Category Archives: Landscape Photography

Merry Christmas!

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Chief Joseph Lodgepole Pine
Heatherwood Winter

Merry Christmas to all our families and friends! This little Chief Joseph Pine is a star of brightness in our winter garden. It radiates the Christmas spirit not needing any lights or ornaments.

I have so many fond memories of Christmas pasts. I remember my childhood Christmases when Santa brought the Christmas tree along with the presents after we went to bed on Christmas Eve. How excited I was when I would walk out of the bedroom to see a beautiful fully decorated tree surrounded by wrapped gifts in the living room. I remember one Christmas when Mom would not let us come out of the bedroom because Santa was running a little late. It seemed like it took forever when I heard a whistle. We rushed out of the bedroom to see a marvelous train running around the Christmas tree. And there was Pop, with his eyes half shut but with a big smile on his face.

Christmas has always been a family affair. When we were kids, Christmas Day was held up at Grandma and Grandpa’s house with all our Aunts and Uncles. For several years my twin brother and sister and I were the only kids. We were the center of everyone’s attention. As our families got larger, we opened our gifts in the morning at our own houses, then got together as a whole family for Christmas dinner first at Grandma and Grandpa’s old house, then at our house, then back at Grandma and Grandpa’s new house.

After Grandma and Grandpa had passed, we moved Christmas Dinner back to our house. As all the families expanded and my generation had children of their own, Christmas became a three event day. First, my generation had breakfast and opened gifts with their children in the early morning. In the late morning, our respective immediate families gathered at Mom and Pops for gift unwrapping and Christmas Dinner. Then finally, the whole family with our Aunts, Uncles, and cousins gathered at Mom and Dad’s for Christmas desert. What a wonderful Day!

Over the years, the family has gotten larger and larger. Now there are three generations in the family. Some of us have moved in and out of the area. We also spread our time between our respective in-law families. But we still try to get together as best as we can on Christmas Day. This year will be the first, and hopefully the last, Christmas that we will not be physically together.

Mary and I wish all of you a wonderful and healthy Christmas. Our thoughts and love are with all of you.

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Preparing for a White Christmas

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Japanese Mountain Lantern
Heatherwood Winter

We are dreaming for a White Christmas. Thankfully, the predictions are for a snowfall on Christmas Day. The light snow we received two weeks ago helps set the stage and prepare us for some winter beauty.

Tonight is Christmas Eve. For Mary and I, it will be a quiet and peaceful evening, a time to reflect and celebrate the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ. We will be thinking of our families and friends, who many like us will be spending Christmas physically separated from our loved ones. Our spirits will be with all of you and those who have passed into our Lord’s arms before us.

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Never Give Up!

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Spent Echinacea
Heatherwood Meadow

In its summer glory, this echinacea graced the Heatherwood meadow with its beautiful white bloom. Now at the beginning of winter, its glory still hangs on providing a striking contrast to the ground cover and dead leaves below. As snow falls it will continue to stand out as the white crystals collect on the seed head. It will never give up providing interest to the garden.

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Creative or Crazy?

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Ground Cover Abstract
Heatherwood, Winter

Sometimes it feels good to get away from reality and let the imagination flow. Looking through some macro images I took yesterday I wondered what would happen if I would put a couple of ground cover photos together. I picked a close-up of a clump of blue fescue and a red-colored ice plant. One had a fine texture, one a smooth course texture. One was blue, one was red. I made a multi-image composite in Photoshop and was pleased with the results. I still felt playful and decided to add an impressionistic overlay patterned after Georgia O’Keefe … voila, the above image appeared. Am I creative or crazy? Maybe a little of both?

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Searching for the Light

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Bloodgood Japanese Maple
Heatherwood Fall

Here comes the sun! We are blessed with such brilliant color, even in late, late, autumn, when the morning sun strikes the remaining fall foliage. It doesn’t seem like today is the first day of winter. Soon the last leaves will be dropping off our Japanese maples. We will still be intrigued with their silhouettes and textured and colored bark throughout the winter.

With the Covid-19 virus still on the loose, we are planning on staying put at home for the winter. Our changing garden will help provide a stimulus to get us outside for little excursions. I look forward to recording how the garden transitions from fall into winter, then into spring. We have planted various trees, shrubs, and other perennials that will provide winter interest as well as late winter blossoming. We look forward to seeing the thousands of bulbs we planted this fall emerge in early spring.

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Country Peace

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“Country Peace”
Heatherwood Neighborhood

It is wonderful living in the country. Heatherwood is surrounded by hills and countryside settings. I step out of our garage and look across the street to see this peaceful pastoral setting. Sometimes our neighbor’s horses are grazing in the pasture or beneath these old apple trees. This area was once covered by apple and cherry orchards. Now there remains just a few apple trees along our neighbor’s property line and an old cherry orchard on a distant hillside. Much of the area has been converted to pastures and scattered homes. Heatherwood is in the middle of this bucolic area.

We have attempted to design Heatherwood’s landscape to take advantage of the peaceful surroundings. Plantings and paths encourage a wanderer to enjoy the immediate surroundings then look out to see views of the surrounding area. Sitting areas are located and framed to do the same. The garden brings peace to the busy world around us.

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French Tapestry

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Tri-color Sedum Abstract
Heatherwood, Fall

Strolling in our garden on a crisp frosty morning, I looked down and saw an interesting pattern on the ground. It reminded me of French tapestry wall coverings I had seen on some of the old historic homes on the East Coast. I took a little artistic liberty and enhanced the image with Topaz Impression to create this final image. Squint your eyes and think of some of those wall paper covered walls on those wonderful early 19th century historic homes.

For reference, below is the base image prior to adding the Topaz enhancement.

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Searching for Light

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Heaherwood Japanese Garden

After a day of heavy frost, we had a day of beautiful morning sunshine. During my morning walk I focused on finding the light. The morning sun made the various colors of our late fall/early winter garden pop out in brilliant shades and hues. Water droplets on tree branches and leaves sparkled like little stars. Backlit leaves and grasses displayed semi-transparent yellow and orange shapes that fluttered in a gentle breeze. It was a beautiful morning!

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A Little Pruning Needed !

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Overgrown Crabapple
Heatherwood, Late Fall

This poor crabapple has beautiful spring blossoms and fall fruit. But it also is misshapen with branches going everywhere. It has been left to find its own way through its early life and has gone completely wild. During the last few years, I have been carefully taking a few branches off each year. Over time, I hope it will behave and mature to a nice specimen.

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Full Perspective

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“Garden Perspectives”
Heatherwood, Late Fall

This image shows several perspectives of our Heatherwood garden. The bottom half comprises the meadow area with various perennials and grasses. A section of lawn separates the meadow from a hillside rock garden with its small trees, shrubs, perennials, and ground cover. Another strip of lawn separates the rock garden from the Japanese garden at the top of the image. Through the garden, plants have been selected to provide seasonal interest throughout the four seasons of the year.

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