Midwinter Fire Dogwoods
Heatherwood Early Spring
Even in early April, the bright winter colors of our Midwinter Fire, Red-twig, and Yellow-twig dogwoods highlight our garden. Soon, leaves will be sprouting and subdue the bright colors of the twig bark. Before too much new grow starts, I will need to do selective pruning to trim out the older faded branches and make room for the bright new stems. This will keep me busy until we start planting later this month.
Lower Yard and Meadow
Heatherwood Spring
The meadow looks bare after the spring clean-up. We were able to get the grasses and perennials cut back to make room for the new growth as the first week of spring greeted us. Our irrigation water will be turned on the first week of April. As soon as we check it out, we will start transplanting several of our existing shrubs and perennials to create the right space for this year’s new additions. Our new plants and trees will arrive the middle of April. Then the real work begins as we plant all of our new garden additions. April will be a busy month!
Cornelian Cherry Dogwood Abstract
Heatherwood Spring
Here is another abstract illustrating just how cloudy my mind gets at times. It feels good to just take a break from making standard images. The idea for this image came as I was looking for a good photo for our Cornelian cherry dogwood in bloom. I had one that was just so-so that provided a nice contrast of the yellow blooms against a dark blue spruce in the shade. I also had an interesting multi exposure abstract of the blooms of the dogwood. I put them together creating the above image. Magic!
Daffodils in Bloom
Heatherwood Crabapple Grove
Today is a day to take the time to give thanks for the wonderful world that our Lord has given us. It is a special gift to be able to enjoy our families, friends, and the world surrounding us. We are grateful to be able to share this little part of our personal Eden with family members on this special day. Happy Easter!
Emerging Daffodils
Heatherwood Crabapple Grove
Today we change over to Daylight Saving Time. Spring is just around the corner! These emerging daffodils are harbingers of what will soon come.
We are far behind on our winter clean-up to prepare for spring. New growth is starting everywhere, but we have not started cutting back last years spent grasses and perennials. I have started a little pruning, but have a long, long way to go! We also have a lot of transplanting to do before we start our spring planting. The new plants are scheduled to be delivered in mid-April. I’m getting a little nervous.
Grass Lined Garden Path
Heatherwood Winter
A grass-lined garden path wanders up from our meadow’s center circle. The path is bordered with ‘Piglet’ fountain grass. Red twig dogwoods and columnar Taylor junipers separate the path from the rest of the garden with contrasting colors and textures. During the winter, I can catch a glimpse of the garden beyond.
Spent Hosta Leaves
Heatherwood Winter
During my winter walks in our garden, I constantly look down at my feet. Interesting patterns frequently emerge from fallen leaves and spent perennials. These spent hosta leaves topped with fallen crabapple leaves caught my attention. My first thought was that I should really clean up the mess. I turned my head and then thought that this was an interesting pattern of leaves that would make a nice image.
Meadow Grasses
Heatherwood Winter
Remember that brown is a color. Heatherwood is full of various shades of brown in the winter. Grasses and spent perennials grace our garden with various tones of brown and textures during the winter months. The various grasses in the meadow have different forms, colors, and textures. Throughout the winter, they keep my interest peaked. Very soon, they will all be cut back to make room for spring’s spurts of new growth. The meadow will soon look bare.
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.
Autumn Leaves, Sedum, and Thyme
Heatherwood Winter
Even the ground is covered with winter color and textures in our garden. Purple woolly thyme provides the base of this vignette. The red new growth of Tri-color sedum highlights the image, while the fallen autumn leaves create a gentle overlay.
Enjoying this little scene provides a stimulus to add more and more ground covers to our spring planting plan! Spring is less that a month away.