Happy Monday! It’s the third Monday of the month which means I’m joining my blogging friends for some flower therapy and Monday Morning Blooms.
You can find my blogging friends’ links to their floral inspiration at the bottom of this post.
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Join me by the Potting Shed for a little flower therapy today. . .
I cut some garden blooms to fill a set of three Flower Market Buckets. . .
Hydrangea, Soda Pop Butterfly Bush, Verbena Lollipop, Hosta leaves and the last of the Sarah Bernhardt peonies. . . *sniff*.
Soda Pop Butterfly Bush is a dwarf variety Buddleia. It’s hardy in USDA Zones 4 – 9 and stays compact, maturing to height and width of 3 – 4 feet.
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail is the most common butterfly we see fluttering around the garden. This is a female swallowtail, denoted by the large area of blue area on the hind wings.
Verbena Lollipop grows in USDA zones 6 – 10, prefers full sun in well-drained soil and is a butterfly and bee magnet.
It self-sows and is coming up everywhere so there are plenty of blooms for me to cut and for the pollinators that love it. It tolerates the heat which is important in the hot and humid South and blooms through fall.
Endless Summer Hydrangeas have been blooming for several weeks now.
Blooms can be blue or pink depending on your soil’s pH level, turning blue in acidic soil and pink in alkaline soil. For blues and purples, the soil pH should be between 5.5 to 5.8. You can amend your soil to become more acidic by adding composted oak leaves, pine needles and coffee grounds, or find a product in the garden center with Aluminum Suphate, following the directions on the package to produce blue flowers. Garden lime will increase soil alkalinity and keep hydrangeas pink in color. A 3-in-1 Meter will help you determine your soil’s pH.
We have a couple of BloomStruck Hydrangeas planted by the Potting Shed.
BloomStruck is the newest addition to the Endless Summer collection of reblooming hydrangeas. BloomStruck has red-purple stems and blooms on old wood from last year’s growth and the new growth of summer.
I planted the boxes with an assortment of sun-loving annuals back in April.
The pentunias are needing a haircut!
Details:
Board and Batten Shutters / DIY, details HERE
Window Boxes / Windowbox.com
Flowers Sign / Amazon
Flower Market Buckets / MacKenzie-Childs
Bench / Grandin Road, several years ago
Visit my talented friends to see their floral inspiration this week:
Pam at Everyday Living
Lidy at FrenchGardenHouse
Shirley at Housepitality Designs
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Thank you for your visit, sharing with:
Between Naps on the Porch
Love your beautiful pictures this rainy morning. I miss trips to the garden center, but during these times it’s more important for us to stay at home and enjoy what plants we have. What are the little, light blue flowers in the window box? Your posts continue to inspire me. Thanks for the great start to my week and stay well. Nancy
Thank you Nancy. We have a couple local garden centers that offer contact-less curbside pick up. The blue flowers are lobeila. There is a ‘hot’ lobeila variety that does better in the heat of summer. ♥
The flower boxes are magnificent!
Mary, Your flower boxes are so lush and beautiful. Your hydrangeas are just gorgeous. A stroll through your garden would qualify as a visit to a botanic garden as it’s so colorful, lush and inviting. Enjoy your day! Clara ♥️
You are definitely my sunshine today. I woke up to cloudy skies and this just made those skies fill with sunshine as I take a virtual tour through your garden. Your flowers are certainly in their happy place as they are thriving so beautifully and welcome nature’s creatures. I have MKC envy…love those MKC flower buckets! As I was reading your post, my hubby was looking over my shoulder at these magnificent images. He had one word, “Wow” …. and we need to order those window boxes” Thank you for being “sunshine on a cloudy day” Thank you my Blooms friend. Have a beautiful day!
Mary, the blooms around your potting shed are magnificent, lush, and healthy! This scene is magazine worthy, I am amazed at all the beauty. The trio of MKC buckets filled with your beautiful blooms make a stunning statement on your bench. The window boxes are thriving with the summer annuals blooming prolifically! It is such a pleasure to visit your garden this morning and to share Monday Morning Blooms with you my friend ♥️
Beautiful pictures! Love your blog! I have a question…I have a rose bush (looks like a lollipop tree) and was recently planted but not doing well. Can you recommend anything? It was planted with Miracle Grow garden soil and watered well but has lost all it’s flowers and the leaves do not look a vibrant green. It’s a beautiful pink and I would hate to lose it so I’ll take all the advice you can give me, please.
Thank you Bobbi Jo! After the first flush of blooms, most roses need to be deadheaded to encourage more blooms. There’s some info here on deadheading. Roses are also heavy feeders so they need fertilizing every 2- 3 weeks during the growing season to help them bloom. The fertilizer will help the foliage too. If the leaves don’t look like they have black spot or a fungus then they probably just need fertilizing. There is some info on fertilizing roses here. Hope that helps!
Thank you so much Mary! I’ll read all the info and make sure I fertilize and deadhead more. Appreciate your feedback!
Mary, your abundance of blooms are a feast for sore eyes! Your flowers are so lush and healthy and beautiful! I love your new MKC buckets full of lovely blooms. Your peonies are so lovely. I could go on and on but must rush out of the house. Have a great day.
It’s all too gorgeous Mary, the last photo is on my “to paint list”…I sketched it about a month ago, before the hydrangeas were in bloom, and now when I paint it there will be an abundance of flowers!! I must be amazing to enjoy that every time you go outside, your patience and hard work has rewarded you tenfold!
Jenna
Your garden is so prolific, Mary, and I know it’s because you tend it with loving care. Your containers made me smile with all those happy blossoms. I hope you have a wonderful week with your pups, and flowers. 💓
Wow, Mary, that area by the potting shed is so pretty, so full! And I love the saturation of the color scheme in your choice of annuals against the perennials in the first and several photos down. The MC bucket arrangements are very complementary to each other – the vessels and flowers. Love that soda pop butterfly bloom. As always, a treat to visit!
Just love the lushness of your garden, looks juicy and happy, overflowing with beauty! We finished planting the kitchen garden, still need to add sprinklers, I pray I get that gorgeous filled in with bounty look myself soon! I have said it before, I could say it hourly, thank heavens for a garden!
I think I would sit by the “shed” all day! I have verbenas but have only seen one butterfly. I’m still waiting! Thanks so much for your lovely pictures. Enjoy!
Goodness, is it wrong to be slightly envious of one of my flower friends?!! Mary, you have just fed my hydrangea loving heart to abundance. Our little fledgling “re-done” garden is just beginning to blossom again, and the hydrangeas are smallish. But oh, when they grow up like yours, I’ll be in heaven. The verbenas do so well here, we have had at least 30-40 monarch butterfly cocoons and have butterflies flitting from bush to flower to verbena. Thank you for the loveliness today and everyday! xo Lidy
What a green thumb you have! The gardens are so beautiful and I can’t get over your full and lush hydrageas!
Mary, your prolific blooms are amazing! My hydrangea loving heart is filled with awe! I cherish the few oak leaf hydrangea blooms we get! I planted several shooting star hydranges the past two years. I purchase pots of this plant at a local grocery when they have them during holidays. Once they finish blooming, I transplant them in the garden. I’ve lost a few, but others are thriving, and blooming! Do you knw this plant? It’s a sweet bloom!
Happy Monday!
Gorgeous flowers Mary – your garden must be wonderful to be in! :) Thanks for the great info on hydrangeas too! Hope you have a lovely flowery day!
All your blooms are lovely, and your garden is so far ahead of us here…NUMMY for the Eyes!
Incredibly beautiful! Your window boxes are awesome! I love how the flowers are cascading like a waterfall, don’t cut them. All your other blooms are over-the-top lovely. Those hydrangeas, totally gorgeous. Hope my 2 bushes give me a few blooms this year instead of just leaves and I have fertilized so keeping my fingers crossed. Thank you Mary, loved the garden tour. 🌹🦋🐝 p.s. Oh my gosh, I almost forgot! I made the Lemon Blueberry loaf and it was so good! Loved it and so did hubby. Gave my sister the recipe also. Thanks so much Mary. 🍋♥️🍋♥️
Oh so pretty! Your hard work has paid off! Such beauty and such wonderful eye candy!
Thank you so much for your beautiful posts!
I love touring all the beautiful flower beds. Looks amazing. Thanks for sending all the beauty my way.
Lovely and o my gardeners can appreciate the time and effort in every last detail. When we cannot go on garden tours this summer, I will remember yours. Good choices and playing in the dirt is so much fun.
Wow what beautiful flowers! You have a lovely assortment of hydrangeas. Your annual planters are looking fabulous!
Everything is just lovely, you are one talented lady, everything is so lush and thankfully I picked up a tip from reading the comments and that is to feed my roses more often. Thank you for helping us to add more beauty to our world.
Always beautiful. Thanks so much for sharing the tip about alum on hydrangeas. I have some on my table right now that have been there a week and are still lovely!!!