Summer Flowers
I had so many flower and shrub plans for my new and unadorned yard this Spring and Summer. I planned to plant a fig tree, blueberry bushes, tea olives, and gardenias. I even had plans to bargain my way into getting my husband to build some raised beds. So far, absolutely none of this has happened.
I have potted a few plants – geraniums, two huge Boston ferns, an asparagus fern, and some mint. The one thing I actually dug a hole for this year and planted in my barren yard is a very pretty blue lacecap hydrangea. I saw one of these last year for the first time while walking through Callaway Gardens and instantly fell in love. I’ve always been a hydrangea fan, but these are my favorite because they look so simple and delicate.
As I’ve written before, I’m a sucker for small town festivals and this weekend marks my hometown’s 10th annual Hydrangea Festival. Needless to say, I’ll be there and I hope that I come home with a couple of plants to give some company to my poor, lonely hydrangea. I still have plans for some gardenias, sweet potato vines, and lantana too!
What are your summer flower favorites?
Hi! I know this post about your hydrangea is from last year…but now I am in a barren new landscape in a new state, new gardening zone! I am really wanting blue lacecaps across the front of my house, and yours is the one I believe I’m looking for, is it called “Blue Wave”?? I was wondering where you live and how well it’s doing right now? Thanks so much!!
oh, I’m in zone 6b, west of Philly…moved here from zone 7b in Annapolis MD…
Blue lacecap hydrangea looks absolutely gorgeous! That was an excellent pick.
I don’t have a yard, but have a balcony. This past weekend I picked up some potted herbs, but am now looking for a few potted flowers. My balcony gets lots of sun, so am going to be looking for ones that tolerate much sun.
I have a hydrangea that a friend brought over as a thank you gift one evening when she and her husband came to dinner. We didn’t expect much of it as I think she got it at the Safeway, but that was probably 10 years ago and it’s lovely now. It blooms every year and is one of the highlights of the garden. Now I’ll have to look for a lacecap hydrangea to keep it company and hope I get one as beautiful as the one in the photo.
Unfortunately, or fortunately (depending on how one looks at it), I stick with impatiens in the summer. In Michigan, they are a hardy enough annual (as long as you don’t plant them in full sun). I find they tolerate sun quite well, though, as long as shade is there part of the time also and are kept well watered. They’re so colorful and fill the pots to a high mound that are beautiful around July. I’ve worked with geraniums, marigolds, dahlias, petunias—all popular and beautiful plants in our area—but impatiens work best for me.
I also love hydrangea. I got a cutting from my brother’s plant years ago, but it’s the old-fashioned kind. I can’t depend on blooms every year. The buds form on the existing branches the year before. If the winter is especially harsh (as Michigan winters can be), then the buds die and no flowers erupt. But the last couple of years, they have survived and I had some beautiful pink flowers on it. Interesting, though, because on the same plant, they were primarily pink, except for a blue/purple one on the opposite side of that same plant. I know the color has to do with soil and light and all that, but I expected the plant to be all the same color, considering it was planted in one spot.
I have another hydrangea that was given to me as an indoor plant. I decided to put it outside, though, and it has never bloomed in 10 years. It continues to grow each year and we know how beautiful the leaves and plant can be just by themselves.
Lantana…..easy to grow and beauitful!