Early Morning Glow
Heatherwood Japanese Garden
Nothing is better than an early morning stroll through the garden to start a new day. The early morning sunlight filters through the leaves of the deciduous trees and shrubs. It sparkles around the edges of the conifers. The garden bursts out in life. As I look east through the garden, I feel the gentle morning sun on my face. I take deep breaths and become one with the nature that surrounds me. Today is going to be a great day!!!
Lower Garden Path
Heatherwood Japanese Garden
Choices, choices, choices … which way do I turn? I hear rushing water to my left. I hear a plethora of bird songs ahead. I glance and see a dense packed pathway of shade loving trees and plants to my immediate right. A Goldilocks pine points its extended yellow branches to my different choices. Which way do I turn, or should I take my time and explore all three.
Golden Joy Juniper & Manyo No Sato Japanese Maple
Heatherwood Japanese Garden
This little vignette greets me as I start up the path to the top of our Heatherwood Japanese Garden. The warm early morning sun graces the Golden Joy juniper and the Manyo No Sato Japanese maple. I feel the golden palm and outreaching fingers of the Golden Joy uplifting the Manyo No Sato like a gentle hand. An early morning stroll through the garden is a wonderful way to greet the coming day and all the opportunities it brings.
Neighbor’s Pasture Through Cherry Allee
Heatherwood, Late Spring
I always enjoy our ‘view windows’ through the garden. It is very peaceful look down through the cherry allee perennial bed across to our neighbor’s pasture and watch the horses graze along. It is a good way to start the day.
Up Through the Garden to the Ridge
Heatherwood Late Spring
Bright blue skies, ground covers in bloom, yarrow ready to bloom … summer is right around the corner. Our Heatherwood garden is starting to burst out in bloom everywhere. Temperatures are in the 70’s approaching the 80’s. Summer seems to be coming a little early this year.
One of the driving factors when I purchased our Selah property was the surrounding ridge. It feels a little like we are in the center of a half circle amphitheater. Looking through the garden, the ridge stands above acting like a guardian. It is a wonderful backdrop leading up to the bright eastern Washington blue skies. As I gaze up at it, my mind wanders to contemplate the wonders of nature and what is good about the world around us.
Southeast Conifer Corner
Heatherwood Spring
Today is the last day of May. Where has the time gone? In one more month half of the year will have passed us by. These last three months have been extremely busy in our garden. We started with spring clean-up. Then we spent a couple weeks transplanting many, many plants to make ready for our spring planting project. After taking a short breath, we began a large planting project adding a number of trees, many shrubs, and a zillion ground covers. Then for the last couple of weeks we have been doing touch-up work and extending our irrigation systems to the new plants. When I thought we had finished for the spring, I got the crazy idea to go plant shopping at a local nursery. We now have another week or two of more planting and finishing things off before July.
Heatherwood will never be complete. As soon as I add a new plant, more ideas pop up. It’s time to enjoy a morning cup of coffee in the garden … and think what we need to enhance this or that spot!
Redbuds and Blue Star Amsonias
Heatherwood Woodland
This image is for my Redbud Buddy … Enjoy!
A Chair in the Woodland
Heatherwood Spring
My last post showed a view of our Heatherwood woodland. We have placed a sitting view point in the middle of the woodland at the corner of a garden pathway. Looking to our right (east) we see a row of redbuds in the foreground and the Selah Ridge beyond. Looking straight ahead (north) we see a curving path into the heart of our woodland area. Looking to the right we see Japanese maples, dogwoods, and a double row of buckthorns. Soon the buckthorns will grow to hide our secret hideaway. It is a great place to enjoy a morning cup of coffee, afternoon glass of wine, or just to enjoy the garden around us.
West Lawn and Woodland
Heatherwood Spring
It has been almost a month since I last posted an image. Where did the time go? This spring we were very busy planting a large number of trees, shrubs, perennials and ground covers. It took us about six weeks to transplant existing trees and shrubs and then plant the new ones. I keep saying that this year is the last one for major planting. But when we got near to the end, we still had a lot of ground that we needed to cover. So we went out and bought more. We still have about a week worth of planting to do before the end of spring.
As we continue to add to Heatherwood, it is fun to look back and reflect on what this area use to be. Five years ago it was just an unruly pasture full of weeds. We are trying to establish a little woodland along the road on the left side of the image. The trees are getting taller creating a little shade. The understory plants are filling in. We even planted some shade-loving hostas. It is starting to take shape.
Oribe Lantern Peeking Through
Heatherwood Japanese Garden
I was walking through our Heatherwood Japanese garden and stopped to admire the emerging leaves of one of the Japanese maples. Moving my camera around to find a nice leaf macro image, I noticed the Oribe lantern behind the maple. I paused as I felt that the little lantern was watching me with his single big eye. It is amazing what a person can see by taking his/her time and letting their imagination freely flow.