We found a snow Haiku in honor of the first snow

first snow --
begins in the darkness
ends in the darkness

-NOZAWA Setsuko (1920-1995)

Bonsai Tour with Val Easton

Val Easton is a freelance horticulture writer of many important books on NW gardening and contributed greatly to our local and national understanding of plants. I had the good fortune recently of dragging her along on a bonsai safari through Beacon Hill. In the photo above we are debating whether that shrub is in the shape of a duck or some other unidentifiable object.

I hope she had as much fun as I had and at the very least I think she got a good sampling of the funky shrubbery that Beacon Hill has to offer. She is working on a piece about Beacon Hill's unusual shrubbery for the Seattle Times Pacific Northwest Magazine that will be coming out in a few weeks so hopefully our neighborhood will get some well deserved recognition for our unconventional yards.

Bonsai Donut

Sadly, I didn't even notice this one at first. I was so enamored of the modernist forms of these well shaped shrubs contrasted against the classically mid century modernist architecture that I didn't even notice that one of them was actually a doughnut shape until someone pointed it out to me! Check out the detail image.