Hydrangea heaven!

Hydrangeas are one of my very favorite flowers.  I'm drawn to them wherever I go and am always trying to figure out where I can squeeze another one in.  Unfortunately for now I'm pretty much out of space for new ones.  I noticed that almost all the Hydrangeas in my yard are blooming right now.  Last year several of them didn't bloom after we had so much snow and cold weather.  You can look out from just about any window in the house and see a Hydrangea blooming.  Best of all those flowers will last for a long time.

 Hydrangea macrophylla 'Pia' is growing in a large container on the deck.  This shrub stays on the small side and apparently is one of the few that stays pink no matter what the soil is like.

 Another Hydrangea macrophylla, this one was here when we bought the house.  It has good years and not so good years.  This is a good year for it!  The color is a dark purplish-blue.  It grows right under a large Cedar tree.

 Someone left an anonymous comment recently that this could be Hydrangea macrophylla 'Ayesha'.  I can't read the tag anymore, but the name does sound very familiar.  I'm pretty sure that's what it is.

 This is a huge Lacecap Hydrangea that was here when we bought our house.  It gets to be a good 7 feet plus tall.  I didn't prune it very well this year so it didn't bloom as nicely as usual.  It was definitely planted in an area far too small for the size.

 Hyrangea 'Preziosa' is considered a hybrid between H. macrophylla and H. serrata.  This is probably my favorite of all.  It didn't like the heat we had recently, so some of the flowers were burned a bit.

 Hydrangea macrophylla 'Endless Summer' is doing okay here.  I'm not sure I'd recommend it for at least this area.  I have a friend that is quite the gardener and she's lost two already, my sister says her's isn't doing well either.  The tag says it can take full sun, mine can hardly take part sun without wilting terribly.  I think for around here I'll just stick with the much tougher 'Nikko Blue'.

 Hydrangea macrophylla 'Nikko Blue' is so full of flowers it just flops down.  It grows in mostly shade and gets no special treatment.

 I've shown this one before - a florist's Hydrangea.  These are the kind that are given as a gift in a  fancy pot and then most people throw them away when they finish blooming.  My husband gave me this years ago and of course I couldn't throw it away.  It took a few years to get going, but now it's doing great.

  Oakleaf Hydrangea (quercifolia) 'Snow Queen' is another favorite.  It's probably about 6 feet tall right now.  I also have 'Pee Wee' which gets to be about 4 feet tall.

I'm still waiting for my newest 'Pinky Winky' to finish blooming.  It has done great so far and I'm anxiously watching the buds grow.

I don't do anything special for my Hydrangeas, every so often I may remember to give them a little acid fertilizer, but that's it.  I only ever have to water 'Preziosa' and 'Endless Summer' the rest do fine with whatever rain we get.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day June 2010.

It's a busy week for us around here, so busy that I almost forgot it was Bloom Day.  This is Sweet Pea's last week of elementary school, next year she begins junior high.  So, this is a week full of parties, special assemblies at school and get togethers with friends.  I can't believe how fast the time has gone, but I sure am looking forward to spending time with both of my girls over the Summer.  It's nice being free of school and sports schedules for awhile. 
June is always a good month in my garden, this is the month that many of my favorites are blooming at the same time.  The scent of the roses and Peonies carry, especially when the sun is out. 

An Asiatic Lily surprised me with a bloom today.  I've gotten these so mixed up I no longer know which is which.  Oh well, they're still pretty.

The unknown pink rose is just full of these flowers.  The scent carries quite a distance.

Red Valerian (Centranthus ruber) is one of my favorite things blooming now.  The color is just amazing.  The purple to the left is a Baptisia, and they look just great together.

Another real beauty right now is Rose 'Honey Perfume'.  I just love the color of it, and it seems to change daily.

Spiderwort (Tradescantia) has been moved so many times, but I think I finally found a perfect spot for it.

I was surprised to find a Geum blooming.  I had given up on them this year.  Last summer I moved them during the really hot weather and then wasn't very good about watering them.

A Hydrangea growing right under a Cedar tree.  It was here when we bought the house.  The flowers will get a very deep purple.

The newest Clematis to open is 'Etoile Violette'.  It's another very easy one that grows and blooms with almost complete neglect.  It grows up behind a raised bed and is difficult to get to to feed or prune.

Hydrangea 'Nikko Blue' must have liked another day of sun, because it's just beginning to bloom now.

Fleabane

Also blooming is Nepeta, Oriental and Breadseed Poppies, Salvias, Penstemons, Scabiosa, Jacob's Ladder, Heucheras, Geraniums, Lupine, Veronicas, Campanulas, Peonies and Foxgloves.  The one thing that really seems behind are the Waterlilies.  I haven't even been able to see a bud coming up, I'm pretty sure it's because it's just been too cool for them.  Hopefully now that the weather seems to be improving that will change.

To see what else is blooming around the world visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens.

Beautiful, like a rainbow.

When I see a rainbow or think of a rainbow, this line from Cyndi Lauper's song "True Colors" from 1986 always seems to come to my mind. A pretty song to represent such a beautiful piece of art from nature. Rebecca from Prefer to be In the Garden asked us to share rainbows from our gardens to help brighten up winter.
Just looking back through my Spring and Summer garden pictures made me feel warm and brightened my day. I think lots of us like to look back at sunny day pictures, part of the fun for me is remembering flowers I'd forgotten about and made me more anxious to see them return.
The interesting part of putting this rainbow together for me is that I thought I'd have trouble finding orange flowers, and have no problem with purple flowers. It ended up being the opposite. I used to think orange clashed too much with most colors. But once while shopping in a nursery I overheard some women and one discussing how certain colors of flowers "didn't go together". The other woman said that they are all part of nature so of course they all go together. While I don't personally think every color combination goes together it did open my eyes a bit about being less critical of orange and combining it with colors I never thought it "matched".

Here is my rainbow:

Monarda 'Jacobe Cline'

Red Breadseed Poppy

Geum 'Fire Lake'

Zinnia 'Apricot Blush'

Leopard's Bane

Sunflower

Hosta

Zinnia 'Green Envy'

Hydrangea 'Nikko Blue'

Salvia 'Black and Blue'

Muscari

Clematis 'Jackmanii superba'

Here is Cyndi Lauper singing "True Colors" in the video below: