“December Rose”
Heatherwood Late Autumn
The roses are still blooming. It is hard to believe it is December! We deadheaded the roses late this year in mid-October. As a result, the roses didn’t get the message to stop putting out new growth and flower buds. We still have several emerging flower buds and new leaves on our roses. With the warm weather forecast, I predict that we will still have new roses blooming through mid-December.
“Last of October Glory”
Heatherwood Late Fall
The end of autumn in our Heatherwood Garden is drawing near. Our October Glory maples are the last of our standard maples to loose their leaves. This little group of leaves are the last still hanging on our maples in the woodland garden. The fallen leaves in the background cover the ground keeping our bulbs warm in the coming winter.
“Grass, Hydrangea, and Yellow Twig”
Heatherwood Late Fall
At times bright contrasts catch my eye. Other times a blend of subtle colors differences catch my eye. The browns and golds with their textural contrasts drew me to this vignette. As I walk around Heatherwood, I see various “pieces of art” scattered around the garden. They are always changing. Never do I see them the same way.
“Yellow Twig Dogwood & Red Bergenia”
Heatherwood Late Fall
Growing up, my favorite colors from my color crayon box were yellow and red. They were always the first crayons to be used up. It doesn’t surprise me that we have this color combination throughout Heatherwood. The bright red bergenia and the yellow twig dogwood provide an interesting contrast in both color and texture. Now we just need to add green ground cover to complete the vignette.
“Red Twig Dogwood Screen”
Heatherwood Late Fall
As we designed Heatherwood, we set a criteria to have varying color during all four seasons. To help accomplish this we planted an assortment of red twig, yellow twig, and multi-color twig dogwood shrubs throughout the garden. Several have already grown to the three-foot level like the red twig in the image above. They provide stand alone color as well as a screening effect in the garden. It will take two to three more years to get the full benefit of these shrubs.
“Hoar Frost on Redbud”
Heatherwood Japanese Garden
When we left for our vacation, Heatherwood was in its fall color prime. When we returned 2 weeks later, most of the leaves on the trees had fallen. The only trees with any appreciable leaves hanging are some October Glory maples, a few oaks, and a Vanessa perrotia.
When we left Palm desert two days ago it was 85 degrees. Yesterday, when we returned home it was a bitter 29 degrees. There was still hoar frost on the trees and other plants at 1:30p. I couldn’t help getting my camera out for a few quick photos of the garden.
As the garden transitions from fall to winter, Heatherwood is still full of color. In addition, the textures of the flowing grasses and the branches of shrubs provide a striking contrast of structure. Berries and fruits remain on our crabapples, viburnums, and hollies. Several evergreens have turned to their bright yellow color as ground covers have turned to their oranges, reds, and burgundies. Heatherwood has been designed for four season interest. A winter stroll wrapped in warm clothes is enticing.
“Akebono Cherry & Waterfall”
Heatherwood Japanese Garden
Today, I woke up to a cool, dreary morning … great day for photographing! This newly planted (this spring) Akebono cherry has lost all of its leaves and just looked cold against the flowing waterfall. Black and white captured the feeling.
The Akebono was the first of our cherry trees to transition to its golden yellow fall color. As such, it was also first to loose its leaves. Our Heatherwood garden has sixteen cherry trees. The two Kwansan Cherries and a couple of our weeping cheery trees still have their leaves, the other twelve are now just “stick trees” waiting for winter to come.
“Liatris”
Heatherwood Meadow
As I walk through our Heatherwood garden, I constantly look for little vignettes that catch my eye. When I see something of interest, I pause to look at it from different perspectives. I tilt my head, squat up and down, move around, squint my eyes, and imagine how I can translate what I see into something a little unique. Many times I just move on, other times I imagine what I can do in post processing. For this image, I knew that it was a painting from the start. With a little help from Topaz Impression out popped my interpretation.
“Hydrangeas and History”
Heatherwood Cherry Allee
This image was created about twenty feet from the image in yesterday’s post. Instead of focusing on a single hydrangea looking through the garden, I stepped back and framed the historic Selah-Naches irrigation flume with the cherry trees and the row of hydrangeas. Borrowed scenes always add interest and enjoyment to our garden.
This fall will probably be the last time that the historic flume will be seen from our garden. It is scheduled to be replaced with a pipe line this winter. Progress is painful!
“Country Peace”
Heatherwood Neighborhood
It is wonderful living in the country. Heatherwood is surrounded by hills and countryside settings. I step out of our garage and look across the street to see this peaceful pastoral setting. Sometimes our neighbor’s horses are grazing in the pasture or beneath these old apple trees. This area was once covered by apple and cherry orchards. Now there remains just a few apple trees along our neighbor’s property line and an old cherry orchard on a distant hillside. Much of the area has been converted to pastures and scattered homes. Heatherwood is in the middle of this bucolic area.
We have attempted to design Heatherwood’s landscape to take advantage of the peaceful surroundings. Plantings and paths encourage a wanderer to enjoy the immediate surroundings then look out to see views of the surrounding area. Sitting areas are located and framed to do the same. The garden brings peace to the busy world around us.