“Hana Matoi”
Heatherwood Japanese Garden
Across the path from the Hokkoji, a Hana Matoi Japanese maple, captures our strollers eye. It is planted on the hillside and surrounded with rocks, ice plants, and thyme. The vignette created by the maple and ground covers can be seen from multiple spots through out the Japanese garden. It is one of the key focal points of interest. Below are a couple of highlights:
“Hill of Learning”
Heatherwood Japanese Garden
After being welcomed by the Hokkeji lantern, the “Hill of Learning” presents itself to the garden guest. Looking up the hill left of the gravel path, a stroller may notice two rock groupings. The one to the right is composed of five rocks following the informal path up the hill. The large one on the bottom represents a knowledge seeker. The other four symbolize steps on a never-ending path of learning. To the left of the informal path is another grouping of five rocks. The top rock represents a teacher while the other four symbolize students surrounding him/her.
I look out my office window to this hillside every morning as I make my journal entries. Often I daydream about how much I still have and want to learn about the world that surrounds me. The landscape looks a little sparse now, but over time we will fill in the voids to highlight the message from the rocks.
“Hokkeji Welcome”
Heatherwood Japanese Garden
A Hokkeji lantern welcomes our garden’s visitors with a glimpse of what is to come. A newly planted (2021) Japanese Pagoda tree and Akebono Flowering Cherry tree leads (and disguises) a walker around to a viewing area overlooking a pond and waterfall. The viewing area is surrounded by a mature linden tree and several young Japanese maples and a Japanese Stewartia. Over time these will provide a living enclosure around a peaceful viewing area.
“Japanese Garden Overview”
Heatherwood, Summer
Today’s post presents Heatherwood’s Japanese Garden mid-summer status. We have had some plant damage from the record high temperatures in June and July and the severe drought since March. But we are lucky to have an adequate supply of irrigation water. Overall, the garden has survived fairly well.
Five years ago when I moved in, this area was all green grass. That year I planted a single Japanese maple and an October Glory maple in the grass lawn area. The following year I started creating a small Japanese-style garden including additional Japanese maples and the foreground stone path and weeping white pine. Two years ago we removed the lawn and built the hillside garden, stream, and pond, and planted the Japanese garden foundation trees and shrubs. Last year we added ground cover and a few additional shrubs. This year we added several more structural trees, evergreen and deciduous shrubs, and additional ground cover. Most plants are taking hold and are growing to fill in the garden space.
We enjoy the garden every day as we stroll around it and inspect the changing growth of the vegetation. Many mornings, we sit in the garden with our morning cup of coffee and plan the day. Frequently we end the afternoon with a glass of wine sitting by the pond and looking up at the cascading water of the stream.
“Meadow Contrasts”
Heatherwood, Summer
This small meadow vignette is full of contrasts: disc-shaped yellow rudbeckia flowers, spike-shaped green grass, ball-shaped blue thistle, and reddish-purple penstemon. A soft diffuser filter helps blend them together.
Different vignettes like this abound in Heatherwood’s meadow. This is its second year and it has started to fill in rapidly. In a couple more years, it should be a solid mass of color, shapes, and textures.
“Meadow Pan #1”
Heatherwood, Summer
How many ways can I photograph our garden? So many times I walk through the garden and create images with just a little different perspective that what I have done so many time before. I photograph in monochrome, infrared, color, macro, wide-angle, underexpose, overexpose, HDR, on my stomach, up on a ladder, time lapse, long exposure, and on and on. Today’s challenge was to make images using a soft diffuser-type filter. For this image, I picked a section in our meadow that was full of summer color and did a gentle vertical pan.
“Woodland Garden Path”
Heatherwood, Summer
I am getting ready for an infrared photography workshop with Tony Sweet on Whidbey Island. I thought I needed to do a little practicing. In this section of Heatherwood, we are trying to create a woodland garden. It is a work in progress, and right now we have only small trees and a few “sun-loving” shrubs planted. The dark bark provides a striking contrast to the IR highlighted trees. In a few years, hopefully the ground will be covered with shrubs, ground cover, and shade-loving perennials. The envisioned garden path will provide the contrast needed for an IR image.
“Evening Shadows on the Palouse”
The Palouse, Washington
I visualize future waves of grain rolling across these Palouse hills. We have so much to be thankful for in this beautiful country of ours. Roaming around our country side, there is so much to celebrate. It helps me focus on what is right about the world as opposed to the day to day issues I see in the news. And, from this perspective it is much easier to face and address the challenges that we all have in front of us.
Today is a day to celebrate our Country’s Birthday, enjoy the moment, and focus on what is right about our World. Have a great 4th!
“Auntie Em’s House”
The Palouse, Washington
Straight from the “Wizard of Oz”, here’s Auntie Em’s house with tornado, dark skies and open farm land. How lucky could we get as the clouds formed an almost perfect tornado shape! THANK YOU!
“The Color Wheel”
Heatherwood Meadow
Some images are clearly best in Black & White. This is not one of them!!! This image of our Heatherwood meadow has all the colors of the color wheel. Testing myself, I could not come up with a color that is not represented. Two years ago when we designed the meadow, we actually used a color wheel as a tool to identify the perennials we would plant. We are fully enjoying the results of the effort.