Bloomsinthegarden: So many blooms, so little time!

Greetings Friends~

I had a difficult time deciding what to put up today; rolled hay bales in the undulating hillsides of Kentucky, a lilly collection or hydrangeas. Hortenisa as it is known, or the Hydrangea, and its many varieties, has won out.

These all came from my friend whose yard was on the local garden tour this year and I should know better than to even cross town without my camera but I did, so thank you for enjoying the photos from my phone because I did not want to miss anything!

Most of her bushes are on the North side of the house and always seem to do better than mine, so while I see them at the beach in full hot sun, thriving, the one I have in the sun gets droopy by mid-afternoon. It also has never bloomed.

Given to me as a gift at two years old, it has now been in the ground eight years and every year, I try fertilizing with organic matter (read dried cow manure from my country friends), bloom booster with aluminum hydrate (which also turns the blooms a different color and can be achieved by burying plain old tin foil), cuss words and prayer. Something should have worked and every year, I have this anticipation that perhaps "This year will be the year it blooms". So far, not yet. I gave up and bought another type and put it in the shade...it has more promise.

The friend's though, are in full regalia. The mophead or rounded ball-type blooms come in white, pink lavender and blue, and as indicated, you can intensify and change the bloom color by changing the alkalinity or acidity of the soil around it. I read a murder mystery once and the lady detective figured out the corpse was buried in a '56 T-bird convertible underneath the electric blue hydrangeas...having turned because of the iron bumpers and fenders.

I am quite sure my friend's are just due to her gardening diligence and labors of love. The Oak Leaf hydrangea has a more conical or spherical presence but its leaves mock that of an Oak (see inset, right).

There are over 70-75 types in the Genus and over 600 species around thr world including Korea, the HImalayas, Indonesia, China , Japan, and the Azores of Portugal to name a few. I would like to go there to see Faial which is called the "Blue Island" because of the density of blue hydrangeas that grow there.

The Lace Cap variety that you see in the electric blue variety above have tiny fertile centers and very showy rings edging the bloom that are sterile. Who knew? If you can cut them in full bloom there are volumes written on how to get them to dry in their natural rounded (if selecting the mophead type) state. Personally, I have tried hanging upside down, laying flat, left standing but I have never achieved anything resembling the fresh bloom.

Well, the storm is here. We have been without rain for about two weeks and a storm has kicked up that is rolling the patio furniture across the yard. Time to quit, so all of you take care and thank you for joining me on Life's Garden Tour where today, we have seen some excellent bloomers.

Hope you have had the same, in your garden of friends, also!