Hydrangeas in September, wow!

You may recall my disappointment over no beautiful hydrangea blooms this Summer.  

This was due in part to lousy weather conditions, plus the fact we had to prune

 these two shrubs to the ground last Autumn when re-siding/painting the cottage.

 They did grow back to several feet in height and a Summer season with just

 green leaves was OK - gave the front porch a feeling of coolness on those

 awful hot, dry days. . . . . . . . but how I missed the always lovely blue blooms.

So where did these come from?

Arriving home Tuesday I was amazed to see several gorgeous very blue heads

 being enjoyed by fat bumble bees, and certainly brightening up the fading

 early Autumn garden.

It was almost as if Hurricane Florence left us a gift among the mess of fallen 

branches, twigs, acorns and leaves.

Later I'll probably cut these for a vase then allow them to dry naturally for a

 little muted color over the Winter months. 

Yesterday we spent hours cleaning up the garden, mowing, blowing, pruning, 

weeding, cleaning and refilling birth baths and feeders. It was hot and sticky.

Today I'm off to renew my driver's license - look for some pots of chrysanthemums

for a small Autumn front entry display - and pick up some odds and ends at the

grocery store.

Traveling is always wonderful but coming home again is even better!

Rain, rain, rain and hydrangeas. . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . but not all is bad!

This week's stormy weather has been bad - the humidity

has just about done us in. It remains hot here. 

Garden chores have been put on hold as everything is totally sodden.

More storms later today but the forecast shows some sun

tomorrow then more storms Saturday.

Next week may be close to perfect, so I'm

watching and waiting, and of course enjoying the 

floral offerings made possible by the rains of May. 

 Blooms today on the shrub in the side garden by the birdhouse.

Summer 2016

I will have very few flowers on these two Nikko Blue hydrangeas in front of 

the porch this summer - they were cut down to the ground when the cottage was

re-sided and painted last fall. Next year hopefully they'll be blooming as they 

always have. . . . . they've put on good healthy growth over the past month with
 so much rain as you can see below.

Are you growing hydrangeas?
They can certainly be showstoppers in a garden.
Moisture, via rain or hand watering, is important - they are thirsty shrubs 
and prefer part-shade, although I must admit most of my plants are in full sun.
By afternoon on hot days the leaves curl and they look a bit downtrodden,
 but by early evening they stand to attention again!
They are my favorite shrub and I love to gather the blooms in autumn 
for drying and using in the cottage.

As we move into June our gardens should be lovely.
Here's to a wonderful weekend dear readers.