Hydrangeas and Garden Fountain

Happy Friday! 

 This are quiet around here- not much going on.

 Having my morning coffee and noticed the sun prancing through the hydrangeas.

I didn't see any bees but I noticed a lot of ants on them today.

First signs that these are starting to turn to the next stage of color.

One of the late blooms on the Endless Summer Hydrangeas.  

 I cut a lot of my Annabelle hydrangeas and staged them in this pot to dry.

I walked out back for a few pics of the fountain.  

I took a quick video you can watch and listen! It was longer but a big noisy truck went by on the road and ruined the sound so I had to trim it.

Evening shot with the sun once again!

I need to get productive and dig my iris out and split them up as well as move a few other plants I have in mind.  Right now I just feel like looking at it all and not working on it!

Hope you have a great weekend and don't "Labor" too hard over this Labor Day Weekend!

Rainy Morning Pics

This morning I decided to pop out early and take a few pictures of my hydrangeas. It rained all night and I think the colors look richer after a rain.

I added fertilizer that's for hydrangeas hoping to see more blue but I seem to end up with pink for the most part.    The limelights are just starting to bloom.

Little wispy touches of soft lilac and variations of pink

Just to the other side is my Cityline Paris hydrangea.  So far I only get a few blooms each year but I keep hoping for a full pop of color one of these years!  This stays compact and doesn't need any trimming.

A close-up of the flowers that are starting to 0pen up

While visiting my mom a few weeks back I noticed this gazing ball in the garage.  She told me to take it so I did and I like how it reflects things around it.  

I also spotted this rusted rooster in the garage which I couldn't resist.  

Nearby are the Annnabelle hydrangeas which are a mix of new to old blooms.  I should cut some to save!

I removed the orange lilies and put in the new lily that I posted about the other day.

It's just loaded with flowers- I look forward to seeing this come up each year.  

One of my favorite views looking up the steps from the driveway at the hydrangeas.  

(oops I forgot to remove the grass I pulled!)

Just over a week ago I noticed a bad case of powdery mildew on my begonias.  We had a lot of cool nights and they just didn't dry out well enough.  I cut them back severely and they were treated to try to stop the mildew from continuing.  I'm seeing new leaves so hopefully they will recover quickly and start to bloom again.  Time to fertilize again.

This one didn't show signs of the mildew but I treated it anyway. 

Down below is my favorite double impatiens plant.  I love the delicate pink color.

Well it's raining again so I'm heading back in!

I'm joining Fishtail Cottage for
Tuesday's Garden Party

Day Lilies and Hydrangeas

My Day Lilies finally started blooming.

I only have a couple of varieties 

"Sunday Gloves"

"Razzamatazz"

I had this fear that someone would walk off the side of the half wall that borders this patio area so I planted the Holmstrup Arborvitae (Slow grower- Avg. 5 to 7 ft. tall x 2 to 3 ft. wide) and some flowers in-between to hopefully help that from happening.

It keeps people from walking through there so that makes me feel safer.  

 The ferns have made their way around and fill in behind and on the sides of the hydrangeas.

 I'm always tickled to see the Hydrangeas start to bloom.  These Endless Summer Hydrangeas never disappoint!  I cut mine down quite a ways each fall because of the snow load that ends up on them- and they don't seem to mind.  A lot of people said theirs didn't bloom this year- this happened to mine in 2012 when we had a freak warm up in March to the 70's. After a week of that the plants had started growing and then it gold cold and we had several frosts.  It seemed to ruin the chances of any flowers that year.  One person at the garden center told me it may help to go ahead and cut them down if you experience that kind of scenario and the plant may just bloom for you.  Endless Summer hydrangeas bloom and both new and old growth so you can't really loose for trying!

 

Windowscaping

I've mentioned a few times recently that I've been sorting and organizing the storage area in the basement.  I go down there to work and a few hours can pass without any effort.  It's mostly stuff I have to make a decision on and I've been trying to do it on my own.

This is the kind of stuff I've been moving around.  I'm not the physical dynamo I used to be so I go at all of this with much less speed!  I'm just glad to be getting it done.
 

I didn't have time to do a tablescape this week so I snapped some shots of my "windowscape" in the kitchen!

 I was out watering plants the other day and I accidentally snapped off this pretty hydrangea flower with my hose so I took it inside to put it in water.

  I quickly searched for something and spotted this sugar bowl and laid it in there.

This sugar bowl was part of a set from the mother of a friend.

Ruth was a kind and enthusiastic woman that anyone would like and I always admired her.  I found this hiding in the back of a cupboard that I had sorted out in the kitchen over the past weekend.  Some of this sorting has turned up some surprises so I'm glad I've been doing it!

These are my Endless Summer Hydrangeas where it came from.  It was still a bit overcast  when I took the picture since it had rained overnight. 
(The red piece is a whimsical rain gauge)

This is my window box outside the kitchen. The Browallia (purple plant) has been slow to bloom but it's finally showing it's color.  The sweet potato vine is getting large and tends to overwhelm the other plants.  I love the colors of summer!  Those little orange begonias make me happy!

Might as well have something enjoyable to look at inside and out- right? 

I'm joining
Between Naps on the Porch
for Tablescape Thursday

The floral parade...

The floral parade continues. 

 It's such a treat to see the flowers showing off their happy colors and pretty faces!

My island out front has been blooming away. We had a garage sale this past Saturday and I worked on prepping for it throughout last week...which was hard because of that heat dome we were under.  98 with a heat index of 105

The day of the garage sale it cooled off and it was quite comfortable.  People were taking tours of my gardens.  They were all so kind and complimentary.  Made me feel good!

These drooping Delphiniums are all that's left of those big 5 ft. tall ones I had.  I love the bright blue color.  It makes for some nice summery color combinations.

These little cone flowers are coming along nicely.

The Zagreb Coreopsis have turned out to be a winner!

When I found these Shasta Daisies at the garden center I liked how the flower's face is straight up.  I've got to hunt around the plants and see if I can find their tag, because I don't remember their name.

Last week

A new cone flower I put in last year looks pretty mixed in with some these purple delphiniums. 

Too bad I didn't remove that green plant stake for the picture!

The Peachie's Pick Stokes Asters are starting to bloom too.

Still waiting to see the Black Eyed Susans! 

This butterfly weed made it back.  I love their color.

More cone flowers- I believe these are called Little Annie

I love the soft delicate flower of the hostas.  

Summer, summer, summer!  Yes!

 Out back the hostas are all blooming.  I enjoy watching the hummingbirds visit them. They dance around feeding off of them and it's a joy to watch.

These are short and stout but I love the variegated

 coloring they have.  These are Amber Tiara hosts.

These hosta flowers are draping across like flags hanging.

The Endless Summer Hydrangeas are blooming.

I love the different stages of the flower.

My soil is very alkaline and even with the fertilizer that's supposed to help turn them more blue this is about as much blue as I can get from them.

Love their soft fluffy flowers

This one is a giant...almost like 3 flowers

Last year I had no flowers due to the untimely frosts so I'm tickled to see them blooming!

 These Sunday Gloves day lilies are framed with some Razzamatazz day lilies. 

  I think they are a stunning lily.  Definitely my favorite!

Thanks as always for visiting!

I love to hear from you.

I'm sorry I haven't gotten around to visit much lately, 

but I will try to do better!