Category: Garden, Growing Flowers

Planting flowering annuals and perennials in the landscape. New posts are Florida gardening with the hydrangeas and some others being from the north.

Hydrangeas at The End of Summer

pinky winky hydrangea
End of Summer Pinky Winky

It’s hard to believe that it is the end of summer now. I recently took some photos of the flowers remaining in bloom in the yard, and the Pinky Winky is one of the hydrangeas that still looks good.

Although the many deer that frequent my yard come to eat hydrangea buds and leaves, my Pinky Winky shrub still has flowers. They started white then began to show some light pink, and ended up dark pink with some white at the top. Some of the flowers are totally pink.

I think I will try to shape my hydrangeas better before they start blooming next year. This one could end up being a tall tree with the flowers standing upright out of the reach of deer maybe. Pruning will be an experiment, and hopefully I won’t mess up the plant so it won’t bloom. This year I let all my hydrangeas grow “wild” in any way they chose. It’s only their second year in my yard, so I didn’t want to mess with them too much. The Limelight plants are really long and droopy, but have loads of very pretty flowers. Those would do better if they were trimmed for next spring.

A Blue and A Lavender Flower

flowering hydrangea shrub
Endless Summer – Year 2

Last summer I planted this Endless Summer hydrangea variety in my front yard. This year it is larger and has bigger flowers. All flowers are blue except one which began as lavender and is now pink. You can see it in my photo here, on the right, lower side of the plant.

I guess my issue with this macrophylla type of plant is that the flowers are often hidden by the big leaves.  It’s also called a “big leaf” hydrangea.

The one with big white flowers is also hiding the beautiful blooms. I hope that in time, as the plants age and get stronger stems, that the flowers will show up better.

The plants are nice and healthy looking so I expect improvement each summer. This type will only be around 4 feet across. They don’t get really huge, to my knowledge.

The Big Leaf Hydrangea Variety

big hydrangea leaf blue flowers
Why It’s Named “Big Leaf”

The macrophylla hydrangea variety is also known as “big leaf” and I’m adding a photo here of my Endless Summer to show you the size of the leaves. This blue flowering plant is doing quite well.

The other macrophylla I have is Blushing Bride and it’s also blooming, but in white. It is also full of big, green leaves like this one. I’m hoping that as the plants mature, the flowers will show up better in stead of being hidden among the greenery.

The blue one has one big bloom on top which is slowing fading to lavender. And it has a small flower on the side which began as light lavender and is now changing to pink.

Go here to read more posts about the macrophylla hydrangea.

My Blue, Endless Summer Hydrangea is Blooming!

blue hydrangeas
My Endless Summer

My blue hydrangea bush is blooming and I want to share my pictures.

I went away on a little vacation a couple of weeks ago and when I returned, I found that my gardens were producing some flowers! And my Endless Summer, blue hydrangea had little flowers.

I’m always eager to see the color of the hydrangea flowers, and I had only grown them for one year previously, so I hoped they would be that same pretty blue. And they are! The bloom in my picture here is so lovely. I will be using it for some new stationery at my BlueHyd store.

In the mean time, I am taking the best photos and making posters to sell at the Zazzle store. I’ve enlarged the images so they will look fine as large size prints.  Just need to get them made.

Yes, Blooms This Year! Bearded Iris in Blue and White

This is the first time I have seen flowers on my blue and white bearded iris. It was planted about 2 years ago by me. Last summer there were lots of leaves, but no blooms. Seeing the stalk shoot up from those tall, flat leaves and end up with four buds, was very exciting for me! And it’s a beauty…

blue and white bearded iris
Iris in the Garden

Bearded iris are a perennial plant which I don’t know much about. I think they will multiply on their own as I’ve seen big gardens full of iris. I got a few pictures of this first flower, but the rain has kept me indoors and the other bud has opened as well.

I used this photo to show how to remove something from a photo using a graphic program. That piece of garden hose to the right in the photo is what I wanted gone. Read that post here.

June Hydrangeas – Buds Are Forming

hydrangea bud
Bud on Endless Summer – Will Be Blue

It’s the beginning of June and the hydrangea buds are beginning to form on my mophead varieties. The paniculatas are full of leaves, but no buds yet. Last year this plant had very pretty, light blue flowers which I used to create some nice wedding stationery in the design set I named “Blue Heaven“. You can see the RSVP postcard below. I hope the flowers will be just as pretty this year, but the truth is, you never know for sure what color blooms the macrophyllas will have.

Last year the Blushing Bride began with white flowers that ended up turning green. I am wondering what color they will be this summer.

Brides tend to prefer either the blue flowers or the light green of the panicled (or elongated) flowers like the ones that grow on the Limelight bush.

Blue Heaven Hydrangea Wedding Reply Postcard

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