Tag Archives: Heatherwood

Brightness on a Dreary Late Fall Morning

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Winter Garden Color in the Lower Garden
Heatherwood Autumn

We designed Heatherwood to have color throughout all four seasons. Color provided by the Midwinter Fire, red-twig, and yellow-twig dogwoods complements the brightness and textures of the ornamental grasses. In a few years, the evergreen trees will get taller creating a nice green background. Together they all provide brightness to a dreary late fall day.

This part of the garden is three years old. We have enjoyed watching the plants grow from one gallon pots to these mid-sized shrubs and grasses. It will take a couple more years for them to fill in and mature into “garden-sized” plants. By then, the evergreens will have grown several feet taller. Watching a garden grow provides so much enjoyment for Mary and I!

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Blue Sky Day

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Blue Sky Over Cherry Allee
Heatherwood Autumn

Some days are stunning. Heatherwood and the surrounding hills were absolutely beautiful on this late afternoon. Colors just popped out, especially the golden browns of the ornamental grasses and the panicle hydrangeas. The blue skies said summer, the garden colors said fall. I just strolled through the garden absorbing the warm afternoon sun and the colors of autumn. It was a great day!

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Looking Northeast from the Neighbor’s

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Selah Bluff and Lower Garden
Heatherwood Fall

A neighborhood garden should be designed to be enjoyed from the outside looking in as well as internally. As we designed Heatherwood, we wanted to provide a separation between our property and our neighbor’s. At the same time, we wanted to present a pleasing view from our neighbor’s back yard through our garden up to the hills rising above. In this section we kept the planting height down with ornamental grasses and mid-sized deciduous shrubs. For winter interest, the yellows, reds, and oranges of the Midwinter Fire, red twig, and yellow twig dogwoods mixed between the ornamental grasses will provide a textured and colorful winter foreground for the bluff above.

During our design process, we reviewed our concepts with our neighbor over a glass of wine or two. They were happy with what we envisioned and we were happy that they could enjoy it as much as we would.

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Fall Color is Peaking

View From the Perch
Heatherwood, Autumn

Fall color in Heatherwood is peaking! The garden is full of bright fall colors. They seem to be a couple weeks earlier than normal this year. The warm days and cool nights are probably the driving force. The night time temperature is forecast to drop below freezing in the next couple of days. In a few weeks, the color sadly will probably fade away. But then, the winter color and textures will take over to create their own beauty. Every season in Heatherwood has its own special characteristics.

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Good Morning World !

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Sunrise Over the Garden
Heatherwood, Early Autumn

We were given a glorious Good Morning gift a few days ago. It was a wonderful way to start the day. As the sun rose, the sky was a beautiful pinkish gold. Through the clouds it cast a warm pink blanket over our Heatherwood garden and the valley below. As the day’s beauty was released, it gave me a feeling of warm peace. Even with all the strife that is currently going on, there is still a lot of wonder and beauty that reminds me of the many things that are right about our world. It is all our challenge to spread this among the peoples of our world.

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A Little Rain Drizzle Pops Out the Color

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‘Selah Ridge Bluff’
Heatherwood, Early Fall

When I walk out to our driveway to get into my car, I look up and see this stately bluff looking over me. A little rain drizzle perks up the colors in our Heatherwood garden. Soon the dogwood will brighten up with its reddish purple leaves and bright red berries. Behind, the large maple tree will turn to a brilliant red.

P.S. The little black spec in the upper right corner of the sky (if you can see it) is one of our neighborhood red-tail hawks.

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Moving From the Badlands

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‘Late Afternoon Sunlight’
Heatherwood, Early Fall

Today, I’m moving from the Badlands of South Dakota to the Good Lands of our Heatherwood Eastern Washington garden. The hills and terrain of the Badlands are beautiful, so are the hills of Eastern Washington. Fall has definitely started. Our oak leaf hydrangeas, viburnums, spirea, and red/yellow-twig dogwood shrubs are starting to display their bright fall colors. Something different is starting to change each day. It is difficult to keep up photographing all the changes.

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Experimentation & Practice

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‘Color Infrared Practice’
Heatherwood Japanese Garden

I have been practicing infrared photography in preparation for an upcoming photography workshop in South Dakota’s Badlands. All of my previous infrared (IR) work has been in monochrome. I thought I would play around with a little color IR processing as a change of pace. This image was created using a color IR filter which adds a yellow/orange tint to elements that reflect IR and a blue tint to elements that absorb IR.

The jury is still out regarding the color processing.

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The South Bed is Filling In

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‘Jeffrey Pine & Friends’
Heatherwood Late Summer

It was a nice morning to take a little stroll along the the southern part of our garden. The bright new yellow blooms of the solidago (golden rod) complement the fading rudbeckia to provide a nice contrast with the purple Russian sage and green grass and conifers. The Jeffrey pine with its 8-9 inch needles is the star of the show. We still have a lot of bright colors in the garden as the summer approaches its end.

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Place for Peace and Quiet

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‘Southeast Corner Rest Stop’
Heatherwood Summer

This quiet spot is in the southeast corner of our garden. We planted a set of various conifers and a few deciduous trees to provide a cosy corner to rest and view the lower section of Heatherwood. The corner is highlighted with several uncommon conifers that provide special interest as we sit and enjoy the sights.

In the spring we admire the blossoms from a field of daffodils and trees from our crabapple grove. In the summer we view our multicolored meadow as we gaze up to our house above. In the fall, splotches of yellow, orange, red, and purple of the fall foliage pepper the garden in front of us. During the winter, the green and yellow conifers dominate the view complemented by the red, yellow, and oranges of the red, yellow, and midwinter fire branches of the dogwood shrubs. It is a great place to just sit and enjoy the world around us.

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