Tag Archives: snow

Fall Glory

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Japanese Garden Entry
Heatherwood Fall

I started the day walking into the garden with my garden tools. I was planning on doing a little work. I did not get very far. The sun softly peeked through the light cloud cover. The colors of the garden were gorgeous. I turned around, put my tools away, and grabbed my camera. Three hours later I came in for lunch.

I have been working on our garden for ten years now. Our efforts are gradually taking effect. I had pretty much a clean slate to work with. For the first three years, this hillside was just a green lawn. In 2019, we tackled this area and started to create a Japanese inspired garden. Six years later most of this upper area is covered with maples, conifers, and ground covers. We sit back and enjoy just watching the area mature. As the conifers get larger and produce more shade, there will be room for a few more Japanese maples who are less tolerant to the bright eastern Washington sun.

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Goodbye … I hope

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Snow on the Shrubs
Heatherwood Winter

During the last couple of weeks we have had three snowfalls. Each one has been fairly light. They have rapidly melted as the temperatures have been in the mid 40’s. Next week the forecast is to be in the mid 50’s. I hope it will be goodbye to the snow for this season.

We will be starting our spring cleanup in our Heatherwood garden next week with pruning our red & yellow twig dogwoods and nine bark shrubs and cutting back our grasses and perennials. By mid-March, I hope to be carving out new paths and adding berms in the southwest portion of the property. My vision is to create a meandering path through a conifer display garden. The new plantings are targeted to begin in mid April when the irrigation is turned on. It will be a busy spring!

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New Year Snow

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Yukimi in Snow
Heatherwood Japanese Garden

A light snow turns Heatherwood into a winter wonderland. A light one-inch snow provided a garden treat on New Years Day. The snow was wet sticking to leaves and branches, creating several beautiful vignettes through the garden. I had a list of “to do’s” that I had set up to accomplish on New Years. But, I couldn’t pass the opportunity to walk though the garden with my camera. Those “to do’s” will just have to wait.

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A Foggy Mind Bears Fruit

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Hydrangeas in the Fog
Heatherwood Winter

Many times I wake up early in the morning and my mind is in a fog. It doesn’t worry me though. I close my eyes and think what is right about the world around me. I open my eyes and up pops an idea or thought that I can focus my day upon. It’s a much better way to start the day than brooding on something that is outside my influence.

I often use a similar technique when I photograph. I will be walking around with my camera enjoying the world around me. I feel good, but nothing is popping up that focuses my interest. I close my eyes and clear my mind. I open my eyes and just look around. Then there it is, something captures my eye and off I go!

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Late Fall vs Early Spring

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Woodland Path in Late Fall

Woodland Path in Early Spring

I love the four seasons. Above is one of the reasons. In early spring the red buds are bursting and the daffodils are blooming. Leaves on the woodland maples are just starting to emerge. Six months later, the leaves on the red buds have dropped and the leaves on the maples have turned brown and are just starting to drop. The foliage on the perennials have turned brown and are starting to die back. As winter moves in, the branches of the red and yellow twig dogwoods along with the red winterberries will provide winter color to the woodland.

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A Painting from the Woodland

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Snow-covered Maple Tree Leaves
Heatherwood Woodland

Our October Glory maples are one of the last trees to display their fall colors and to drop their leaves. The first two light snowfalls this year sprinkled the leaves with patches of white, leaving a beautiful woodland winter scene. Last year, an early heavy snowfall blanketed the branches with a layer of heavy snow. Several large branches bent over and broke, leaving large wholes in the tree’s shapes. This year, we have not seen any damage, yet!

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Winter Is Coming Early

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Winter Color
Heatherwood Lower Garden

Even when the ground is covered with snow, the color of Heatherwood shines through. This is one of my favorite intimate scenes in our lower garden. The bronze of the sawtooth oak, the red of the oak leaf hydrangeas, the yellow of the yellow-twig dogwood, the the grey-blue of the blue spruce, the purple-brown of the nine-bark, and the background orange and green highlight the winter garden.

This image was taken during our first snow about a week ago. Today we are getting our second snowfall of the season. It looks like it will be a big one. The good news is that I have my tractor back from its seasonal maintenance check up to plow the driveway. The bad news is that we have not put on our snow tires yet.

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