Now that is a gorgeous hydrangea.  Hydrangea Selma, to be exact.  Even the leaves are a beautiful burgundy color.  I took this picture when I bought it, just as it was going in the ground two years ago.  And that is the last time it bloomed. Even the leaves haven’t really grown well.  I’m stubborn, though, and I refused to give up.  Recently, a shock treatment of compost seemed to give it some life, but it still didn’t seem quite right.

Nope, the above picture isn’t what it looks like now.  This is what it looks like now:

Oh yes, it is not very pretty!  I spoke with someone at a nursery this week, and finally decided to take some action.  We (I mean my wonderful husband!) dug a circle around the plant, and lifted it up with as much of the roots as possible. Then we dug out a circle 3 feet across and 3 feet deep.  Just as suspected, the soil was very heavy clay, wet, and in need of some air.  We made a mixture of 60/40 topsoil to  peat/compost and added that to the hole.  Then we replanted the hydrangea, adding some more compost.   I will be keeping a close eye on our patient.

My husband hard at work digging in the above photo.

After we finished with the hydrangea, we planted a few more plants that I happened to pick up at the nursery.  (Ever go to a nursery and *not* buy something?)  They are rather small, but I really liked their personalities!  The first one I call my silver plant (official name Convolvulus Cneorum).  I saw it and wanted it. Plain and simple.  The next little round one is Chamaecyparis p. “Boulevard”.  It is difficult to see in the picture, but the branches have a lot of texture, and the color is a little unusual greenish bluish yellowish (unofficially).  The third plant, well, I didn’t get the name of it.  But I will be returning to the nursery soon and I’ll get it then!

This garden, unnamed at the moment, gets a lot of wind.  It just whips around the house right at this point.  Our Japanese Maple has suffered terribly from this.  It is completely naked.  Not one single leaf.  It needs either a lot of wind protection here, or to be moved.  I’m planning that we’ll move it this fall.

Below is my silver plant at the nursery, and then in my garden.

Below is a picture at the nursery. I loved the texture of this shrub.

Here is my tiny version.

I liked this taller one to have a variety of shapes in the garden.  It should grow to about 1.5m to 2m.

I know they are small now, but I like watching them fill in and grow instead of buying full size (read frugal gardener).

We have had a lot of gray days, and a lot of rain.  So I searched through my photos for a cheerful picture to share.  I found two pictures from when I visited “Fred’s garden”.  He is a friend of my husband, and has an amazing garden. His words of advice to me were to have a master plan on paper to start with, and grow it from there.   Here are two pictures of some of his beautiful poppies.

I hope you enjoy some sunny time in the garden!  And for all those Dads out there, I hope you have a wonderful Father’s Day today! (maybe in the garden?)

Dana