Category Archives: Trees

For J. Charles

“Blooming Redbuds”
Heatherwood Woodland Garden

This post is for my friend, J. Charles. Like you, I love redbuds. These are four of nine in our woodland garden area. We have three more scattered around other parts of the garden. When we lived in Virginia, the surround hills were decorated with native eastern redbuds and dogwoods in early spring. They usually bloomed before the other native trees leafed out. In our woodland grove, we also have five dogwoods. However, only one is an early bloomer that bursts out at the same time as the red buds.

Here is another image for your enjoyment! We have an Adirondack settee located where this image is taken. Its a great place for a morning cup of coffee, an afternoon glass of wine, or just a relaxing place to get out of the afternoon sun.

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Spring Welcome

“Hokkeji Lantern & Don Egolf Redbud”
Heatherwood Japanese Garden

The Don Egolf Redbud is the early spring star of Heatherwood’s Japanese garden entryway. Standing beside the Hokkeji Lantern, they welcome visitors (and us) to stroll along the pathway leading through the garden. The Japanese maples will soon take over as the blossoms of the Don Golf drop.

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Here Come the Dogwoods

“Pink Dogwood”
Heatherwood Spring

As one fades, another springs forward. Our pink dogwoods are now in full bloom! Spring glory is everywhere we turn in Heatherwood. The pink dogwoods were one of the few trees that were already here when I moved back to Selah in 2016. Each year they are getting a bit larger and more profuse in blooms. They welcome us home as we drive up to the house.

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Spring Framing

“Serviceberries in Full Bloom”
Heatherwood Spring

These multi-stemmed serviceberries frame in a peek into our upper yard and Japanese garden. The pink phlox provides a little contrast to trap my eye. Their bloom is short lived. This image was created about a week ago. Today most of the blossoms have dropped off and cover the ground with little white petals.

As the serviceberry blossoms disappear, my attention moves on and now focuses on Heatherwood’s redbuds and crabapples. Stay tuned …

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Eight Is Enough

“Pink Flair Cherries”
Heatherwood Cherry Allee

Eight Pink Flair Cherries are enough to provide a border for Heatherwood’s Cherry Allee. The Pink Flairs break out in bloom shortly after the Akebono cherries in our spring garden. They, along with the yellow twig dogwoods planted between, frame our “Bright and Shiny” perennial bed. Spring is well on its way!

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Next, The Akebono Cherries

“Akebono Cherry”
Heatherwood Spring

Soon after the daffodils start to bloom, our Akebono cherry trees start to break out in blossoms. Heatherwood has several different types of flowering cherries. Some are early bloomers like the Akebono and some flower 3-4 weeks later. Throughout the garden we have 18 cherry trees. Most are single trees spaced out in different parts of the garden. Others are grouped together to form an allee.

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Sometimes More is Better

“Maple Leaf and Raindrops Abstract”
Heatherwood Garden

Simple images are fun to play with. I first photographed this vignette as a simple image of a leaf, a few branches, and raindrops. I liked the image, but then went beyond and asked myself, “If a single image was nice, how would multiple images combined look?” Sometimes more is better.

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Experimenting

“Raindrops on Hana Matoi Abstract”
Heatherwood Spring

Yesterday, my post was of individual raindrops on our Hana Matoi Japanese maple. Today’s image is what happened when I added a little motion blur to the image. A little playful creativity can make magic.

Note: the little white curves are individual raindrops.

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Garden Walk on a Rainy Day

“Raindrops on Hana Matoi”
Heatherwood Spring

A rainy day in Yakima, Washington is not a common occurrence. And on this day, it rained ALL day. Since I have moved back into the area in 2016, I cannot recall it raining ALL day. But, my memory can be questioned from time to time.

On this rainy day, I was cooped up for most of the day. I couldn’t stand it much longer so I grabbed my camera and rain jacket and went exploring for rain drops. Walking through the garden among the trees and shrubs was like walking through a wonderland. Droplets were hanging down from the delicate bare branches of our Japanese maples. If I looked close, I could see an upside down reflection of my camera on the droplets. It was a day to create and experiment.

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