Around The Potting Shed: Window Boxes and Summer Garden Blooms

Happy Tuesday!

 I’m sharing a June garden update with the window boxes in bloom

and summer garden flowers around The Potting Shed!

Photo heavy post ahead, we’re in the 90s this week so

Mrs. Powers says to grab yourself something

cold to drink and a hat to keep the sun off your face. :)

Last week was a very wet one, with 4 inches of rain,

saving me from having to do any watering,

but requiring lots of weeding this week!

This post contains affiliate links. For more information see my disclosure policy.

Verbena Lollipop is growing like a weed!

It’s hardy in USDA zones 6 – 10, prefers full sun in well-drained soil,

and is a pollinator favorite, attracting bees, butterflies and hummingbirds.

It makes me happy that it self sows but it’s not for gardeners who like things ‘tidy’.

It can pop up everywhere, which may or may not be a good thing,

depending on your gardening style and landscape.

I fall in the ‘not so tidy’ category of gardening, so don’t worry about it sprouting up.

Verbena Lollipop grows 24 – 36 inches tall at maturity and tolerates the heat which is critical

in the hot and humid South and blooms through fall.

This is the second year with Charles Darwin, a David Austin Rose.

I thought it was yellow when I ordered it, so I

 looked it up to see if I remembered the color correctly

when it first bloomed last year.

I read that it has a reputation for being inconsistent in color, emerging as yellow, apricot,

or cream with a blush of pink, depending on the weather.

The first year blooms were a pale cream with a hint of apricot

and then deeper apricot, but a far cry from yellow.

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.

I’ve had several readers ask about the fertilizer I use for my window boxes.

Miracle-Gro Bloom Booster is my ‘go-to’ fertilizer for summer annuals and containers.

I apply it every two weeks to my containers and window boxes starting in the spring,

upping the frequency to every 7 days during the heat of summer when I’m

watering more frequently, to help ‘boost the bloom’!

Endless Summer Hydrangeas have been blooming for a couple of weeks now.

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.

This post contains affiliate links. For more information see my disclosure policy.

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.

We have a couple of BloomStruck Hydrangeas planted by the Potting Shed.

BloomStruck is a newer addition to the Endless Summer collection of reblooming hydrangeas.

BloomStruck has red-purple stems and like other Endless Summer Hydrangeas,

blooms on old wood from last year’s growth and the new growth of summer.

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

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

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 mid-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.

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.

In hot climates, dark-colored varieties of daylilies will benefit from some

afternoon shade, to help them retain their flower color.

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. :)

What’s blooming in your garden?

Thanks for buzzing by!

🐝 🐝 🐝

As an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. If you purchase anything through an affiliate link, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Thank you for your visit, sharing with:

 Between Naps on the Porch