Zafiro, Valley Cushion, and Red/Yellow Twig Dogwoods
Heatherwood, Winter
The combination of evergreens, ornamental grasses, and deciduous shrubs provide winter color and contrast to our Heatherwood garden. The blue, tight needled, Zafiro blue spruce and the green Valley Cushion mugo pine coupled with the yellow and red twig dogwoods and beige ornamental grasses create a colorful and textured contrast to this little vignette.
Red and Yellow Twig Dogwoods
Heatherwood Woodland Garden
Today I took a two hour stroll through our garden with my camera. With one month left in winter, I decided to focus on the winter garden highlights throughout Heatherwood. Throughout the woodland area we have planted red and yellow twig dogwoods. They provide an understory of winter color. Winterberry and mahonia (not show in the above image) provide additional winter color in other spots in the woodland.
Color in the Woodland
Heatherwood Woodland Garden
Heatherwood’s woodland is slowly maturing. Four years ago this area was a grass covered lawn. We first started converting the lawn by removing the grass and planting about 30 trees. Some were tall canopy trees others were understory trees. We then started adding shrubs and ground covers. Now the woodland is starting to take shape.
Throughout the woodland garden area, we added deciduous shrubs and trees that are characterized by their winter color. This scene is highlighted by the reds and yellows of red and yellow twig dogwoods and white bark of viburnums and redbuds framed by the bronze leaves of a scarlet oak. At the bend of the garden path sits an Adirondack settee, one of our favorite spots for a morning cup of coffee or an afternoon sip of wine.
“Daffodils and Red Twig Dogwoods”
Heatherwood Spring
This is one of my favorite early spring vignettes. The view is looking through our crabapple grove to a wall of Spartan junipers in the background. In the mid ground are the brilliant winter red twig dogwoods. In the foreground are drifts of yellow daffodils. Any day now they should burst out in their yellow blooms. As the daffodils fade, the crabapples start to bloom. Then soon after, the leaves emerge on the dogwoods. We have a continuous change of spring color in this part of our Heatherwood garden. We are still looking for a solution to cover the ground after the daffodils die back.
“Emerging Daffodils”
Heatherwood Crabapple Grove
Here come the daffodils, finally! They are emerging two to three weeks later than last year. The cold snap we had in late February has held back our spring outburst of new growth and color.
We are still searching for the right plants to carpet the floor of Heatherwood’s crabapple grove after the daffodils bloom and their foliage dies back.
“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!
“Yellow and Red Twig Dogwoods”
Heatherwood Winter
Friday morning we woke up to 3 inches of snow. By Saturday afternoon the snow had melted. The sun came out and the winter colors beamed.
“Yellow and Red Twig Dogwoods”
Heatherwood Winter
Late afternoon sun spreads a warm glow across our winter Heatherwood garden. The bright yellows and reds of the yellow and red twig dogwoods are the stars of this image. The golden grasses provide a layer of contrast with the red twigs as the blue spruces in the background add a little color contrast.
“Looking Through Red Twig Dogwoods”
Heatherwood Winter Garden
Walking around the lower garden, I look up the hill through the red twig dogwoods and see the winter colors of the rock garden. The greens and oranges of the ground covers, the yellows, greens, and blues of the conifers, and the straw color of the grasses brighten up a winter day. Just a month ago, the ground was covered with snow.
“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.