Heronswood Biodiversity Audit
(06.30.20)
A GARDEN NEEDS HEROES
Y’know, I’d like a sidekick. Now, I’m not actually thinking of a person who’d just tag along and act as my own shadow, but an entirely different organism. Gardening is often a sweaty task, especially …
Onwards and Upwards; Horse Chestnuts
When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade, and Heronswood has been learning to love lemonade. We’ve had some difficult months with greatly reduced staff and few or our excellent volunteers on hand. With the garden closed, we’ve also missed …
Heronswood Biodiversity Audit
(06.14.20)
OF BUGS AND BATS
Days are becoming longer as the solstice approaches, and with additional light, plants are able to grow to their chloroplasts’ content. Long days also bring greater warmth, yet night does eventually come to blanket the …
Insignis and in Health
From the Mountains of Vietnam to Kitsap Peninsula
The mild climate of the maritime Pacific Northwest provides ideal growing conditions for a significant assemblage of species in the genus Magnolia. Heronswood Garden boasts a respectable- and growing- collection, both deciduous …
Local Talent
At Heronswood, we tend to look toward distant horizons. Our plant collections contain exciting species from around the world, Tasmania to Turkey, Myanmar to Mexico, Chile to China. And yet, the Pacific Northwest, and Washington State in particular, has much …
Warp and Weave
Troubling the Star
It seems at times, as of lately, that some terrible mistake has occurred in the laboratory and a mixture of chemicals never intended to meet have met. There is a general roil to simply living at the …
Quadrophilia
The word “quarantine” has been around for centuries, but now joins our current lexicon of coronavirus catchphrases: social distancing, flattening the curve, new normal, PPE, home schooling (should that be hyphenated? Not sure, ask the kids). Its origins trace back …
Keeping It Green
This week’s wander through Heronswood’s horticultural delights will focus on green flowers and is not, as the title suggests, a homage to a well-known and much respected local nursery. Green flowers have fascinated me since childhood, in part because my …
Seasonal Liturgy
Rites of Spring
When I was a few years younger, and traveled a great deal more, I spent a considerable amount of my life in Japan. Habitually, for no other reason than familiarity with the rail system and an inexpensive …
Heronswood Biodiversity Audit
(05.03.20)
A SLIME OF PASSION
There is no shortage of plants at Heronswood to appreciate for one reason or another. Luscious camellia flowers bloom from winter into spring, shady beds of full hosta leaves cradle water droplets by summer, and …
Arcadia
Seeking the Ideal
How we wish to believe that an ideal exists, the garden of our minds, accurate and precise. It rains at night, just so softly, yet still it soaks the earth. Varmints live off weeds that are rarely …
Heronswood Biodiversity Audit
(04.26.20)
CELEBRATING SALAMANDERS
When I reminisce of moments from my childhood, I often return to time spent in the backyard woods of the Midwest, poking around under decomposing logs or flat rocks in a shallow stream bed. Discovering what was …
Pollen; The Agony and the Ecstasy
The Mystery, Miracle and Misery of Palynologenics
Above all else, know thine enemy. As you sneeze and hack through a cloying cloud of gilded vexation, take a moment to marvel in the science of palynology. The study of pollen has …
Gardening in Place; Dire Measures for Dramatic Times
An Opportunity for Draconian Measures
One of the most liberating aspects of moving from our home at Heronswood to our own private garden in Indianola in 2004 was the ability to change the direction of our garden at the drop …
Heronswood Biodiversity Audit
(04.21.20)
WOODPECKERS of NORTH KITSAP
Art often imitates life, and when it comes to music, we have nature to thank for inspiration of delightful melodies. If the Pacific tree frog of which I waxed poetic in a previous article for …
Heronswood Biodiversity Audit
(04.14.20)
LOCAL BUTTERFLIES of EARLY SPRING – Part II
There are certainly larger butterflies to observe in early to mid-spring, and the most common among them are from the Brushfoot family (Nymphalidae), notably the Tortoiseshells (Aglais and Nymphalis genera), and …
Pink Moons and Spring Diversions
The Garden, at Last, Through the Lens
As we all are quite aware, trying to get from point A to point B and then on to C in a garden during the spring takes herculean efforts. In a span of …
Heronswood Biodiversity Audit
(04.07.20)
LOCAL BUTTERFLIES of EARLY SPRING – Part I
I consider myself a horticulturist, and in the grand scheme of classifying professions, this title falls under the umbrella of science. Saying the word “science” to many people might immediately prompt …
Heronswood Biodiversity Audit
(04.04.20)
PACIFIC TREE FROG / PACIFIC CHORUS FROG (Pseudacris regilla)
For gardeners in the Pacific Northwest, spring holds much promise of potential. All the toils from the season prior are now eagerly anticipated as daylight arrives earlier and brings with …
On Shy Days, A Generous Gift
A Season of Giving
It remains a pity that so many of the treasures found in our collection at Heronswood come into their finest after the garden has closed for the year. Of those that shine brightest in mid-November through …
