Chief Joseph Lodgepole Pine & Sester’s Dwarf Blue Spruce Heatherwood Autumn
I woke up this morning and read the news headlines. My spirits were down in the dumps. To bring my spirits up, I started reviewing my images of our garden that I created earlier this week. I stopped when I saw the image above and started to contemplate. Here are two completely different species growing up side by side, complementing each other in complete harmony with the other trees and plants in the landscape around them. Why can’t we do the same?
New Winter Garden in Autumn Yakima Arboretum, Yakima, WA
In the spring of 2022, the Yakima Arboretum selected a Winter Garden for its first Master Plan project to be implemented. The project was conceptualized and designed by Epiklar Landscaping during the remaining part of the year. It was funded by Arboretum membership donations. Elegant Landscaping and Pendleton Excavating constructed the hardscaping early in the spring of 2023. A group of Arboretum volunteers then completed the planting and mulching. Volunteers continue to provide the new garden’s maintenance.
The new garden is establishing itself and preparing for its first winter. It will look a little bare for the first couple of years. Additional planting will be added as the first plants establish themselves. By the garden’s third year, the plants will begin their more rapid growth. By the fourth/fifth year, the garden’s basic form will be established.
Developing a garden takes time. Watching a garden mature is an enjoyable experience. It is a continuous learning experience. Some plantings do well; others do not. Part of the Arboretum’s mission is to pass this knowledge on for others to enjoy and learn how they can develop their own gardens.
I love to learn about life and the world around me. I constantly search out new things, ideas, and endeavors. My overall life’s theme is a never ending journey of acquiring an understanding of what surrounds me.
Japanese gardens are characterized by the placement of rocks and plants to symbolize a theme or an idea. As we designed our Heatherwood Japanese garden area, I attempted to create a few life themes. The one depicted above attempts to represent my overall theme of a path to a never ending journey of knowledge. The rock in the lower right corner represents a student just starting the journey. The additional four large rocks represent steps on the path. They curve up and lead up to the ridge above, and then up to the sky. I am a practical person, so I built a simple path paralleling the rock steps which is much easier for me to traverse.
My eyes follow the lawn path through the lower garden up to Selah Bluff on the horizon. The infrared perspective puts me into a dream-like state. I wonder what is beyond the bluff. Beyond, the Wenas valley slopes to the Yakima River. Then another set of ridges rise up then down to the Ryegrass plateau. The plateau rolls along then descends down to the Columbia River. Ridges of the Yakima folds rise up from the river and level off into the farmlands of the Columbia Basin. A few small farm towns sprinkle the basin. Two-hundred miles away lies Spokane.
I then think of the sprawling metropolitan area between Olympia and Everett, and am thankful for where I live. I am a country boy at heart.
“Path to Never Ending Search of Knowledge” Heatherwood Japanese Garden
When we first started designing the layout of Heatherwood’s Japanese Inspired Garden, I identified three stone designs that I wanted to include to depict important inspirations in my life. The stone pattern in the center of above image is meant to depict a pathway to a never ending search of learning. The bottom stone represents the “seeker”. The four rocks above the seeker curve upward creating a path to acquire knowledge. When reaching the top stone, the seeker can look upward to a tall bluff full of geologic history.
I see every day as an opportunity to discover and learn something new. It may be an element of nature, a new face, a new idea. It can come from an external source or from an internal reflection. As seen above, there is a well worn path alongside the rocks. My legs are not long enough to hop from one to another.
Today we will host our family Easter celebration. We will have three generations of Grafs, Downeys, Pecks, and Powells with us this year. The older generation will relax and laugh as we watch the youngsters search for the Easter eggs. There are plenty of spots to hide them in our Heatherwood garden. While we relax and laugh, the middle generation parents will nervously make sure their kids don’t get carried away.
While we enjoy the day, we will all thank our Lord in our own way for the life He has given for us.
Throughout our Heatherwood Garden, we have designed several sitting areas that have a nice view of the garden and the surrounding hills. This area is in the southwest corner of the property looking east over an in-process garden room area and toward the background bluff. As we fill in the planting areas around the lawn and behind the chairs, this sitting area will be a secluded peaceful retreat. It will be a special place to watch the morning sunrise or a late afternoon’s amber glow on the garden and bluff.
“World Trade Center and 9/11 Memorial” New York City
Now, on this Memorial Day more than ever, we all need to step back and remember what our Nation has gone through to establish and maintain our Democracy. We need to honor all who have given their lives to maintain our freedom. We need to thank those who have rebuilt our country and our sense of democratic freedom after attacks have been made.
Right now, the world is under attack by an autocrat in Russia who has ruthlessly invaded the Ukraine and who threatens to use nuclear weapons if anyone tries to stop him. Here at home, we are threatened by an autocrat who has denied the legitimacy of our election process (without any proof) and who has instigated an attack on our Capitol. On a personal basis, we are being held up by a gun lobby who will not back off supporting selling military grade weapons designed for the mass killing of people.
It is the time for us to stand up and bring back sanity and compassion to our Nation and World.
After the shadow of record-setting freezing temperatures, our first crocuses start to emerge. They provide hope that spring is just around the corner. In a similar fashion, I contemplate and pray that our world’s humanity will overcome the shadow that the Russian invasion of Ukraine is causing.
As I write this post, Russia is invading Ukraine. The world is a crazy place right now. I have the hope that “cool heads” around the world will prevail and that a global crisis will be avoided.
