pitterpat

Our recent heat has taken it’s toll on our garden, mostly with the hydrangeas which are my favorite large tubular creamy blooms. The biggest is in our corner gravel garden and have shot up to at least 6 feet high by 5 feet wide. They require a lot of water though or they will wilt!

Our other hydrangeas which are on the north east side of the house and consist of mop heads and lace caps, struggle in the heat. They wilt during the hot sun and like to be misted daily and their feet kept moist but not flooded. I always think I’ll stay on top of their much needed watering schedule but lately it seems even with daily attention they still get crispy around the edges. Very frustrating.

Another view of the mopheads along with the beautiful gladiolas reaching high above their heads as if there is a contest as to who can grow the tallest. The lavendar one shown below is my newest color and so darn beautiful I wish it would last forever.

We’re getting apples, though I think some of them are being eaten by our night time visitors. We get a lot of ‘possum and raccoons through our yard. They make themselves right at home with our meager supply of fruit.

It’s been 2 seasons since my gardenia has bloomed. This is one of those plants I would really love to be successful at growing in my yard but for some reason I can’t seem to quite achieve. It’s been in a pot since I’ve had it and the first year it had at least 11 blooms on it. I’m not sure if it is getting too much sun, but at least it is blooming. I must investigate this one.

Our son Matt who is a professional photographer told me that reds are a hard color to photograph. This has always been true in our yard. The color seems too saturated and intense and all the photo shop color correcting does not help. I have these shrub roses on either side of the white arbor that leads into the corner gravel garden. A good dose of epsom salts really helped them sprout their limbs this year.

Many of you who follow my garden postings might remember when I pulled this yellow jasmine out from the bed of hydrangeas that reside on the north east side of the house. It was stunning and doing quite well, but the cheap metal arbor that it rested on gave way. Initially I had decided to just dig it up and throw it away as the one on the left side was almost dead. When I dug up the one on the right side it was thriving so I decided to plant it on the white arbor in the corner gravel garden.

I threw some epsom salts under its roots before I planted it then watered it good after covering it with dirt. I held my breath and low and behold it is sprouting new growth from it’s underside. I hope it continues to do well as it would look beautiful on the white arbor! Thanks once again for the advice Janine!