Category Archives: Landscape Photography

The Magnolias Are In Bloom

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“Magnolia Stellata”
Heatherwood Spring

Our Star Magnolia (Magnolia stellata) is the fourth major tree/shrub to bloom in our Heatherwood garden. The stellata follows our witch hazels, the cornelian cherry dogwood, and the forsythia in our late winter/early spring blooming cycle. Its sensitive blossoms are subject to evening freezes, the wind, and rain. Some years the bloom remains crisp for only a day or two. This year we have had very mild spring temperatures and no rain. The wind has been moderate. We have been blessed with blossoms that have lasted several days now. It is shaping up to be a beautiful spring!

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Early Morning Sunshine

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“Cornelian Cherry Dogwood”
Heatherwood Spring

Early morning sunshine backlit this emerging Cornelian Cherry dogwood blossom. The bright yellow color burst immediately caught my eye as I was taking an early morning stroll with my camera. It started my day with a flash!

The Cornelian Cherry dogwood is the first tree to bloom in our Heatherwood garden. Soon our flowering pear, cherries, and crabapples will be blooming along with other dogwoods and redbuds. This will be the first year that several of our new trees will be in bloom. I will try to keep a record of the sequence that each species bloom.

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Spring is Here!

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“Siberian Iris”
Heatherwood Spring

This little Siberian iris greets the first day of spring. They are sprouting and breaking out in bloom in our Heatherwood dogwood-redbud grove and along the front of the pond. To get a good eye to eye look, I had to lay down on my belly make the image.

Looking down from the top, the little iris has an interesting triangular form.

Each spring day brings new discoveries in the garden. Some new bud is flowering, leaves are opening up, perennials are starting to emerge. What will tomorrow bring? I’ll just have to wait.

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Spring Is Coming

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Purple & White Crocuses
Heatherwood

Tomorrow is the first day of spring. Signs of spring are popping up all over our Heatherwood garden. The first crocuses that bloomed were white, the second were purple, and now the third are our purple and white variety. Looking out over our garden I see little flashes of color around most of our rocks scattered around the landscape. These little “jewels” are a clear sign that spring is here!

Spring Jewels

Purple, white, and a flash of yellow
Spring up all about,
Warming the land and our hearts.

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Another Spring First

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“First Hellebore Bloom”
Heatherwood Spring

Our first hellebores just couldn’t wait for spring. I placed my iPhone on the ground and shot upward to the sky to get this image. There is no possible way to get my regular camera in this position. Every day, I take a stroll around the garden to see what is emerging. Something new is happening every day!

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Crocus and the Chief

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“First Crocus and Chief Joseph”
Heatherwood Spring

Last autumn we planted around 3,000 bulbs. I gave my gardening partner the assignment to go plant bulbs scattered around the garden. She took me for my word and now we are seeing little surprises popping up all over. This is one of the first blooms of the season.

Our Chief Joseph Lodgepole Pine in its winter color gracefully watches over the baby crocus. It is like a guardian watching over its flock.

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So long …

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“Spent”
Heatherwood Rose Garden

I view this spent rose every time I look out our family room window. At times, I become fixated with it and imagine how I can best photograph it to convey what I see and feel. Waking up from a late afternoon nap, I looked out and saw the rose side lit by the late afternoon sunlight. The wind was still and I was able to grab my camera with a 400mm lens and isolate the hip through the family room window. In post-processing, I simplified the image converting it to black and white and added a simple vignette blur.

Our forsythia is getting ready to bloom. As the saying goes, when the forsythia blooms, it is time to prune the roses. Next week my winter attraction will be cut down to prepare for new spring growth. So long my friend …

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Framing a View

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“Looking North Through Japanese Garden”
Heatherwood Winter

Work is about to start on our 2021 spring project at Heatherwood. Our garden will continuously change over time. Additions and modifications are designed to highlight key plants, frame views, and hide distractions. From the perspective of the above image, we want to focus the attention to the plants in the Japanese garden then draw the view to the 1890’s irrigation flume in the background. This year we plan to add medium sized Japanese holly evergreens to hide the road leading up the hill and mid-sized conifers to hide the bare hillside at the right of the image. These additions will provide a background layer for the Japanese garden as well as frame the irrigation flume in the distant background.

As we walk through our garden, we are content enjoying the current state of our existing plants. Concurrently we visualize how the plants will mature as well as look for new opportunities to enhance the garden. Change is an ever-present part of Heatherwood.

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