Tag Archives: Ornamental Grasses

Winter Garden #2

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Midwinter Fire Dogwoods
Heatherwood, South Bed

The south planting bed separates Heatherwood from our neighbor’s yard. To maintain our neighbor’s view of the surrounding hills, we have planted a combination of various dogwood shrubs and ornamental grasses. The midwinter fire dogwoods provide an orange highlight along the border. They are grouped together with other yellow and yellow twig dogwoods. Together with the ornamental grasses, they provide both our neighbor and ourselves an attractive winter scene.

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Surprise On the Left

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“Trimmed Grass-Lined Path”
Heatherwood, Early Spring

This little s-curve leads a walker from Heatherwood’s central meadow area to an open grass area with a woodland area in the background. When one starts on the path they do not have an idea of what is around the bend. As they move through the corner, the view opens up to a conifer lined path framing the lawn and the woodland. Surprise!

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Still Holding Its Head Up High

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“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.

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Winter Walk #11

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“Winter Grasses and Perennials”
Heatherwood Winter

Sometimes it is not color that captures my interest. This vignette portrays the primary contrast of tones and textures. The layers of yarrow and rudbeckia in the front and sides along with the Russian sage in the back surround the grasses in the center. Soon this vignette will be gone. Within the next week or so, we will be cutting back the perennials and grasses and cleaning the beds to prepare for the surge of spring growth.

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Winter Walk #5

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“Center Pathway & Redtwigs”
Heatherwood Winter

Grass “pom poms” frame the sides of a curving path leading from our lower garden center circle to the side lawn and woodland, Redtwig dogwoods, ninebarks, and junipers separate the garden path from the meadow. There is a surprise around the corner.

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Winter Meadow Textures

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“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.

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The Grasses No Longer Flutter in the Wind

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“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.

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Adios Until Next Fall!

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“Last Year’s Grasses”
Heatherwood Meadow

By the time this post is published, this clump of grasses will be gone. They are saying goodbye until next autumn. We have held off cutting the grasses down through the winter. They have provided seeds for the birds and interesting visual textures for us to enjoy. We enjoy watching them flow through the winter winds as well as visualizing the interesting shapes they form when laden with snow.

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Winter Beauty – 1

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“Meadow Grasses”
Heatherwood Winter

During the next several posts, I will present various images of Heatherwood’s winter beauty. Even on a cloudy dreary day the contrasts of the golden grasses against the snow and dark background trees and foreground spent perennials create a beauty of their own.

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