“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.
“Sedums and Grasses”
Heatherwood Winter
Simple patterns portray simple beauty. Simple little vignettes are scattered throughout Heatherwood’s gardens. My challenge is, “Which one do I pick to photograph today?”
“As the Mist Lifted”
Heatherwood View
For the last several days, the valley below our home has been filled with fog, obscuring the bucolic snow covered hills to the south. Yesterday as the fog mist lifted, it left an etherial view of the hillside. It was a calm, peaceful way to start the day.
“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.
“Winter Garden in Fog”
Heatherwood Winter
The fog rolled in and left Heatherwood engulfed in a hazy mist. Hoar frost ice crystals formed on the tips of the plants. It was like a winter wonderland. I grabbed my camera and off I went!
Even on a dreary dark winter day, our garden is a place full of nature’s little gifts. Every time I go out, I see a different perspective of something I have passed a hundred times before. It catches my attention and interest and begs me to try to create an appropriate image. Last year I took over 36,000 images of our Heatherwood garden (not including photos on my iPhone)! I have just completed my 2021 garden highlights selections of about 360 images (1percent). My resolution for this year is to be a little bit more selective. I don’t know if that will work because another resolution is to experiment more and be more creative. It will be a balance.
“Selah Ridge and 1890’s Flume”
Heatherwood Winter
Our historic irrigation flume is no more. It saddens my heart. This week a construction crew started tearing down the flume to convert our irrigation source to a buried pipeline. One of the first things that attracted me to this location was the surrounding ridge and the historic irrigation flume background. Over the six years that I have lived here, there is hardly a day that goes by that I do not gaze upon the hill and flume. I start each day in my office, writing in my journal. I always turn to look out my window over the Heatherwood landscape and up to the flume and ridge. From our living room we look out over the patio again to the ridge and the flume above.
As we designed and developed our Heatherwood landscape, we created multiple view windows that framed the flume and ridge. Several of our garden “sitting rooms” faced the hills and flume. It was a wonderful “borrowed” background for Heatherwood.
Now the above portion of the flume is gone. We were lucky enough to talk the contractor into salvaging a small portion of the flume and bringing it down to our property. We will carefully place it and build a special garden around it. It will be a little remembrance of the area’s history and the special image of the wonderful background that use to be.
“Winter View from the Perch”
Heatherwood Japanese Garden
Standing above our stream and waterfalls gives me a wide perspective of our Japanese garden below. It is very quiet and peaceful up here now that the main stream has been shut down for its winter rest. When I am up here, my mind wanders from enjoying the openness of the wide perspective to focusing on little vignettes and details. Many times I lose track of time as I peacefully dream over the landscape. Winter snow adds a whole different feeling.
“Meadow Grasses & Perennials”
Heatherwood Meadow
The golden brown stalks of our ornamental grasses blew gently in the breeze during a recent snowfall. Their motion inhibited light powdery snow from sticking to stalk heads. In contrast the stiffer stalks of the spent rudbeckia reduce motion and allow snow to build up on the flower heads. The various textures and different shades of brown caught my eye as I walked through the meadow. There is always something to see during my strolls.
A recent heavy snowfall has matted down many of the grasses. Many of the stalks now lay on the ground.
“Lebanon Cedars”
Heatherwood Winter
Everything just seemed to come together when I created this image. The morning mist had lifted for a clear view of the sky and hillside above Heatherwood. Blue sky peeked out behind puffy white clouds. The sunlight was filtered creating soft shadows across the landscape. The “Pretty Picture” was just waiting to be created.
This image was taken from the roadside leading up to our home. One of our design criteria was to provide view windows across Heatherwood for walkers along the road. This is one of those views.
“Chief Joseph in Snow”
Heatherwood Winter
In yesterday’s post I said that I needed a change from the winter weather and reflected back to warmer times early last fall. Now realism has set in, and I have to get my snow shovel out and clear out the snow. But putting first things first, I had to go out and take a walk around the garden with my camera.
One of the first things I saw was the star of our winter garden. Most of our colorful perennials and shrubs were covered with snow, but our reliable Chief Joseph lodgepole pines still stood out in the winter landscape. They set the stage for the rest of the garden.