Hydrangeas

Our hydrangeas have finally begun to bloom.  After last year's dearth of hydrangea bloom, I'd been managing my expectations, but this summer things seem to be back to normal.

All these first group of photos are of one shrub-- the first year it's really bloomed, as far as I can recall.  It's a clone (via simple layering) of the big hydrangea growing at/into the corner of our covered patio.  That original plant is also flowering, this year, but the blooms are small-- insignificant compared to the flowers on this other one.  I'm pretty sure that's due to sunlight; the original is no longer getting enough sun to flower much, but as it's too big to think of moving, we'll keep it for its summer foliage and whatever scanty bloom it can manage.  (For now... And I might make some more clones to move to one or two slightly sunnier places...)

Unfortunately, I don't know the identity of this hydrangea.  It's one I bought from a local lady who used to sell plants, out in her yard.  If it came with a tag, I've long since discarded it.

The flower colors seem to vary somewhat, from year to year, but they always stay more on the pink side than the blue, which confuses me, because (I think) in this area, "adjustable" hydrangeas are usually blue.  (My mother's-- just a short walk from here-- are all blue; but Mom says that the ones Granny L. planted-- another short walk away-- are purple.) This year, on this particular shrub, the flowers are a mix of pink, dark/dusty mauve, and outright purple.  Maybe it's due to the variety (which is why I wish I knew the variety).

This variegated lacecap hydrangea came from the same source as the other-- the lady who sold plants from her home.  It grows maybe ten to twenty feet from the other two (non-lacecap) hydrangeas, and yet when it blooms, it's always blue-- which makes me think that the other hydrangea being pink and purple is a reflection of the variety more than the soil conditions.

This hydrangea doesn't get much sun, either, and I think it might bloom better if it got more.  I could try moving it, but maybe I'll just do some more layering, this summer, instead, then try out the new plant in a slightly sunnier location... (Layering is so much easier than digging up, hauling around, and replanting a sizable shrub.)

The last hydrangea in bloom is the tiny little 'Endless Summer' that I planted last year.  I originally had it in the semi-shade garden, but after the summer, I decided it wasn't doing well.  It needed more sun and more room to stretch, so this spring I moved it to the northern side of the front of the house (during the foundation-shrub overhaul).

So.  Just when I think I've settled that the soil is "blue-hydrangea" type, and the pink/purple flowers on the other shrubs are due to some peculiarity/tendencies of a particular (unknown) variety, this hydrangea's behavior confuses me all over again.  See, when we bought this hydrangea last year, it was in bloom, and the flowers were decidedly blue.  Cool, beautiful powder blue.  I planted it (not far from the other hydrangeas), and when it rebloomed, later in the season?  Pink.  This year's blooms (below)?  PINK.  What does it all mean?!

This is definitely a color-changeable hydrangea, and it switched from blue to pink within one growing season, which makes me think that our soil (at least in that part of the yard) is set for pink flowers.  But then how do we explain the blue lacecap?  I just can't figure this one out.  Fortunately, hydrangeas are beautiful, whether they're pink, blue, purple, white, or any other color.

We have one more variety of hydrangea planted-- a 'Little Lime' by the front door-- but it's yet to bloom.  It may not flower until next year, but when it does, they're supposed to be greenish-cream, turning pink with age.

The Last Days of May

We're in the last few days of May.  June is the beginning of "real summer"-- also the beginning of the Atlantic hurricane season (which runs through the end of November, but peaks in August and September).

The white crepe myrtles have begun to bloom, which feels earlier than last year.  However, I haven't checked last year's photos to see if that's true or not.

'Purple Pizzazz' salvia, with fuzzy Mexican bush sage (Salvia leucantha) in the background:

Both our 'Little Gem' magnolias have been flowering, though I don't pay that much attention to them, since they're in the front yard...

There were two of these odd-looking, dusty, hairy beetles (maybe "bumble flower scarab beetles"?) on one bloom.  I'm not sure if they're harmful to the tree, but that tree does have some limbs with withered, brown leaves... In any case, I left these alone.

The blanket flowers that returned from last year are hanging in there, but most look a little rough.  Fortunately, there's a new bunch started from seed (some by me, some by Mother Nature).  I may try cutting back the old ones.  If they don't recover, at least the new generation is waiting to take over.

The butterfly vine (Mascagnia macroptera)-- from Mom, last autumn-- has begun to flower.  It seems decently healthy-- came through the winter just fine!

Remember that I mentioned having moved some daylilies from another part of the garden to flank the stepping stone path?  Here's an overview shot.  Plenty of room for more, but even just this few makes the area feel more like a garden:

Macro of one of the few remaining colorful achillea (most are plain white):

Bog sage (Salvia uliginosa).  I'm enjoying this one, so far.  It's grown tall quickly, the blue is beautiful, and the bees seem to like it.  Apparently it can be a bit of a spreader, but I think it'll be okay.  There's plenty of room, where it is, and if it starts growing wider than I want, I'll happily dig up some starts for one or two other places-- and offer some to other gardeners in my family.

The roses of Sharon have begun to bloom.  So far, it's just the all-whites and these pinky-purples with red centers.  The new ones from Mom (white-w/red-center and double pinky-purple) have yet to bloom, but it's possible.  However, they're still on the small side, so they might need more time to flower, and the cuttings from Granny W. are smaller still, so I doubt they'll bloom for at least another two or three years.

The KO roses have started another wave of bloom:

As have the 'Joseph's Coat' and the 'Peggy Martin' (pictured below), though both of those are significantly less impressive than the first wave.  Even the unknown pink climbing rose has opened up a few more flowers.

The clump of river oats (a.k.a. northern sea oats) I planted last year has come back with a vengeance.  It's starting to look like what I'd envisioned when I bought the plant.  Much taller and thicker, this year.  The clumps I started from seed (from this mother plant) in spring are doing well, too-- but of course they're nowhere near this big.  I fully expect them to rival "Big Mama" by next year, though.

I put two pots of the seedlings on either side of the starter clump (down in the shady curve of river birch and crepe myrtles).  The rest of my pots of river oat seedlings went to another relatively shady spot-- between the circular gravel sitting area and the banana shrub.

I'm planning to cut off the seedheads to avoid vigorous self-sowing.  We'll see how that goes... I've read a horror story or two about what happens when you let this plant go to seed, but I've also seen people saying that if you remove the seedheads before the "oats" fully mature and drop to the ground (which is easily done), it's not a problem.

I might not mind the grass spreading a bit down in the shady corner.  After all, it's a native plant, and there's nothing much it can out-compete down there, as things stand.  However, the clumps by the banana shrub are pretty close to some perennial beds that I don't want to become overgrown with grasses.

Does this qualify as "living dangerously"?

Vegetable Garden

Every year, it's brought home to me that I am not really much a vegetable gardener.  I resent the time I spend on the vegetable patch, which means I don't spend much time there.

The problem is the pests and disease.  Tomatoes in particular (which are most of the vegetables we grow) seem so needy.  I like them fine when they're young and undemanding, but then (about this time of year) they start getting mystery ailments and bug infestations.  (Leaf-footed bug-babies!  ~shudder~  And oh, how I loathe caterpillars!  Even the ones I know will turn into "beautiful butterflies" kind of give me the creeps, but the pesty ones that live only to destroy?  Ugh.)

Other vegetables are the same way.  Squash are fun for a while, but then they too go into decline... Even the tough peppers from last year eventually became the hip new hang-out spot for all the local leaf-footed bugs, which is the best way (short of a huge wasps' nest or a den of snakes) of insuring that I will avoid an area at almost any cost.  

I guess I can't forgive them for being short-lived annuals that need a lot more TLC than I'm willing to give in the hot humidity of summer... Maybe I should look into cool-weather vegetables for this area, instead.

And now Luna has developed a taste for tomatoes!  (She had it last year, too, or maybe the year before that...)  She goes outside, disappears (behind the garage, where the vegetables are out of sight from the house), and comes back smelling suspiciously of tomato plants.  Circumstantial evidence?  Hmm... Well, Donald's seen her eating cherry tomatoes right off the vine before, the little thief.  ;o)

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Our squash are still fine, at this point-- just getting started-- and the tomatoes are mostly just suffering a little from a lot of tiny caterpillars. (We have some Bt to try on the ones we didn't already find and remove.)  I'm just grumpy about vegetable gardening.  Sorry.  Here are a few photos:

Tomatoes:

Regular yellow squash (I think):

Tromboncino squash vines:

There are a few other things in the vegetable patch--onion chives, a young okra or two, some type of lettuce/mesclun mix, radishes-- but that's mostly it. I'm the most interested in the new (tromboncino) squash-- curious how it will perform and what the squash will taste like. It's been a little slow to start, but it's picking up the pace now that warmer weather is here.

More Daylilies

Time for another bunch of daylily photos!

This week, I noticed that I can definitely smell some of these daylilies when I'm working or walking close to them.  I'd read before that some daylilies are scented, but I don't know if I'd ever really noticed it before.

So far, I wouldn't say that I've found a daylily fragrance that I absolutely adore.  It's not an exquisite perfume, like gardenia or honeysuckle, but it's not unpleasant, either.  I'd say it's probably an acquired taste-- like marigolds or the smell of tomato plants.  A very "plant-y", herbal-floral scent.

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Every so often, a daylily bloom has more than the typical three petals (plus three sepals).  I've seen at least a few with four petals, before, but this was the first time I've noticed one with five.  It also had two pistils (one is usual) and more stamens than a normal daylily flower (most have six).

The daylily seedlings are doing well, on the whole.  :o)

This has been your regularly scheduled weekly quota of daylily photos.  ;o)