Tag Archives: Heatherwood

Uplift

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Golden Joy Juniper & Manyo No Sato Japanese Maple
Heatherwood Japanese Garden

This little vignette greets me as I start up the path to the top of our Heatherwood Japanese Garden. The warm early morning sun graces the Golden Joy juniper and the Manyo No Sato Japanese maple. I feel the golden palm and outreaching fingers of the Golden Joy uplifting the Manyo No Sato like a gentle hand. An early morning stroll through the garden is a wonderful way to greet the coming day and all the opportunities it brings.

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Harbinger of Summer

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Up Through the Garden to the Ridge
Heatherwood Late Spring

Bright blue skies, ground covers in bloom, yarrow ready to bloom … summer is right around the corner. Our Heatherwood garden is starting to burst out in bloom everywhere. Temperatures are in the 70’s approaching the 80’s. Summer seems to be coming a little early this year.

One of the driving factors when I purchased our Selah property was the surrounding ridge. It feels a little like we are in the center of a half circle amphitheater. Looking through the garden, the ridge stands above acting like a guardian. It is a wonderful backdrop leading up to the bright eastern Washington blue skies. As I gaze up at it, my mind wanders to contemplate the wonders of nature and what is good about the world around us.

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The Last Day in May

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Southeast Conifer Corner
Heatherwood Spring

Today is the last day of May. Where has the time gone? In one more month half of the year will have passed us by. These last three months have been extremely busy in our garden. We started with spring clean-up. Then we spent a couple weeks transplanting many, many plants to make ready for our spring planting project. After taking a short breath, we began a large planting project adding a number of trees, many shrubs, and a zillion ground covers. Then for the last couple of weeks we have been doing touch-up work and extending our irrigation systems to the new plants. When I thought we had finished for the spring, I got the crazy idea to go plant shopping at a local nursery. We now have another week or two of more planting and finishing things off before July.

Heatherwood will never be complete. As soon as I add a new plant, more ideas pop up. It’s time to enjoy a morning cup of coffee in the garden … and think what we need to enhance this or that spot!

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A Place to Sit and Enjoy the Day

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A Chair in the Woodland
Heatherwood Spring

My last post showed a view of our Heatherwood woodland. We have placed a sitting view point in the middle of the woodland at the corner of a garden pathway. Looking to our right (east) we see a row of redbuds in the foreground and the Selah Ridge beyond. Looking straight ahead (north) we see a curving path into the heart of our woodland area. Looking to the right we see Japanese maples, dogwoods, and a double row of buckthorns. Soon the buckthorns will grow to hide our secret hideaway. It is a great place to enjoy a morning cup of coffee, afternoon glass of wine, or just to enjoy the garden around us.

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Looking to the Woodland

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West Lawn and Woodland
Heatherwood Spring

It has been almost a month since I last posted an image. Where did the time go? This spring we were very busy planting a large number of trees, shrubs, perennials and ground covers. It took us about six weeks to transplant existing trees and shrubs and then plant the new ones. I keep saying that this year is the last one for major planting. But when we got near to the end, we still had a lot of ground that we needed to cover. So we went out and bought more. We still have about a week worth of planting to do before the end of spring.

As we continue to add to Heatherwood, it is fun to look back and reflect on what this area use to be. Five years ago it was just an unruly pasture full of weeds. We are trying to establish a little woodland along the road on the left side of the image. The trees are getting taller creating a little shade. The understory plants are filling in. We even planted some shade-loving hostas. It is starting to take shape.

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Who’s Watching

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Oribe Lantern Peeking Through
Heatherwood Japanese Garden

I was walking through our Heatherwood Japanese garden and stopped to admire the emerging leaves of one of the Japanese maples. Moving my camera around to find a nice leaf macro image, I noticed the Oribe lantern behind the maple. I paused as I felt that the little lantern was watching me with his single big eye. It is amazing what a person can see by taking his/her time and letting their imagination freely flow.

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Time to Paint

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Framed Waterfall
Heatherwood Spring

This vignette of Heatherwood’s waterfall framed by a Shin Deshojo Japanese maple and a Norway Spruce is one of my favorites. Most every time I walk by with my camera (or iPhone), I stop and create an image. A little side path provides a little peak from the main pathway. In spring and fall the scene is the most dramatic with the contrasting colors of the Japanese maple.

When I was editing this image, I felt like doing something a little different. I thought I would take the opportunity to practice a little photographic painting. Topaz Impression software and my imagination merged together to create this image.

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It Doesn’t Get Much Better

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Japanese Garden Entry
Heatherwood Spring

Our spring weather has been beautiful in Eastern Washington. With the warm spring weather, the trees have been blooming and leafing out. The late afternoon sunshine brings out the warm colors along the entry path to our Japanese garden area. The brilliant red Bloodgood Japanese maple and the bright pink Don Egolf redbud frame the Hokkeji lantern and the Bosnian pine. Like a magnet, they pull a visitor into the garden.

On evenings like this we frequently stroll through or just sit in the garden reflecting on what a wonderful day it has been and what new experiences tomorrow will bring. It just doesn’t get much better.

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