Tag Archives: Hokkeji Japanese Lantern

Spring Welcome

“Hokkeji Lantern & Don Egolf Redbud”
Heatherwood Japanese Garden

The Don Egolf Redbud is the early spring star of Heatherwood’s Japanese garden entryway. Standing beside the Hokkeji Lantern, they welcome visitors (and us) to stroll along the pathway leading through the garden. The Japanese maples will soon take over as the blossoms of the Don Golf drop.

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Complementary Trees and Sculpture

“Hokkeji and Japanese Maples”
Heatherwood Japanese Garden

The early spring color of our Japanese Maples highlight our garden. These two frame in the Hokkeji lantern beside the Japanese garden entry path. We enjoy the nice flash of contrasting color as we enter the garden.

Japanese maples are one of my weaknesses. Heatherwood has several throughout the garden. However, whenever I see something a little different, I want to add it. We are at the stage in our garden development that I need to have patience and wait for some of our shade trees to grow to provide the right condition for some of the less sun tolerant species.

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Winter Hat

“Hokkeji in Snow”
Heatherwood Japanese Garden

Our Hokkeji Japanese Lantern with its winter hat welcomes us into Heatherwood’s snow covered garden. A crabapple with its winter apples provides a little red tone in the background. As the apples soften, they will provide winter food for the local birds.

Our winter garden work has stopped for a while. It is time to take a little rest and just enjoy the garden as it is. Now we are planning for our 2022 landscape projects. Ideas flash through our minds as we envision the evolution of the garden. The start of planting season is just three months away.

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More Fall Colors

Hokkeji in Fall”
Heatherwood Japanese Garden

Our Heatherwood Japanese garden is peppered with all the colors of the rainbow. We have them all; yellow, green, red, orange, magenta, and purple. We are just missing blue. We are rapidly loosing the color with the rain and wind we recently been having. One day a tree or shrub is at its peak, the next day the leaves are on the ground leaving bare branches. The garden is changing color so quickly that I have a hard time keeping up with my photographs.

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Heatherwood Japanese Garden Stroll #1

“Hokkeji Welcome”
Heatherwood Japanese Garden

A Hokkeji lantern welcomes our garden’s visitors with a glimpse of what is to come. A newly planted (2021) Japanese Pagoda tree and Akebono Flowering Cherry tree leads (and disguises) a walker around to a viewing area overlooking a pond and waterfall. The viewing area is surrounded by a mature linden tree and several young Japanese maples and a Japanese Stewartia. Over time these will provide a living enclosure around a peaceful viewing area.

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Hana Matoi #2

Hana Matoi Looking Down
Heatherwood Japanese Garden

This post continues my Hana Matoi mini project. Looking for a different perspective, I walked up and leaned into the tree. I stood on my tip toes, held my camera above my head and took this image looking down through the top leaves to highlight the structure of the trunk and branches. It looks like a good spot for a bird to nest.

The image below is from a perspective of walking on a semi-hidden path adjacent to the main Japanese garden path. The Hokkeji pulls a visitor’s eyes to the Hana Matoi and the garden hillside.

Hokkeji and Hana Matoi
Heatherwood Japanese Garden

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Welcome

Hokkeji Lantern
Heatherwood Japanese Garden

Our new Hokkeji Lantern welcomes our guests into Heatherwood’s Japanese garden. To the left beyond the path (not visible) is a young Acer grisum (paperbark maple). In time, its branches will extend over the path to project the Hokkeji. To the right and behind is a newly-planted pink red-bud. Over time, its branches will extend over the Hokkeji as well. The combination of the two trees and lantern will provide a concealed glimpse of the Japanese garden. Once through the entry, the garden will open up to a pathway rising up the hill to overlook the garden and to another path leading to a hidden waterfall.

As I squint my eyes, I see my imagined vision of what will be in the years ahead.

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