“Fountain Grass”
Heatherwood Meadow
Even though we have had a lot of snow and strong wind through the winter, this stately fountain grass still stands tall with its head held high. We have started pruning and cleaning our Heatherwood garden. By the end of the week, most of the grasses should be cut back ready for their spring growth surge. We have only a little over two weeks before the first day of spring.
“Late Winter Snow”
Heatherwood Meadow
Mother Nature gave us a little warning on this last day of February, “Don’t get too excited about spring, we still have three weeks of winter left.” I have been getting ready to start cutting back Heatherwood’s grasses and perennials. The temperatures have increased from the 20’s last week to the 40’s this week. Yesterday, I was out in the yard with my pruners. Luckily this is the last snow predicted for our 10 day forecast. And, the temperatures are predicted to rise back up into the 40’s. Hopefully we will be able to start our clean-up later this week.
In the meantime, I took the opportunity to walk through Heatherwood for a couple of hours this morning with my camera. There were plenty of opportunities to create images from a late winter snow. The light snow was a heavenly gift.
“Textures in Winter”
Heatherwood Meadow
A key element of our Heatherwood garden design is to provide various textures and shapes throughout the four seasons. The stiff vertical liatris stalks contrast with the soft flowing grasses. These are framed in the bottom by spent seed heads of rudbeckia and the top by spent asters. The straw and gold colors of the grasses contrast with the dark browns of the other perennials. All together they provide an eye-catching vignette to enjoy on a winter stroll through the garden.
“Snow and Frost-covered Meadow”
Heatherwood Winter
Today is the first official day of winter. Winter came much earlier than its official start this year. We had our first dusting of snow in mid-November. Then a week after Thanksgiving we had our first substantial snow fall. We had another significant snow fall in early December. Heatherwood has now been covered with snow for the last three weeks. In addition, the temperatures have been very cold adding hoarfrost to our trees, shrubs, and perennials. It is truly a beautiful winter scene.
The image above is a section of our Heatherwood meadow area. In the spring through fall, the meadow is full of color and various texture. Even in the winter it has shades of gold, orange, and browns with even a little hint of red. We elect not to cut back our perennials to provide this winter interest as well as provide seeds and berries for the wintering birds.
“Snow-covered Meadow Grasses”
Heatherwood
The winter grasses will not be fluttering in the wind any longer. A heavy 6-8 inch snowfall covered the Heatherwood landscape a couple of days ago. Grasses were smothered and tree limbs laden with heavy snow broke. But as soon as the snow had fallen, it started to melt with temperatures in the high 30’s. Heatherwood looked like a winter wonderland. The warm temperatures will last a couple of days before they drop back down below freezing for the highs.
“Snow Dusted”
Heatherwood Meadow
A light dusting of snow amplifies the contrast of textures in our garden’s meadow. The shapes of the spent flowers and leaves pop out. The oranges, golds, and browns of the grasses are framed by the white of the snow dusting. The bright green of the lawn grass in hidden providing a contrast to the meadow areas.
“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.
“Grasses, Joe Pye Weed, and Coreopsis”
Heatherwood Meadow
There are many little vignettes in Heatherwood’s summer meadow. I constantly walk though the garden and discover a new perspectives of note. In this little scene, the two tall Karl Forester grasses in the back and the two blue oat grasses on the sides frame in the row of yellow coreopsis in the front and the row of pink Joe Pye weed in the center. The scene is naturally balanced.
“Soft Summer Color”
Heatherwood Meadow
Walking through our Heatherwood meadow in the early morning when the sun just rises and softly grazes over the meadow flowers is a calming experience. The various colors, textures, and shapes pull me into the scene.
The summer scenes change daily. Some flowers fade, new flowers emerge. Grasses grow taller providing new backgrounds as well as blocking and framing other views. This year the scorching summer direct sunlight is causing many flowers to fade prematurely, but others burst out just as quickly. We are always in a dilemma, should we deadhead plants to make the garden look pretty and force new blooms, or should we just let them take their natural course and fade then spread their seeds in the fall and winter. Mostly, we just let things mature naturally.
“New Echinaceas”
Heatherwood Summer Meadow
Echinaceas are one of my favorite summer perennials. In Pennsylvania, we started with just a few of purple echinaceas planted by the previous owners. They were in the wrong spots. We pulled most out and transplanted just a few. Over the years we ended up with three beautiful echinacea beds.
At Heatherwood, we started out with just a couple of patches of white echinaceas when we first planted the meadow three years ago. This year we added a few more patches and mixed in purple cone flowers with the white. Now it is time to wait, watch them fill in, and then start spreading them out. It just takes time and patience.