Tag Archives: winter

Ready for a Barbecue?

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“It Is Not Time Yet”
Heatherwood Patio

It is not time yet to go out to the fire pit and have a hotdog/marshmallow roast. We now have about 15-18 inches of snow here in Eastern Washington. The high level of snowfall has created a lot of work in our Heatherwood garden. While the plants are resting we still need to shovel and plow snow from our driveway, upper patio, and side walks. We also need to sweep the heavy snow off the drooping branches of our juniper and cypress trees (we have over 70 of them). That keeps up pretty busy.

These snow and cold winter months are a good time to sit back and contemplate how we want to see our Heatherwood garden develop over the coming years. It is a time to read and look at books, magazines, and the internet to get new ideas. It is a time to visualize what can be and start planning projects for the coming year. And on nice days, it is a gift just to walk around the garden and enjoy its winter beauty.

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Winter Hat

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“Hokkeji in Snow”
Heatherwood Japanese Garden

Our Hokkeji Japanese Lantern with its winter hat welcomes us into Heatherwood’s snow covered garden. A crabapple with its winter apples provides a little red tone in the background. As the apples soften, they will provide winter food for the local birds.

Our winter garden work has stopped for a while. It is time to take a little rest and just enjoy the garden as it is. Now we are planning for our 2022 landscape projects. Ideas flash through our minds as we envision the evolution of the garden. The start of planting season is just three months away.

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Back to Reality

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“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.

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Brrrr!

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“Frozen”
Heatherwood Japanese Garden

Brrr … We are ending the year with an arctic blast! The temperatures are dropping into the single digits and the highs are hovering around 20 degrees. This year, I have left one of our two waterfalls running into the pond to keep the pond aerated for the fish. A side benefit is a beautiful water-ice feature to accent our winter Japanese garden landscape.

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Sunburst

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“Autumn Joy Sedum and Blue Fescue”
Heatherwood Meadow – Winter

I started my daily walk down to our Heatherwood meadow. I looked down and there my image was. I saw a burst of golden rays radiating out from a spent Autumn Joy sedum. My imagination flew as I visualized the morning sun bursting out over a grove of trees on a hillside ridge. What a great way to start a morning stroll.

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Layered

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“Layered”
Heatherwood Meadow

Heatherwood’s meadow plantings have been designed to produce layers of color and texture interest throughout the year. The above winter vignette is composed of yarrow, rudbeckia, penstemon, and ornamental grasses. They provide varying shades of brown, textures, and shapes creating beautiful winter interest.

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Peeking Through

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“Merging Together”
Heatherwood Winter

A telephoto lens can create a little magic. In the above image, a 200mm lens compresses a 150 foot scene into a single plane. The foreground blue spruce looks like it is right next to birch trees that are 150 ft behind the spruce. I’ve walked past this area many times without seeing the juxtaposition of the various trees merging together. The combination of a blue spruce, two Lebanon cedars, and three birch trees with highlights of white snow, and yellow grasses and shrub creates an interesting little vignette.

I see something new every time I take a stroll through Heatherwood. What new scene will I see today?

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A Walk in the Winter Garden

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“Edge of Cherry Allee”
Heatherwood Winter

The weather Is about to drop down into the teens this week. I decided to take a long stroll through our winter garden while it was comfortable. The bright yellow of the yellow twig dogwood shrubs contrast nicely with the red of the cherry tree bark. The base of the yellow twigs are surrounded by red berginias. In the summer the green foliage of the dogwoods will fill-in against the trunks of the cherries. Coupled with the canopy of the cherries, they will form a border to frame the bright colored perennials in the cherry allee.

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Merry Christmas!

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“Early Winter Snow”
Heatherwood Winter

We are thankful for the gift of a little pre-Christmas snow that helped us get into a peaceful Christmas spirit. The natural setting here at Heather wood allows us to relax and enjoy the wonderful gifts that our Lord has given us.

As I stroll in the winter garden, I reflect on the many happy Christmases I have had throughout my life. They started up at the Ranch in Selah, WA for my early childhood years. They continued at our Hillcrest house overlooking Selah during my adolescence and college years. Karen and I enjoyed Christmases in Richland, Seattle, Bothell, Washington DC, Kent, Woodinville, and Fountainville, PA as my career took me back and forth across the country. And now Mary and I are spending our golden years in our Heatherwood garden back in Selah.

The Christmas season, even with all its hustle and bustle, is an occasion where we all need to take the time to be at peace, reflect on our lives and be thankful for what is most important to us and all that our Lord has given us.

Merry Christmas!

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Simple Pleasures

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“Walk Through the Garden”
Heatherwood Winter

The simple pleasure of walking through our Heatherwood garden is something I do almost every day. Sometimes the walk is just a few minutes, other times hours go by before I come in. The garden is in its infancy, but little vignettes like the one above, make each stroll a new experience.

During the busy Holiday season it is easy to get lost in all the hustle and bustle. I try my best to make sure I do not let the opportunities for little simple pleasures escape.

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