spring, the freshly pruned roses compliment the flowering star magnolia and our forsythia tree. In the summer, I overlook the colorful roses with the birch trees as a background. In the fall, the changing color of the birches and our neighbor’s apple trees add to the remaining roses. In the winter, I enjoy the contrast of the stark rose canes with the bare white limbs of the birches. And all year along, our neighbor’s white fence and pasture provide background interest.

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Lot of Work to Do

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“Looking North”
Heatherwood SE Corner

This is one of the areas that we will be trying to “finish off” during our 2021 landscaping project. Our plan is to fill in this center section with additional perennials and ground cover. We will create a natural path through the area and add some specimen conifers. This image was taken from the location of our Adirondack settee viewing position. Behind and to the left, we will replace a large Zelkova which did not make it through the previous year. This will be a great place to sit down on a hot summer afternoon in the shade, enjoying a cool glass of ice tea (or other beverage).

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Spring Planting Has Started

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“Hana Matoi Corner”
Heatherwood Spring

Spring planting is underway! We have set an ambitious project for this spring. However, it is much, much smaller than our projects over the last two years. The major hardscape projects have been completed. This year’s project is to fill in around the design that we have currently have in place. We will be adding about 40 trees, 150 shrubs, and a lot of perennials and ground covers. Gradually we will be filling in the understory of the garden. We hope to finish the bulk of the project by mid May instead of having it extend through the summer like we have for the past two years. We hope to spend much more time enjoying the garden as opposed to working every day developing it.

For the section shown in this image, we will be adding shrubs and ground covers to fill in the open barked areas.

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Heatherwood Early Spring

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“Siberian Iris and Yukimi”
Heatherwood Spring

Spring highlights always get me excited for new garden projects. We planted these Siberian iris last fall. Their first spring bloom exceeded our expectations as they highlighted the Yukimi Japanese lantern and our pond and stream. Finishing this area of our Japanese garden will be one of our major spring projects. Our focus will be to transform this area into a protected contemplative sitting area where Mary and I can enjoy an afternoon glass of wine together or with a couple of friends.

Our plan is to add a couple of trees around the sitting area, stone paths leading to the pond, and unique plants and ground covers. We will be adding plants along the edge of the stream and pond that will extend over the rocks to the water. Additional shade trees will be added to help separate the stream and pond from the other parts of the garden. Over time as the trees, shrubs, and plants mature, we hope to have a semi-secluded place to sit and reflect on the wonderful world that surround us.

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