Time to start on fall gardening...



Since it’s nearly mid-September, it’s time to start on my fall garden plans. Before I do, though, I wanted to show you these photographs of my limelight hydrangea, which has gone a little nuts in the blooming department this year.  
Limelight hydrangeas are sort of the climbing rose of hydrangeas. They sprout upward and get very tall. They also like a bit of sun unlike many hydrangeas. Thanks to the removal of a dying tree from the front yard, this bush (affectionately known as Ralph by my friends for reasons that escape me) has gotten a lot more sun in the last couple of years and you can really tell the difference. Last year Ralph put out these huge, gorgeous blooms. This year, more out of curiosity than anything else, I decided not to prune him back ~ I wanted to see how big he would get. My response was a lot of growth and a  large number of blooms (I stopped counting at 50), though the blooms were smaller than last year. 



You can see Ralph is over 6 feet tall in the photo below. He will definitely get pruned and a gentle shaping once he dies back for the winter. But he is rather magnificent, isn’t he?


And now it’s time to hit the nurseries to pick up some shrubs and other pretty things. Wishing all of you a lovely weekend...

Photos by The Art of Living Beautifully

Comments

  1. I adore hydrangeas and they do very well here in the mountains. "Ralph" is a gorgeous green. We planted a new-to-us hydrangea this year that started off white and is now turning pink, so pretty. I'm hoping to dry some of the blooms, but for me it is a hit-or-miss. Maybe this year I will be successful, even though I know the blooms will change from pink to brown in the drying process.
    Sam

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