“Rock Garden & Beyond”
Heatherwood Autumn
A vignette opens before my eyes.
A rainbow of color appears .
The glory of nature warms my heart.
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Colors of Autumn
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Tag Archives: Autumn
Time to Shut Off the Waterfall???
“Japanese Garden Waterfall Hillside”
Heatherwood Autumn
This week Heatherwood seems to be at its peak in color. The temperatures are dropping below freezing at night. Leaves are rapidly falling. Small patches of ice have formed at the edges of the waterfall. Is it time to turn off the water to the main falls and prepare the pond for winter?
Nah, I think I can wait a few more days until all the leaves have dropped. It is still just too beautiful to turn off.
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I Love the Autumn Color
“Lower Lawn”
Heatherwood Autumn
Our autumn color is changing so fast. Last night the temperature dropped down into the mid-20’s. This morning, two of three of our ginkgos dropped all their leaves. We have one left that still has not turned yellow yet. For the next several days, I will need to photograph both in the morning and in the afternoon to create a record of our fall garden.
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A Nice Diversion
“The Path Around the House”
Heatherwood Japanese Garden
This little path leads from our back patio to the front entryway of our house. It is always a nice little diversion to walk along. In the morning, light softly filters through the trees to the path. The backlit leaves are stunning. On a summer afternoon, the area is in shade. It is one of the few areas in Heatherwood where we can grow shade plants.
This area is where I first started developing a little Japanese inspired garden. The dark purple Japanese maple in the upper left is the first tree I planted when I moved back to Selah in 2016. The next year, we started work on the surrounding area, building the path and adding a few trees along it. Each subsequent year, we have added a little more. We are now at the stage where we need to do a little transplanting to optimize the design as well as add a few more shade plants as the trees grow and provide more shade. A garden is never finished!
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More Autumn Color
“Glorious Fall Color”
Heatherwood Autumn
Temperatures have been dropping down into the low 30’s for a week or so. The trees and shrubs are rapidly displaying their glorious autumn brilliance.
Our Heatherwood landscape is quite a contrast to the dry rock-covered hills that surround us. To bridge the gap, we have placed many rocks in our landscape. They help tie the hillsides and our garden together. It is amazing how a little water during the summer months can turn our semi-desert surrounds into a lush landscape.
Every day brings more and more color. The garden should be at its peak color in about a week. Some days are changing so much that I feel like I need to take a little photographic walk both in the morning and late afternoon. Today is one of those days.
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Red & Pink
“Cherokee Daybreak Dogwood”
Heatherwood Autumn
Several of our flowering dogwoods have transitioned to their full autumn glory. This species is one of my favorite. Its variegated leaves are gorgeous. In the spring breaks out in light pink with white edges. It transitions to green with white edges in the summer. Then in the fall it bursts out in deep magenta with pink edges. It is a brilliant star in Heatherwood’s Japanese garden.
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Changing Autumn Color
“Hill of Learning”
Heatherwood Japanese Garden
The reds are coming out on our Japanese maples. It will be a couple more weeks before they are in their autumn prime. Each day I notice a little more color. Tonight it is forecasted to drop down into the low 30’s. More and more color will emerge.
Paths in our Japanese garden are becoming more pronounced as the ground covers continue to mature along the path edge. This past spring we added a lot of additional ground cover in the Japanese garden. Next year we are planning on adding a couple more Japanese maples in this area. The once grass covered hillside is gradually taking shape and evolving into our vision of a Japanese garden.
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Crisp Autumn Morning
“Pond & Waterfall”
Heatherwood Japanese Garden
Our “Indian Summer” ended yesterday. We received our first rain since May and the temperature dropped 20 degrees. But we still had a beautiful crisp autumn morning today. We had nice patches of clouds that made the sky interesting while still letting in the beautiful sun rays to brighten the landscape.
Now that the temperatures have fallen and approach freezing at night, we should start to see the colors change more rapidly. I will have to be on my toes every morning and try to create images that reflect the rapid change in color.
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The Emerging Star
“Purple Aster”
Heatherwood Meadow
The purple asters are at their peak. They are the emerging star in our Heatherwood meadow. Here they contrast with the golds and yellows of the daylilies, sedum, and yarrow. The bees have found them and are swarming all over. They are the last plants to bloom in the meadow. Soon, the bees will start their winter hibernation.
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Leading the Charge
“Red Maple”
Heatherwood Woodland
This red maple is leading the charge into autumn in our Heatherwood woodland. It is one of the red maples that we planted a year ago. It is brilliant red while the other two are not showing any color change yet. Who knows why. I will record the changes in my garden notes and see if this behavior will remain the same in future years. I look forward to what next week will bring.