Tag Archives: Japanese Maple

Hana Matoi #1

Hana Matoi Japanese Maple
Heatherwood Japanese Garden

I love my morning walks through the garden with my camera. Many times I stop and take a photograph of something I have taken several times before. A couple of days ago I decided to give myself a little challenge to take purposeful photographs of some of our Japanese maples from a different perspective than I have before.

I walked around the little Hana Matoi from different directions and distances. I took close-up and distance images. I climbed above and got down on my hands and knees to just check things out. I used the tree as my primary subject and as a background. I used my feet as my zoom lens. After about an hour, I had around fifty images of different perspectives. I decided to make a small mini project of six images to attempt to characterize our little Hana Matoi Japanese maple.

The above image portrays the Hana Matoi near the entrance of Heatherwood’s Japanese Garden looking east. The maple welcomes visitors to the garden and introduces them to what is to come.

In the image below, the Hana Matoi bids the visitors goodbye as they round a bend and start to exit the garden.

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Searching for the Light

Bloodgood Japanese Maple
Heatherwood Fall

Here comes the sun! We are blessed with such brilliant color, even in late, late, autumn, when the morning sun strikes the remaining fall foliage. It doesn’t seem like today is the first day of winter. Soon the last leaves will be dropping off our Japanese maples. We will still be intrigued with their silhouettes and textured and colored bark throughout the winter.

With the Covid-19 virus still on the loose, we are planning on staying put at home for the winter. Our changing garden will help provide a stimulus to get us outside for little excursions. I look forward to recording how the garden transitions from fall into winter, then into spring. We have planted various trees, shrubs, and other perennials that will provide winter interest as well as late winter blossoming. We look forward to seeing the thousands of bulbs we planted this fall emerge in early spring.

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What I Am Trying to Achieve

“Japanese Maple & Waterfall”
Heatherwood Japanese Garden

My vision of our Heatherwood Japanese Garden stream and waterfall is to have the stream encased by green trees, spreading evergreen shrubs, and ground covers flowing over the stream edges. I want to create a feeling that the stream and surrounding plants and rocks are a single complementary element. In this image, the Japanese Maple flows into the stream. What is missing is something to cover the ground beneath the maple that will spread over the rocks.

Over the past year I have been gazing over the stream to define the “vignette” that I am looking for. I feel that I am ready to start moving forward. We are currently in the planning process to develop the specific plant selection for next year’s Heatherwood project. The stream bed and surrounding area will be our top priority.

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Shin Deshojo

Shin Deshojo Japanese Maple
Heatherwood Japanese Garden

How fast things change. The initial color of the first emerging leaves of this Shin Deshojo is a light pinkish red. Within a week they had turned to this brilliant red. Now, a month later, the leaves are a greenish-red color. Soon they will be a medium green. And then in the fall, they will be a brilliant red again. What a wonderful show this little tree gives us over the year.

The different and changing colors of our 26 Japanese Maples consistently catch my eye. Every time I walk through the garden, I look for something different. It is easy to find.

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View From Above #1

Kotoji and Japanese Maples
Heatherwood Spring

This view of the Kotoji Japanese lantern and the spring-colored Japanese maples is just one of the several focal points that we can see from our view point shown in my previous posting. The afternoon sun makes the reds of the Japanese maples glow as well as highlights the Kotoji. Spring at Heatherwood is brilliant. A glass of red wine goes well with the red Japanese maples. Here’s a toast to Spring!

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Ouch!

“Hoarfrost Spikes on Japanese Maple”

Hoarfrost is amazing. The small ice crystals build up on each other as the frost forms. Here, the hoarfrost continued to build up over a two day period. The frost looks like multiple sharp spikes on the exposed Japanese maple branches.

I was prepared for a sharp prick when I touched a branch. As soon as I got close the frost melted. No pain!

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Remember It Is Winter…

Hoarfrost on Maple Leaves

The weather continues to be warm. It almost feels like spring. I need to remember that we are just starting the third week of winter. I am sure that the real winter weather is yet to come. So to keep things in perspective, I reflect back several weeks ago when a cold spell hit and we had two days of hoarfrost. It was beautiful but very cold. It was too cold for me to mess around with a tripod, thus my images are not as crisp as I would have liked.

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Another Beautiful Day

Japanese Maple & Rhody
Heather Heights Garden

A walk in garden always prepares me for a beautiful day ahead. My eyes wander all about me. They jump from directly in front of me to the hills and valleys surrounding our garden. Then something clicks and draws me closer. I see a little treasure. I love the morning, afternoon, evening, or whenever I am walking in the garden.

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“Energy”

“Pure Energy”

How can I make a simple branch covered with frost pop out from its surrounding???  Just move around to position something interesting behind it.   I found a faded clump of Japanese Forest Grass for a background.  Using a shallow depth of field caused the grass to look like a radiating energy force field. I could feel the energy emerge as I recorded the image.

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I Need a Little Brightness

Portland Japanese Gardens

Today is an overcast dark day.  I need a little brightness!  

Yesterday I visited the Portland Japanese Gardens.  Even though the day was overcast and a bit drizzly, the bright fall colors of this Japanese maple brightened the surroundings and captured my eye.  The fall color was past its prime.  But, there was still quite a bit of color patches.  I thought the gardens were beautiful and can just imagine what they were like during their prime color.  Next fall I will return during the peak.

P.S.  I was practicing working with light and found this brilliant reflection.

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