Category Archives: Trees

Winter Wonderland

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“Hoarfrost-covered Evergreens”
Heatherwood Winter

The cold temperatures and the early morning fog continue. The result is a hoarfrost covered landscape. It is 2:00P and still only 17 degrees. And, it is forecast to get even colder during the next couple of days.

The hoarfrost accentuates the beauty of the evergreens and deciduous Japanese maples that are still laden with leaves. It is truly a winter wonderland. The weeping white pine in the background watches over the smaller foreground trees. It is time to go take a quick stroll with my camera to create a few more images.

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Oak Leaves

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“Scarlet Oak”
Heatherwood Oak Grove

The autumn color on our scarlet oak just did not turn to the bright red as it has in past years. Just as the color started to change, we had a cold snap with temperatures dropping below 20 degrees. The color change stopped at orange. This fall has been quite different. Many of our trees still have green leaves while others have dropped all their leaves. Some of our maples are half red and half green. I think the trees are all mixed up.

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The Sky Doesn’t Get Much Bluer

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‘Cherry Allee”
Heatherwood, Mid-Autumn

Our first light snow dusting is over. The sky is as blue as it can be. It’s a beautiful and crisp mid-autumn day. There is no better place to be than strolling through the garden.

The perennials in Mary’s “bright & shiny” garden are spent, but still have a hint of their summer color. Their textures and shapes still provide a lot of interest. I don’t have the heart to cut them back. Besides, the spent flower heads leave seeds for the birds as well as spread seeds to make a fuller garden for next year. I will wait until early spring to cut them back.

The leaves on the Pink Flair cherries are turning to their dark red mid-autumn color. It won’t be too long before the branches will be bare. Winter is not too far away.

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A Nice Diversion

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“The Path Around the House”
Heatherwood Japanese Garden

This little path leads from our back patio to the front entryway of our house. It is always a nice little diversion to walk along. In the morning, light softly filters through the trees to the path. The backlit leaves are stunning. On a summer afternoon, the area is in shade. It is one of the few areas in Heatherwood where we can grow shade plants.

This area is where I first started developing a little Japanese inspired garden. The dark purple Japanese maple in the upper left is the first tree I planted when I moved back to Selah in 2016. The next year, we started work on the surrounding area, building the path and adding a few trees along it. Each subsequent year, we have added a little more. We are now at the stage where we need to do a little transplanting to optimize the design as well as add a few more shade plants as the trees grow and provide more shade. A garden is never finished!

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More Autumn Color

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“Glorious Fall Color”
Heatherwood Autumn

Temperatures have been dropping down into the low 30’s for a week or so. The trees and shrubs are rapidly displaying their glorious autumn brilliance.

Our Heatherwood landscape is quite a contrast to the dry rock-covered hills that surround us. To bridge the gap, we have placed many rocks in our landscape. They help tie the hillsides and our garden together. It is amazing how a little water during the summer months can turn our semi-desert surrounds into a lush landscape.

Every day brings more and more color. The garden should be at its peak color in about a week. Some days are changing so much that I feel like I need to take a little photographic walk both in the morning and late afternoon. Today is one of those days.

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Red & Pink

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“Cherokee Daybreak Dogwood”
Heatherwood Autumn

Several of our flowering dogwoods have transitioned to their full autumn glory. This species is one of my favorite. Its variegated leaves are gorgeous. In the spring breaks out in light pink with white edges. It transitions to green with white edges in the summer. Then in the fall it bursts out in deep magenta with pink edges. It is a brilliant star in Heatherwood’s Japanese garden.

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Leading the Charge

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“Red Maple”
Heatherwood Woodland

This red maple is leading the charge into autumn in our Heatherwood woodland. It is one of the red maples that we planted a year ago. It is brilliant red while the other two are not showing any color change yet. Who knows why. I will record the changes in my garden notes and see if this behavior will remain the same in future years. I look forward to what next week will bring.

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Day By Day

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“Changing Colors”
Heatherwood Autumn

It is already the middle of October and the autumn colors are slowly turning. Most of the deciduous trees are still green. Day by day they are changing into their fall color. Patches of yellow, orange, and red are starting to appear throughout the garden. The color change this year seems to be about two to three weeks later than last year. We have been having a beautiful Indian Summer. We are still eating most of our meals outside to enjoy the beautiful warm weather. The lawn seems to be growing as fast or faster than it has any time of the year. I am still mowing it two times a week! From the tracks in the lawn, it looks like the guy driving the mower has had a beer or two too many.

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A Little Red

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“Kousa Dogwood Berries”
Heaterwood Autumn

The bright berries of our dogwoods are always a sign that Autumn is here. Our kousa is just a little tree right now, but it is full of bright red berries. By the time the last berry drops, we will have a beautiful blanket of red beneath the tree.

Back in Pennsylvania, we had a row of mature Kousa dogwoods that lined the driveway. Every day from the time they started to drop their berries until the last one fell, we had to sweep our driveway to keep the cars from squishing the berries and making a big mess. In the spring we had a zillion of little seedlings. We replanted many and nursed them to a state where they could be planted back in our pin oak grove. We had a natural supply of new dogwoods. I look forward to doing the same at Heatherwood and share them with our neighbors.

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