Category Archives: Trees

Winter Garden #7

A Chief Joseph Lodgepole Pine Named Fred
Heatherwood Winter

Chief Joseph lodgepole pines are major stars in Heatherwood’s winter garden. During the winter their needles turn brilliant yellow. Soon they will start to transition in the spring into their light green summer color. Mahonia Repens creeping Oregon grape encircles the Chief Joseph with its dark purple colored leaves.

This little Chief Joseph is named Fred. Mary enjoyed our first Chief Joseph, planted in 2019, so much that we planted our second one in 2020. She still was not satisfied, and we looked for another in 2021. Alas, we could not find one from our regular nursery suppliers. She didn’t give up and found one on line and ordered it. When it arrived she selected where she wanted it planted. She supervised her “in-house” gardener to plant it just right. She named it Fred. Now, three years later, it is thriving.

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Winter Garden #4

Red Pine, Red Twig Dogwood, Crabapples
Heatherwood Winter Contrast

Contrast is more than color. What caught my interest in the above image is the textural contrast between the needles of the red pine, the thin stems of the red twig dogwoods and the smooth bark of the crabapples. The green and red color didn’t hurt either. Heatherwood is full of winter interest.

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A Foggy Morning at Kilauea

Kilauea Crater Edge
Kilauea National Park, Hawaii

We checked the weather forecast before we started a two hour drive to the Hilo side of the island and up to Kilauea. Everything looked good for a nice day. By the time we reached the top, it was heavily raining with dense fog and wind. We could hardly see the bottom of the crater, but decided to make the best of the day and drove down the chain of craters road down to the ocean.

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Welcome to Paradise

Sunset over Anaeho’omalu Bay
Wiakoloa, Hawaii

We were gifted a beautiful sunset on our first evening of our 2024 Hawaiian vacation. It was like a movie, with a colada in our hands we toasted to a beautiful welcome to Hawaii. It was followed by a romantic dinner with a local musician playing near our table and the gentle tropical breeze flowing through the palm trees.

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Chief Joseph #2

Chief Joseph #2
Heatherwood Winter

Chief Joseph #2 is our visual target at the end of our Japanese Garden pathway. Because of their seasonal interest, we have placed them at strategic places in the garden. Chief Joseph #1 shown in an earlier post, is located at the corner of a bend in our upper Japanese garden pathway. It is the focal point walking both up and down from Heatherwood’s Perch.

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A Winter Star

Chief Joseph Lodgepole Pine
Heatherwood Winter

In its winter glory the Chief Joseph pine is one of our winter garden stars. Its bright yellow winter color makes it stand out among the other conifers. We enjoyed this little star so much, we added two more in different parts of our Heatherwood garden. In summer it turns back to its green color as it merges back with the other surrounding conifers.

Today is our first real snow of the year. It looks like I will need to get out the snow plow tomorrow morning.

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Merry Christmas

Chief Joseph Lodgepole Pine
Heatherwood Winter

Even though we do not have snow this Christmas, I can always dream! Christmastime is a time for dreaming. I dream of all the wonderful times we had with Grandma and Grandpap up at the ranch. I dream of the time that Dad stayed up all night putting up the Christmas tree and our first American Flyer train. We kids could hardly contain ourselves on Christmas morning when we could not come out of the bedroom until Pop finished helping Santa to get the train running. I remember the wonderful years when our whole family, Mom, Dad, we kids, Grandma, Grandpap, aunts, uncles, and cousins gathered together at our Hillcrest home for Christmas Dinner. I smile as I remember how our family grew and we watched all our nieces and nephews energetically opening their presents. Many times when Karen and I were in the Washington, DC and Philadelphia areas, we could not make it home for Christmas. I fondly reflect on those special quiet Christmases. And now as Mary and I enjoy the wonderful Holidays, I dream to the future Christmases with family and friends. And as I dream, I reflect and contemplate on the true meaning of Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

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A Beautiful Early Winter Day

The Woodland on a Bright Winter Day
Heatherwood Early Winter

It is hard to believe that it is December 23, just two days before Christmas. Our early snowfall has vanished. Today was an absolutely gorgeous early winter day. The sky was blue. Warm winter sunshine spread across our Heatherwood garden. Even though I had a lot to do inside, I could not help myself from strolling around our little Eden with my camera.

Based on today’s beauty and looking ahead to the forecast, it does not look like we will have a white Christmas. Last year we were blessed with snow. This year we will be blessed with what ever nature will bring. We look forward to a beautiful day filled with family and friends as we reflect upon the wonder of Christmas.

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Late Fall vs Early Spring

Woodland Path in Late Fall

Woodland Path in Early Spring

I love the four seasons. Above is one of the reasons. In early spring the red buds are bursting and the daffodils are blooming. Leaves on the woodland maples are just starting to emerge. Six months later, the leaves on the red buds have dropped and the leaves on the maples have turned brown and are just starting to drop. The foliage on the perennials have turned brown and are starting to die back. As winter moves in, the branches of the red and yellow twig dogwoods along with the red winterberries will provide winter color to the woodland.

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A Painting from the Woodland

Snow-covered Maple Tree Leaves
Heatherwood Woodland

Our October Glory maples are one of the last trees to display their fall colors and to drop their leaves. The first two light snowfalls this year sprinkled the leaves with patches of white, leaving a beautiful woodland winter scene. Last year, an early heavy snowfall blanketed the branches with a layer of heavy snow. Several large branches bent over and broke, leaving large wholes in the tree’s shapes. This year, we have not seen any damage, yet!

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