“Spring Snow Dusting on Daffodils”
Heatherwood Spring
My plans for the day were to get down on my hands and knees and adjust our irrigation sprinklers. Surprise, not today! The snow is scheduled to turn to rain this afternoon. Maybe tomorrow we will be able to work on the sprinklers. Our plants for our spring project arrive on Friday. We hope to start planting next Monday!
“Serviceberry and Daffodils”
Heatherwood Spring
At this time of year, it is hard to keep up with all the emerging new blooms and leaves. As the blooms of the weeping cherries are receding, the flowers of the serviceberries are emerging. The serviceberry blooms are relatively short-lived. Bees are already hovering all over them. Soon small berries will develop. I must pay close attention if I want to capture an image of them. They only last a few days because birds quickly gobble them up.
“Daffies and Yellow Twig”
Heatherwood Woodland Garden
It is easy to become focused on looking up at all the trees when walking through a woodland. However, there is so much interest looking down at the ground level as well. We are trying to replicate this in our Heatherwood garden. We have planted about 25 various trees in our woodland garden area. Tall-growing standard maples and birches will provide the basic shade for the understory redbuds, dogwoods, and Japanese maples. We are now gradually filling in the middle and ground tier of vegetation. For the mid-tier we have yellow and red twig dogwoods, various viburnums, winterberries, buckthorns, beauty berries, ornamental grasses, barberries, and other shrubs. This year we hope to add a few hardy rhododendrons. For ground-level interest we currently have only a few spring bulbs. This year we will add Oregon grape and other low growing plants in addition to more bulbs.
“Redbud Getting Ready to Burst”
Heatherwood Woodland Garden
The buds on our Redbud trees are almost ready to burst out in bloom. I walk down almost every day to check their progress. Any day now they will be covered with pink and magenta blossoms. When they do, the woodland garden will come to life. I love spring!!!
“Woodland Garden in Early Spring”
Heatherwood
Yesterday was a beautiful spring day. I took the opportunity to walk around our woodland garden area with my camera. My focus was to try to capture the feeling of various sections of the garden in the early spring before the majority of the trees were in bloom or leafed out. I also was attempting to create a baseline perspective of the garden prior to the additional planned plantings for this year.
When I first moved to Selah in 2016, this area was part of a pasture. The only trees were the birches in the left background. The next year, I added a small grove of October Glory maples next to the birches. The following year I planted the area in grass and added underground irrigation. In 2020, we started converting the area into a woodland garden theme, removing grass and adding red buds, a couple of dogwoods, and a few evergreens. Last year we continued to add standard maples, Japanese maples, several deciduous shrubs, and grasses to the area. This year, our plan is to add more understory deciduous shrubs and ground covers to frame in the pathway through the area. In the fall if we have the energy, we plan to add several more spring bulbs. This area will continue to be a “works in progress.” It will continuously be in a state of change as the trees grow and create more shade. The understory shrubs will transition from sun loving to filtered shade tolerant species. We will patiently enjoy watching it mature and change over time.
“Snow Fountain Weeping Cherry”
Heatherwood Spring
I love to let my imagination flow as I walk through our garden. As I gaze at our Snow Fountain cherry, I squint my eyes and can visualize a mass of large snow flakes flowing out of a fountain.
This is the start of the third season in Heatherwood for this cherry. Each year the blossoms become more profuse. It anchors one side of a garden path separating a meadow area from a tree and shrub area. Its early blooms make the tree stand out in our lower garden.
“Rainier Vista Without the Mountain”
University of Washington
Yesterday was a special day! Several of our precious group of college friends gathered at the University of Washington to dedicate a bench for one of our own. It was a beautiful day. The sun broke out and spread its gentle warmth on the blooming cherry trees on the beautiful campus. The only thing missing was the “Mountain” on the horizon beyond the fountain.
“Weeping Cherry & Path of Learning”
Heatherwood Japanese Garden
This part of Heatherwood’s Japanese Garden is a “works in progress”. Year 1 we removed the grass, placed the rocks, and planted the evergreen trees and shrubs. Year 2 we added a few more shrubs. Year 3 we planted the creeping phlox, several ground covers, and the weeping cherry. This year we will focus on adding more ground covers.
The series of rocks curving up the hill is intended to portray a path of learning. Last year we added the phlox to highlight the path and the weeping cherry to lead a student up the path.
“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.
“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!