Progress

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“New Understory Plants”
Heatherwood Woodland Garden

Our 2022 spring planting project is completed except for a little barking touch up here and there. This year we added understory plants to our woodland garden. Last year we added standard maples, several dogwoods and Japanese maples, and a few shrubs along the garden edge and internal pathways. This year, we added shrubs and perennials to central part of the garden. It is starting to look a little more like a woodland. As the trees get larger, we will start to add more filtered shade loving woodland plants. But for now, most of the plants need to be sun loving. We need to be patient and wait for the trees, shrubs, and perennials to grow and mature a bit before we make significant additional contributions to the woodland. We will follow the shade.

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View for the Neighborhood Walkers

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“The Flume”
Heatherwood Spring

We have several walkers who daily walk through our neighborhood. This view is for them as they walk up the road past our driveway. At this point, a walker can look across the street and see another neighbor’s flume section and then look up over the street intersection and see yet another neighbor’s flume section. The three of us have been able to preserve a little bit of history that graced our hillside for over 100 years.

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Spring Surprise

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“Picea Pusch”
Heatherwood Spring

There is always a surprise almost everywhere we look in our spring garden. We have several of these little ‘Picea Pusch’ Norway spruce shrubs scattered along paths in Heatherwood’s Japanese garden. In the spring, vibrant red cones appear at the tips of new growth. By mid-summer, they turn to their brown seed cones. New spring growth abounds in our little Eden.

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Good Morning World!

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“View From My Office Window”
Heatherwood Spring

If I sleep in and get up at 7:00A, then go into my office to write, this is what greets me as I look out the window. It is always an inspiration to start my day thinking about what is right about the world that surrounds me. There is so much to be thankful for. Taking a moment each day to think about that prepares me to make the most of each new day in front of me.

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Spring View

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“Lower Falls View”
Heatherwood Japanese Garden

As I walk along our garden path, this is one of my favorite vignettes. Looking up the hillside, Japanese maples, various evergreens, and the Kotoji frame in the rushing stream above the pond. Each season brings different color and form to this little view. Each year the trees and shrubs grow and provide a fuller picture. Only four years ago this hillside was simply covered with grass and was a &%#&!? to mow!

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Guardians

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“Kotoji & Orangeola Japanese Maple”
Heatherwood Japanese Garden

The Kotoji and Orangeola Japanese Maple are the guardians of Heatherwood’s stream and waterfalls. The Orangeola’s first breakout of leaves is a robust red. In mid-summer it transitions into a burgundy and green color. Then in the fall, it bursts out into a spectacular orange. Over time the Orangeola will grow and drape over the Kotoji.

This image illustrates some of our spring planting this year. Across the stream, white and pink phlox and kinnikinnick are starting to cover the ground. Siberian cypresses planted on both sides of the stream will gradually grow and flow down over the rocks to the stream. Some day, years from now, our Heatherwood Japanese garden will be filled with complementary vegetation from the ground to the sky. In the mean time, we will enjoy each day watching the garden grow.

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Tough Guy

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“North Wind Hybrid Japanese Maple”
Heatherwood Japanese Maple

Our North Wind Japanese maple is a hybrid that has been developed to withstand harsher environments than a typical Japanese maple. It is located in full harsh afternoon sunlight and will eventually flow over the Oribe Japanese lantern and a Tetsu Bachi water basin. It provides an entryway to our lower Japanese garden retreat.

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Spring Brilliance

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“Shin Deshojo Japanese Maple”
Heatherwood Japanese Garden

I posted an image of this Shin deshojo earlier this month when the leaves were just starting to break out and before the new ground covers were added. The Japanese maple is now in its peak brilliant pink spring color. This spring we planted a patch of Bressingham thyme. In a few years, we should have a blanket of purple to complement the Shin deshojo maple. It takes time for the thyme.

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Heatherwood Japanese Maples

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“Waterfall Japanese Maple”
Heatherwood Spring

As I have mentioned many times before, I love Japanese maples and can’t get enough of them. For the next several posts, I will present some of my favorites. This ‘Waterfall’ Japanese maple was planted in 2017. It started out as a little spindly plant a little over 2.5 feet tall. In five years it has grown to a beautiful specimen about four feet tall and wide. It graces both the entryway into our house as well as the entry area of our Japanese influenced garden. I look our my office window every morning and enjoy seeing ‘Waterfall’.

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Remembering the Virginia Countryside

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“Dogwoods & Redbuds”
Heatherwood Woodland Garden

One of my fondest memories of the rural Virginia countryside is the springtime bloom of the native dogwoods and redbuds. They were such a beautiful contrast of purplish pink and white that abounded along the country roads in the Virginia woodland areas. I remember the beautiful drives from Fairfax down to Jefferson’s Monticello and the trips along Skyline Drive.

Here at Heatherwood in Eastern Washington, we are trying to create a similar feeling in our woodland garden. Our first challenge is to select trees that will withstand the harsh summer sun. Both dogwoods and redbuds are understory trees that flourish under the canopies of taller trees. We have taken the risk of planting taller trees simultaneously with the dogwoods and redbuds. The second challenge is to select the dogwoods that will bloom at the same time as the redbuds. The eastern dogwoods and redbuds bloom together. However the Eastern dogwood is susceptible to anthracnose which we do not want to have. Thus, we are experimenting with different species of Kousa dogwoods to match the early blooming time of the redbuds. Time will tell how successful our efforts will be.

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