Saturday, June 1, 2013

Becoming blue, and wire baskets not old but new...

Good morning and happy June! I thought this month would never come...for a while it seemed like Mother Nature was going to forget about summer altogether this year. I'm glad she didn't.

You probably know from my previous posts that hydrangeas are my absolute favorite in the garden. We have managed to accumulate upwards of 40-something bushes, some of which were actually started by trimmed branches that I threw into the compost heap, only to find that they had developed a root structure. Since I believe that where there's life, there's hope, they naturally were tenderly planted first in pots, and then moved late last summer to areas of the garden, where they wintered over quite well.

Anyway, in these parts, our soil (if you want to even call it that) is rather acidic, so our hydrangeas are mostly blue. They never stay pink, even if you buy them that way, because the pink color is supported by alkaline soil, which is not what we have. We also have some white and lime green hydrangeas, and they stay true to color, but most of ours bloom blue.

I checked my garden book (I keep track of mostly everything in the garden to keep from making the same mistakes with it over and over), and saw that my hydrangeas were in full bloom on May 8th of last year. We are only getting past the budding stage now. Here is what the ones behind the back porch look like this week...

Just a bit of blue...


Partly blue,
partly white...


Two blossoms on the same bush,
one still lime green, and one turning blue...


This past weekend, remember we went shopping and come home with NO porch swing? One of the stores we went to was a large place called Garden Ridge. Not sure if this is a chain or not, but they have all kinds of garden related items, dishes, knick-knacks, etc. I found the most wonderful wire baskets that were lined with burlap and canvas.

These two are rectangular in shape,
and lined with burlap...


The two below, one oval and one rectangular,
look like chicken wire, and are lined with canvas...


I love it that they look so old. Hmmm...my biggest problem will be deciding what to put in them. I think one will be a catch-all for the small junk that always lands on the breakfast bar in the kitchen!

I hope you have a great day, and thanks for coming by!

2 comments:

  1. We have the same issue with the soil here in Toronto and only our white hydrangea stays true to colour. They did tell us at the nursery once that we can do something with the soil to keep them to the colour they start as but there's something "wrong" about that in my thinking -- just let nature do what it does and enjoy the beauty. And I love those baskets...with or without anything in them. They've got so much charm!

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    1. It seems like the only place that we see rich soil is in New England. My sister-in-law in Seattle said that even their's is bad. I would rather have black gold in my garden than real gold in my jewelry box, nutcase that I am. I agree with you about letting nature do its thing! Not to mention that I like blue flowers.

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