Window Boxes and Summer Garden Blooms Around the Potting Shed

Happy Monday!

 I’m sharing the window boxes in bloom and summer garden flowers

around the Potting Shed!

 Photo heavy post ahead, so grab something cool to drink and get comfy. :)

The window boxes were planted with an assortment of sun-loving annuals after our frost date in mid April.

They’re filled with petunias, Blackie sweet potato vine and coleus,

for colorful foliage that will be showy long after the petunias fade.

Endless Summer Hydrangeas are blooming!

You can see in the photo above that the ones planted in a pot are pink,

while the ones in the ground are blue.

Endless Summer Hydrangeas are a re-blooming bigleaf variety of hydrangea

(Hydrangea macrophylla) that can be blue or pink depending on your soil’s pH level,

turning blue in acidic soil and pink in alkaline soil.

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I highly recommend planting an Endless Summer Hydrangea if you have room in your landscape.

They mature to 3 – 5 feet in height and width and are hardy in USDA zones 4 – 9.

 Note: For new gardeners, a USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map is the standard by which gardeners can determine which plants are most likely to thrive at a location. You can look up your hardiness zone by zipcode, here.

Hydrangeas need sun to bloom, preferring morning sun with afternoon shade,

 especially in the hot and humid South. . .just like me. ;)

For blues and purples, the soil pH should be between 5.5 to 5.8.

Use a 3-in-1 Meter to determine your soil’s pH.

You can amend your soil to become more acidic by adding composted oak leaves,

pine needles and coffee grounds, or for quicker results,

use a soil acidifier product with Aluminum Sulphate,

following the directions on the package to produce blue flowers.

Garden lime will increase soil alkalinity and keep hydrangeas pink in color.

I’m often asked what fertilizer I use on our hydrangeas.

I’ve had great success with Pennington UltraGreen Azalea, Camellia & Rhododendron Plant Food,

 formulated for acid-loving plants.

In our zone 7b garden, I apply the fertilizer to the hydrangeas the beginning of March

and give them a second dose in July.

To promote a second flush of blooms, snip off faded flowers, pruning to the first set of leaves.

We’ve had hydrangeas will bloom until frost, which is typically November in North Carolina.

Mid-June is peak daylily season!

You can’t beat daylilies for their reliability,

hardiness and big, colorful blooms in the garden!

The daylily’s botanical name, Hemerocallis, means “beauty for a day”

as each bloom only remains open for a single day. Depending on the variety,

the bloom season can last 30 to 40 days or sometimes longer.

Blooming starts in late spring and can continue into early fall.

Flowers appear on stalks called ‘scapes’, with multiple flowers

blooming on a single scape. Each daylily plant has numerous scapes and

can produce hundreds of flowers in a season.

To keep the plants looking their best,

snap off the spent flowers, taking care not to break off nearby buds.

For best results, plant daylilies where they’ll get six hours or more of direct sunlight each day.

Daylilies will grow in partial shade, but produce fewer flowers.

Daylilies are easy to transplant, quick to multiply and relatively free from pests.

They can be enjoyed as a pop of color in a garden bed among other perennials

or massed together and planted in drifts.

Daylilies will grow for many years with little attention,

but will produce more flowers if they are divided about every 5 years.

Divide daylilies after the plants have finished blooming in late summer or early fall.

To divide, dig up the entire plant and cut or pull the clump apart.

You can keep the divisions larger or you can divide the plant into individual fans.

The fans can then be planted close together to fill in areas of your garden

. Before replanting, trim the foliage back to a height of about 6 inches and cover with 1 to 2 inches of mulch.

Daylilies also attract pollinators, including butterflies, bees and even hummingbirds.

This Eastern Black Swallowtail is enjoying a favorite daylily variety. . .

‘Lake Norman Sunset’ Daylily

I’ll leave you with another Lake Norman Sunset. :)

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 Between Naps on the Porch