Category Archives: Our Garden

Images taken in our Pennsylvania garden

Peeking Around the Corner

Leave a reply

Looking Through the Japanese Garden
Heatherwood Spring

A narrow stone path leads around the corner of our house. Immediately my eyes are flooded with spring color from Japanese maples, a flowering viburnum, a Japanese umbrella pine, and a weeping white pine. Then the Kotoji lantern by our hillside stream pops into view. It feels like the lantern is a scout looking over the garden.

The view as I walk around the corner is almost too much to take in all at once. Do I focus on the trees, shrubs, and ground covers that surround me? Or, do I look up through the trees and see the surprises peeping out through the foreground? Or, do I just pause and take it all in one little piece at a time? I usually do the latter.

Related Images:

200507_LongExp_WtrFall__Kotoji 200506_LongExp_WtrFall_1

Spring Color #5

Leave a reply

Akebono in Full Bloom
Heatherwood Spring

The white blooms of the Akebono cherries accent the edges of Heatherwood’s Japanese garden area. Two Akebonos anchor the eastern and western edges of the garden. A third shields the edge of the pond. While the length of the blooms are fleeting, the grace of the trees continue throughout the year.

Related Images:

200507_LongExp_WtrFall__Kotoji 200506_LongExp_WtrFall_1

Spring Color #4

Leave a reply

Pink Flair Cherries in Late Afternoon
Heatherwood Spring

Nothing is more beautiful than late afternoon sunshine raking across our garden as a last hurrah on a cloudy day. Flowering cherries are the main subject again in our spring landscape. Eight Pink Flair cherries form an allee border for our perennial garden. As the trees mature, they will form a wall of color along the garden hillside.

These trees are a haven for spring nesting. Last year, I counted around a dozen nests. Robins are constantly fluttering about building new nests. Soon the allee will become a hatchery.

Related Images:

200507_LongExp_WtrFall__Kotoji 200506_LongExp_WtrFall_1

Spring Color #3

Leave a reply

Cornelian Cherry Dogwood
Heatherwood Spring

The Cornelian Cherry dogwood, star magnolias, and the forsythia are the first trees to display their blooms. They shortly follow the witch hazels in the sequence of color in our Heatherwood garden.

The first Cornelian Cherry dogwood that I discovered was in the Morris Arboretum in Philadelphia. I had no idea what it was. When it broke out in bloom it lit up the whole end of the Arboretum. I had to wait fifteen years to have one of my own!

Related Images:

200507_LongExp_WtrFall__Kotoji 200506_LongExp_WtrFall_1

Spring Color #2

Leave a reply

Okame Cherry
Heatherwood Japanese Garden

Strolling in the Yakima Arboretum, I noticed the bright pink of the Okame cherries in the flowering cherry collection next to the Japanese Garden. I just had to have one for our Heatherwood garden. This one, still in its pot, has since found a spot in our Japanese garden area. It adds to our collection of Akebono, Pink Flair, Kawansan, and two unknown varieties. We now have 17 flowering cherries that brighten our spring garden.

Related Images:

200507_LongExp_WtrFall__Kotoji 200506_LongExp_WtrFall_1

Spring Colors #1

Leave a reply

Blue Spruces, Flowering Plum, & Louie White Pine
Heatherwood Spring

Early spring has brought a plethora of color to our Heatherwood garden. I have been so busy working in the garden expanding a new conifer garden that I have not taken the time to photograph the evolving spring color. Over the next several posts, I will try to record some of the spring evolution in the garden.

This image shows the mid-morning sunlight exposing the flowering plum, two blue spruces, a Louie Eastern White Pine and an Ivory Halo red-twig dogwood. The pink and chartreuse provide a nice contrast to the blue spruces. This is one of the colorful vignettes that we see from our upper patio.

Related Images:

200507_LongExp_WtrFall__Kotoji 200506_LongExp_WtrFall_1

Waiting for Spring

Leave a reply

Robin in Cherry Tree
Heatherwood Cherry Allee

I noticed this robin searching around for a place to build her nest. Our rows of eight trees have been a popular place for nesting. I counted nine old nests scattered on the trees. I can imagine what is going on in the robin’s mind. “Should I remodel one of the existing nests or build a new one from scratch?”

Spring is right around the corner, less than a week away!

Related Images:

200507_LongExp_WtrFall__Kotoji 200506_LongExp_WtrFall_1

Taking Time to Enjoy While Working

Leave a reply

Multiple Late Winter Colors
Heatherwood Side Yard

We have been busy working over our lower southwest garden area. Our vision is to create a conifer and Japanese maple retreat. While working, I enjoy taking a break and walking around other parts of Heatherwood to enjoy the progress that we have made in the last five to six years. When I first moved in, this area was a lawn area with two Colorado blue spruces. Our pump house was slightly behind and between the two trees. Five years ago, we took out a big chunk of lawn and planted various conifers, shrubs, deciduous trees, and ground covers. They have matured to create a beautiful all season background for our side yard. Five years from now, I vision our southwest corner will be at a similar state of maturity.

Related Images:

200507_LongExp_WtrFall__Kotoji 200506_LongExp_WtrFall_1

Spring Is Emerging …

Leave a reply

Jelena Witch Hazel
Heatherwood Late Winter

The witch hazels are the harbinger of spring in our garden. They are usually the first blooms of the year. Soon they will be followed by our Cornelian Cherry dogwood and the star magnolias. We have already seen tiny tips of the crocus and daffodils popping up from the ground. Spring is just two weeks away!

Related Images:

200507_LongExp_WtrFall__Kotoji 200506_LongExp_WtrFall_1