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.

The Green Flowers of the Limelight Hydrangea

Hydrangea paniculata
Image via Wikipedia

The Limelight hydrangea (paniculata) is popular for it’s size and stunning, large white flowers that become light green.  The shrub will grow to be very large (8-9 feet tall and can be pruned into a tree) and the blooms last from mid-summer through Fall when the flowers may change color becoming pinkish.

The best thing about hydrangeas, besides their huge flowers, color variety (as if that wasn’t enough!) is their long lasting blooms.  Does any other flower last as long?  I can’t think of one.  And then in fall, the flowers can be dried to last all winter.  Show me something better!

I don’t know much about the limelight hydrangea, so I am finding out.

  • It is hardy in zones 3-8
  • Very hardy and can withstand drought conditions once established
  • Flower color can’t be changed by soil amendments
  • Flowers are held upright on the end of stems (no dragging on the ground)
  • Flowers bloom on new wood
  • Likes sun or part shade

See some photos and read more at this site.

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Perennial Flowers That Like Shade

Astilbe koblenz
Image via Wikipedia – Astilbe koblenz

I’d like to write about tall perennials that like shade, but I haven’t come across any. 

The best flower for shade is the astilbe (shown).  It has pretty leaves and shoots up tall, colorful and feathery-looking flowers.  It is available in many colors and I especially love the white.  But the flowers are tall and not necessarily the actual plant.

Other Shade-loving Perennials

Hostas are also well known as shade loving plants, but they grow close to the ground with tall shoots that hold their tiny flowers. This is a little “mouse ear” Hosta I planted.

mouse ear hosta plant
Mouse Ear Hosta

Another favorite for the shade is the bleeding heart.

Bleeding heart plant
Bleeding heart plant

Of course many hydrangeas can do well in partly shaded locations and I plan to try some in my front yard (New Hampshire).  The truth is that most flowering plants need a lot of sun to look good, but arranging the plants I have mentioned here in a grouping beneath trees, or in any shaded area, can be beautiful as well.

Planning a Garden Landscape That Includes Hydrangeas

Most people love to see a variety of color in a flower garden.  Along with the mix of sizes and shapes of shrubbery, getting colors to pop and draw the eye to a visual treat is most important.

This is not easy to do and you must know a bit about every type of flower being grown. Flower garden landscape design is very interesting.

(All photos on this page are courtesy of Pixabay.)

Cottage garden landscape with blooming flowers of all colors and sizes

Monarda, or Bee Balm, plants have tall, brightly colored flowers that attract bees.

monarda bee balm flower bright pink red

Hydrangeas can stand alone and be wonderful, but imagine them as the focal point in a diverse garden setting. 

When planting a tiered garden, with taller shrubs in the back, let hydrangeas be the mid-level plant (buy a type that doesn’t get super tall), with short annuals or perennials in front. 

garden path flowering landscape shrubs
Beautiful garden path

A word of caution about Monarda – it spreads, so if you don’t want it growing all over, plant it in a big pot to keep the roots contained.

tall flowering monarda bush with bright pink flowers
This Monarda was growing in my yard in New England

I also like the idea of adding interesting grasses beneath the hydrangea, but be careful you don’t disturb the roots and remember that the more you plant the more water the plants will drink.

Cosmos

Dainty, waving cosmos flowers are a wonderful addition to any garden. Their pink and white colors would offset a blue hydrangea nicely.

It will depend on where you live as to what you can plant. I now live in Florida so my one hydrangea plant grows beneath a large shrub near other tropical plantings.

Florida hydrangea garden perennial Spring
Hydrangea growing in my Florida yard

Planting a Garden In Tiers: Flowering Perennials For the Middle Section

I picture a tiered garden in three sections.  The tall, back section which will be the backdrop for the rest of the garden flowers;  the front area which will hold the ground cover plants and low growing annuals and / or perennials;  and the middle section which holds everything else!

It would be a bit more organized that a cottage garden where things of all sizes grow amongst each other.

flower garden landscape design

Filling in the central part of the garden may be the easiest task since finding perennials that are average in height may be the easiest.  Not only that, but mixing in a few taller varieties here is also okay. 

The middle area is a good place to add medium size hydrangeas or some day lilies. 

white flowering hydrangea
Blushing Bride white hydrangea (macrophylla)

Depending on how large your garden will be, or is, adding a central focal point such as a compact tree or larger bush would be a good idea.  I’ve never used tall, ornamental grass, but it can add character to the garden too.

Choose some type of garden ornament or giant pot to be the garden focal point or to add interest.

garden ornaments ornamental design focal point
Ornamental pots can be a garden focal point

The middle section could have some peonies (another favorite of mine) and stand alone asiatic lilies to add varying colors.  If you love roses, they could be planted in the middle section.

Just keep in mind the different needs of plants when you mix together a tiered garden, or any garden.  Roses need loads of sun, and good air circulation around their leaves.  They also need to be fertilized regularly.

When planting your tiered garden be sure to give everything room to grow.  It may look a little sparse the first year or two, but it can be filled in with annuals until the perennials grow up.

Pink and Cream Dried Hydrangea Bouquet

dried hydrangeas
Pretty Little Dried Bouquet

This little pink and white – or cream colored – bouquet of hydrangeas came from a shrub that was planted out near the woods in a house I once owned.

When I first moved to the northeastern U.S. from Florida, I didn’t know much about hydrangeas, or many northern flowering shrubs to be truthful. My new home had some very interesting and beautiful plantings, and I decided to find out what was growing in my yard.

Fortunately my next door neighbor was a big-time gardener himself, and his house was about 200 years old with huge flowering bushes growing all along the side of his yard. He came over and pointed out the Lilacs, hydrangeas and others for me, and between his help and visiting local nurseries, I finally figured out what I had.

The little hydrangea “tree” was (I think) a PeeGee and in the Fall the white flowers turned tan, cream and light mauve pink. So pretty! I cut a few and added them to a little vase and got a photo.

This little shrub was doing quite well neglected and tucked under a pine tree at the edge of the woods, so I might try growing one this year in my new, not-too-sunny, yard.

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Out of The Box And Into the Yard – Mail Order Perennials

New little hydrangea plant
One of The Hydrangea Plants

I was impressed with the packaging of the perennials I had ordered from American Meadows, and even though they were a little droopy, they bounced back.

Both Hydrangeas are planted in the backyard where they will get sun and the forsythia is out front. Unfortunately we got a freak 2 feet of snow the end of October, so they hadn’t been in the ground for long before they were covered. One of the long stalks of the forsythia broke off so it’s pretty small now, and the hydrangeas are droopy and partially broken. (The photo was taken before the snow – which may seem obvious, but the snow has all melted now).

I ordered from an online store because I was anxious to get my gardening started here at my new place, but I have my doubts as to how well these plants will do once Spring arrives. And more importantly, how much will they grow. I will be saving up this winter to buy some local hydrangeas and probably more forsythia so we’ll see how much of a difference it makes as far as growth.

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