Tag Archives: snow

What?

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“Daffies in Snow”
Heatherwood Crabapple Grove

What is going on? A week ago it was beautiful spring weather. Spring buds were bursting open. This week it snowed. The snow melted, then it snowed again. It started to melt once more. Now the forecast is for more snow.

I think nature is trying to tell me that it is not time to plant yet. This crazy week has caused us to delay our spring planting for a week. It is hard to adjust the irrigation sprinkler system when the lines and drippers are covered with snow.

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Spring or Winter?

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“Spring Snowfall and Cherry Blossoms”
Heatherwood Spring

Just when I was getting ready to go outside and work in the garden, the skies darkened and this funny white stuff started to fall again. This time it was with big snowflakes. Is it spring or is it winter? This flash of winter-like weather has many orchardists in our area very worried. It is occurring at a time when the new buds are emerging. They are cautiously checking for any frost damage potential to this year’s crop. More snow and below freezing is forecast for the balance of the week. I am considering delaying the start date for my spring planting for a week or so.

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Change in Plans!

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“Spring Snow Dusting on Daffodils”
Heatherwood Spring

My plans for the day were to get down on my hands and knees and adjust our irrigation sprinklers. Surprise, not today! The snow is scheduled to turn to rain this afternoon. Maybe tomorrow we will be able to work on the sprinklers. Our plants for our spring project arrive on Friday. We hope to start planting next Monday!

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Winter Beauty – 8

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“Limelight Hydrangea and Yellow -Twig Dogwood”
Heatherwoood Winter

One of my favorite winter vignettes in the garden is the combination of the spent hydrangea flower heads and the yellow branches of the yellow-twig dogwood along the cherry allee. In the summer the view is quite different with the white flowers of the limelight hydrangeas contrasting with the bright green leaves of the yellow-twig dogwoods. Multi-season interest is one of the highlights of Heatherwood.

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Winter Beauty – 7

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“Wireless Zelkova and Meadow”
Heatherwood Winter

This tree is one of a pair of Wireless Zelkovas that frame a neck of grass which connects two of our larger lawn areas. This one anchors the meadow, and its twin sister anchors the crabapple grove. Together, some day in the future, they will form an arch over the lawn path.

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Winter Beauty – 6

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“Stick Trees”
Heatherwood Winter

Sometimes beauty is in simple peace. This is the feeling that I had as I stood at the entrance to the center circle planting area of our lower garden. The simple forms of the grasses aligning the path and the background trees in our and our neighbor’s gardens beckoned me to walk in and enjoy the peaceful setting.

Here’s the story behind the image’s title, “Stick Trees.” A very close friend of ours had spent all her early years in the Northwest where the natural vegetation is an abundance of tall beautiful evergreens. She got married and the first thing she and her husband did was to move to a woodland area in New Jersey in the middle of winter. When they arrived, she was very disappointed as she exclaimed that their woodland area was only “stick trees”. They did not stay there very long and soon moved back to Seattle and the tall evergreens, where they have happily lived ever after.

Whenever I see a grouping of deciduous trees without their leaves, I think of her.

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Winter Beauty – 5

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“Cherry Allee Edge”
Heatherwood Winter

As I look down the edge of the Cherry Allee, I see the red of the cherry tree bark contrasting with the yellow bark of the yellow twig dogwoods. In the summer the leaves of the dogwoods extend up to the lower branches of the cherries. In a couple of years foliage of the trees and shrubs will form a natural wall framing the sides of the perennial plantings. As the cherry trees mature, they will form an archway over the center plantings.

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Before the Fog

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“Winter Morning Glow”
Heatherwood Winter

We have many wonderfully beautiful sunrises during the winter months at Heatherwood. We typically have low hanging clouds on the horizon. The pink skies radiate off the crisp winter snow. The color was spectacular. I looked up from my office desk and saw the sun just breaking over the cloud and fog covered horizon. I quickly grabbed my camera and went out to the patio in my slippers and tried to catch the sunrise on the distant hills. A few minutes later I looked down to our garden and saw this brilliant pink color reflecting off the snow. The fog was rolling in but had not reached the upper part of our garden yet. I was extremely lucky to have this little vignette right in front of me. Thank YOU!

This image was created about 1 hour prior to the image on my previous post. I could see the fog rolling up the hill until it totally encased our garden. As quickly as it rolled in it receded leaving a tell-tale trail of hoar frost.

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