Photo/Illustration: Courtesy of Kathy Fink
Today’s photos are from Kathy Fink. She says, “These photos are of my yard in Arlington, Massachusetts, where I live atop a granite hill west of Boston. The first photo shows the view from my kitchen window in an afternoon in late July. The shapes of a pruned yew and dwarf ginnala maple by the hut contrast with the snowball hydrangea flopping with its heavy blooms. In the background, pruned barberry and forsythia provide a similar contrast to a small grove of trees. Hostas and Japanese forest grass mounds here and there echo the rounded, pruned shapes.
“To me, using pruned and natural forms in harmony like this says something about how we, ourselves, are part of nature. The yew takes on more importance in the garden in winter, as on the snow-less February day in the next two photos. Bare branches and melting snow provide their own harmonious shapes in the last photo.”
Beautiful, Kathy! And so nice to see snow in the middle of August.
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Comments
Kathy, I love your comment about using pruned and natural forms in harmony. I'm starting to experiment more along those lines.
Thanks for sharing.
My goodness, your artfully shaped yew is striking. How old is it and do you need to do a lot of grooming on it throughout the year and just some minor tweaking? Was it just a big old blob of yew when you first started your pruning effort on it?
Hi Kathy is that a Bonsai tree in the picture? If it is how does it survive the cold winter? Ellen from Georgia
Love pic #3 - the form is beautiful!! Not sure I'm ready for snow yet tho - lol
Thanks for your interest in the pruned yew. I started with a bush that had been pruned in the standard rounded form when we bought the house. To my delight I discovered it had great structure under the surface and it took about three years to get to the basic form you see now. Now I trim off any downward drooping growth and try to keep about this size. These are very hardy shrubs that can stand some shade and put out new growth all along their branches, so less risky if I get carried away. Kathy
Meander1, Our house was built in the 1930's but I have no way of knowing how long the Yew was there. Certainly it has been there for the 30 years we lived here.
The yew is pruned in Spring after the light green new growth is in mostly to trim out any hanging down new growth and to keep it the same size. The work is not arduous. If find it satisfying to keep the shape appealing.
This is lovely.
I especially like the third photo. So beautiful, misty, and above all else WET!
After three months with almost no rain at all, I keep seeing rainy pictures and feel like a man crawling through the desert seeing a mirage just ahead that I never reach.
I love the stonework, the japanese lanterns and basins, and the pruned shrubs/trees. A wonderful (but not slavish) nod to japanese gardening. Very tranquil.
Love, love, love the yew!
I'd guess that yew is as old as the house, probably planted by the first occupants. That looks to be a very interesting property with a lot of very mature plantings. I'd like to see that yew on a sunny day without shooting into that white structure. Thank you, Kathy.
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