Mockingbird Hill Cottage — Page 1266 — Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Gardening With Hydrangeas From The Endless Summer® Collection

May 19, 2014 at 6:29 am by Claudia

I love gardening. When spring arrives, I am outside most of the day, weeding, planting, mulching, pruning, taking photos, and generally sighing with happiness. We’ve lived on this property (my first ever house that wasn’t a rental) for almost nine years and in those nine years, I’ve added perennials to existing garden beds, created 4 new garden beds, and if I could, I’d add even more! There are roses, catmint, poppies, sedum, hosta, boxwood, bee balm, phlox, day lilies, butterfly bush, peonies and two versions of one of my favorites: hydrangeas. Oh, those hydrangeas! Dependable, large, lush. Such beauties they are! So when BlogHer and Endless Summer® Hydrangeas asked me if I would take a closer look at their collection of re-blooming hydrangeas, I jumped at the chance. I don’t know about you, but I see their distinctive blue pots in my favorite nurseries and I’ve been hankering for one of my very own.

We’re talking gorgeous color here. Some information for you on this collection: “The Endless Summer® Collection is the world’s first and best assortment of re-blooming hydrangeas. They are easy to grow, requiring a low investment in time, money and effort for a big reward. They are beautiful for gardens, containers and in cut and dried flower arrangements. No matter which variety, their beautiful big blooms enhance any outdoor living experience.” How could they not? BloomStruck_Logo_CMYK

The hydrangea that was graciously sent to me by Endless Summer is their new BloomStruck™. I counted the days until it arrived on my doorstep. With every garden bed already full around here, my husband and I decided that we needed a hydrangea on the outside of what we call the Dog Corral and adjacent to a little funky patio that we love. It will definitely add some much-needed beauty to a utilitarian chicken wire fence.

Bailey'sEndlessSummerpot

I dug the hole, which should be one and a half times as wide as the size of the pot. Well, I should be honest here. When I got tired, my husband took over. He’s got more arm strength than me! Scout, our Border Collie, supervised. Isn’t that hydrangea stunning?

Bailey'splantinfo

By the way, Endless Summer includes lots of information as to soil and when and how to plant and everything you need to know about your hydrangea.

Bailey'sgardensoil

Our soil has its share of clay, so I amended it with some garden soil, adding it to the bottom of the hole. That’s what works in my particular soil. Your soil may need different amendments. I loosened the bottom and sides of the root ball, then I made sure the crown of the plant, where the base of the stems meet the soil, was even with the ground. Then I refilled the hole with soil.

Bailey'splanted

All of our garden beds are edged with rocks that we’ve found on the property, so we did the same thing here. (Oh boy, do we have rocks on this property!) I can’t wait to watch this grow. If you’re unfamiliar with hydrangeas, the color of the blooms is directly influenced by the pH of your soil. If your pH is acidic, the blooms will be blue. If they are alkaline, the blooms will be pink. You can easily run a pH test if you’re interested and there are products you can add to the soil to change your soil’s pH. In fact, Endless Summer® offers two products that will do that for you. Color Me Pink™ and Color Me Blue™ are safe, all natural and organic. As for me, I like the element of surprise, so I’m going to watch and wait. Pink or blue, I love this plant. If you’re interested in learning more, please visit the Endless Summer® website. If you leave a comment on this post, you will be automatically entered in a contest to win a $100 Visa Gift Card. Leave a comment with an answer to this question: Do you grow hydrangeas? Tell me how you use them in your garden! Happy Planting,

Sweepstakes Rules:

No duplicate comments.

You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:

Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: “#SweepstakesEntry”; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post
Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post
For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.

This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. The notification email will come directly from BlogHer via the sweeps@blogher email address. You will have 72 hours to respond; otherwise a new winner will be selected.

The Official Rules are available here.

This sweepstakes runs from 05/19/2014-06/22/2014.

Be sure to visit the Endless Summer brand page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ posts!

What Lies Beneath

May 18, 2014 at 8:09 am by Claudia

vistafromthemountaintop

Yesterday we took another 5 mile long trail walk. Only this time, the parking lot was full and we had to park elsewhere (read ‘far away’) and to access the trail we had to climb up the mountain via a set of stone steps that was endless and exhausting and scary for this girl who is afraid of heights.

Not doing that again.

I had to rest a few times on the way up and, to be perfectly honest with you, I wanted to sit down and cry. I cannot tell you how steep those steps were. They seemed to go forever and I was absolutely sure we were never going to get to the top. And I was afraid I would fall.

After that, the hike was a piece of cake.

Even though I will never use those steps again, I felt a real victory in simply meeting that challenge and making it up the mountain.

Hey, at least I can say I’ve done it.

canyouseethehawks?

Can you see the hawks? Whenever I see hawks in the sky, I think of the lyrics from Oklahoma: “…and watch a hawk makin’ lazy circles in the sky.”

Now onto the real meat of my story.

When we got back home, I went upstairs (Don was in his studio/office/the spare room) and popped in to ask Don a question. As I turned to leave the room, I noticed that the framed photo of Mom I have on the wall in my studio was empty.

The frame and the glass were there, but no photo.

Considering the recent loss of my mother, it was a bit unsettling.

As I bent over to search for the photo, which had fallen behind a basket I keep next to the cupboard in the studio, I saw two photos there. At first, before I could see it more clearly, I thought the second photo was of some strangers. And I wondered if Grandma (who gave me the framed photo of Mom) had kept another photo behind the one of Mom.

It turns out she did, but on closer examination, I saw it was a studio portrait, not of strangers, but of my grandmother and mother, taken when Mom was a little girl. I was dumbfounded. I’ve had this framed portrait of Mom for over 30 years. Grandma used to spend hours with us looking through every photo she had of the family. I thought I had seen everything.

But no, I hadn’t. I’d never seen this photo in my life.

I literally gasped when I saw it.

grandma&momrevealed

Here it is.

It’s a hand-tinted, absolutely gorgeous 8 x 10 of my grandmother and my mom.

The young version of Mom looks exactly like the older version of Mom that I knew, minus the tow head. Same expression. Same tilt of the head. Such an ‘old soul’ look on her face.

Grandma is young and stylish and serene.

I immediately took a picture of the photo and emailed it to Meredith, who had also never seen it and was shocked and amazed by this discovery. (I’m going to have a copy made for her.)

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that these photos fell out of the frame. I think it was a message. I was guided to see this new-to-me photo, to know that Mom is with Grandma, that she is okay. Meredith feels the same way.

Their relationship was somewhat rocky as Mom, an only child, asserted her independence from Grandma, who could be controlling, and they had their ups and downs. But they loved each other and this portrait of Mom sitting in her mother’s lap, relaxed and happy and content, tells me they are together again with none of the rancor or tension that was often a part of their relationship. Only with love.

What a gift this is!

Another little miracle. Another message from beyond.

Happy Sunday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Rambling

May 17, 2014 at 9:28 am by Claudia

waterdropsonhosta

I just realized the other day that this is the first time I have been home for an entire spring since 2008. Starting in 2009, I was away all or most of the spring on coaching jobs. The good news? I am really enjoying the opportunity to watch everything grow instead of witnessing it via the occasional photo Don would send my way. I love spring.

The bad news? I need work.

Ah well. I’m choosing to be grateful.

We had very heavy rain all day yesterday with high humidity. It was bit tropical-rainforest-y around here. Today the sun is out and it’s a bit cooler. We’re hoping to take another trail walk later in the day.

daffs

Oh pretty daffodils, I love you. Of the two kinds of daffs on this property, this one is my favorite. I love the white flower with that delicate yellow and orange center.

biggesthosta

Our biggest hosta is well on its way to filling this bed – which it will, believe me.

I need to weed. I haven’t put down any mulch since I’m on a strict budget. That means I’m going to have to weed a lot more. Some of the garden beds will eventually be full of perennials and weeds will disappear, but right now, as they are filling in and filling out, I have to be ruthless.

Or not.

lilacbush

The little lilac bush that could. I planted this a few years back and it’s growing, for sure, but very slowly.

clematis

The clematis has taken off this year and is winding its way around the porch railings.

Oh right. I need to clean the porch railings – a job I really don’t look forward to.

The catalpa, usually the last of our trees to leaf out, has tiny leaves now. The shag hickory has leaves. The maples are fully leafed out (now I’m wondering – is that a legitimate term?) as are the ashes and the black walnuts and the elms and the oaks. Don and I sometimes consider counting all the trees on this property. We have a lot of trees. And here’s a question: if one counts the trees, are saplings part of the count? Or just fully grown adult trees?

Where does one draw the line?

The other day, I was once again wrangling with the brambles (you can see the evidence of the battle on my hands) and was clearing some from an area near the woods. As I cleared out a bunch of the stuff that had been strangling some bushes, I noticed a young tree with blossoms on it.

dogwood

Hold on there…we have a little dogwood tree! I had no idea! It’s sort of blocked by another tree and unless I’m right down there in the thick of things, I can’t see it. It’s so pretty!

There are always surprises on this property.

Thursday was a bit hard for me as the mail arrived and I saw an envelope from my dad. I knew it was coming, but I realize now that I really wasn’t prepared to see Mom’s death certificate.

What can I say? It’s so final.

More tears.

I’m off to explore what’s happening out in the gardens.

By the way, a book I recently reviewed and loved, The Moon Sisters, is on sale right now (eBook/Kindle version) on Amazon for $1.99 through May 25th. That’s a great deal for a wonderful book! If you missed the review, you can find it here. So if you didn’t win the giveaway and have it on your list of books to read (and if you use eBooks) hop on over and buy it!

Happy Saturday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Gardening With Hydrangeas From The Endless Summer® Collection

What Lies Beneath

Rambling

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

Archives