Summer Garden Blooms Around The Potting Shed: Hydrangeas, Daylilies and More

Happy Monday!

 I’m sharing a summer garden update and blooms around The Potting Shed!

 We’re in the upper 90s this week, so Mrs. Powers says to grab yourself something

cold to drink and a hat to keep the sun off your face!

🌸👒🥤

Warning: photo heavy post ahead

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Last week was a wet one with storms moving through that brought 2 1/2 inches of rain in an afternoon!

Our dry creek bed was overflowing with more water than it could handle.

In contrast, this week is going to be hot and dry with the heat index in the triple digits. . . I’ll be wishing for some of that rain to save myself from having to lug the hose around!

Daylilies are having their day in the sun and are a perennial worth repeating!

In the garden world of high-maintenance flowers and finicky foliage ( -> I’m looking at you roses ) daylilies are proof that summer garden beauty doesn’t have to be difficult and challenging.

With a little sun, daylilies will reward you summer after summer with waves of color. . .

no green thumb required!

I caught ‘daylily fever’ from my mother-in-law, whose garden was filled with so many beautiful varieties. When my father-in-law passed away, things were hectic and we neglected to divide some of her daylilies to bring home before she sold her house. When we drove by her house a couple of years later, all the daylilies were gone with new landscaping in place. . . *sniff*.

Daylilies offer unmatched beauty and reliability for your summer landscape. They’re resilient, thrive in heat, are drought tolerant once established, and grow in a wide range of soil types.

Whether you plant them in a sunny border, on a slope to control erosion, or as a naturalized mass, they’re quick to establish and multiply over time.

Originally, daylily colors were limited to yellow, orange, and rusty-red. When most people think of daylilies, they think of ‘Stella De Oro,’ the most widely grown daylily variety, but there are nearly 90,000 daylily cultivars registered with the American Daylily Society!

Hybridizers have made great strides over the years and daylilies are now available in a rainbow of colors and multi-colored patterns.

The daylily’s botanical name, Hemerocallis, means “beauty for a day” as each bloom only remains open for a single day.

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, lasting several weeks or even months in mid to late summer.

One of the best things about daylilies is how low maintenance they are, but a few simple practices will help you get the most blooms from your plants:

🌸 Plant in full sun for best bloom production (6+ hours of sunlight is ideal).

🌸 Water regularly during the first growing season to establish strong roots.

🌸 Deadhead spent blooms to tidy plants and prevent unnecessary seed development which diminishes the following year’s flower production.

🌸 Divide clumps every 5 years in early spring or late fall to rejuvenate growth and increase bloom power.

Daylilies have six stamens, each with an anther at the tip that holds pollen. . .

The pollen attracts bees, butterflies and even hummingbirds.

Bee activity has picked up in the garden. . .

The Chaste Tree really burst into bloom this past week and was buzzing with dozens of bees. . .

note the pollen basket on this bumblebee!

Soft, silvery stalks of Lamb’s Ear with their pinkish-purple

colored flowers are a bee magnet . . .

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.

Earth Laughs in Flowers Art Pole Outdoor Decorative Garden Post 

Endless Summer Hydrangeas have been blooming for a month now.

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

Early season flowers are produced from buds on old wood from the previous year,

with the new season’s growth pushing blooms later in the summer.

The hydrangeas have been living their best garden life with all our rain the last several weeks. . .

they will not be happy with our spike in temperatures and dry conditions in the forecast!

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.

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

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

Endless Summer Hydrangeas can be blue or pink depending on your soil’s pH level,

turning blue in acidic soil and pink in alkaline soil.

When fertilizing Endless Summer Hydrangeas, give your reblooming hydrangeas the fuel they need

with a slow-release granular fertilizer labeled ‘bloom boost,’

and higher level of phosphorus, the nutrient that promotes flower formation,

like Schultz Bloom Plus Slow-Release Plant Food (12-24-12).

(Phosphorus is the middle number in the N-P-K nutrient label.) 

Fertilize Endless Summer Hydrangeas when you see green foliage begin to emerge from the bases of the stems

in the spring, and again after the first set of blooms fade.

To make way for the new flowers, snip off the faded blooms,

pruning away each flower head down to the first set of leaves.

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

pine needles and coffee grounds.

For quicker results, use a soil acidifier product,

following the directions on the package to produce blue flowers.

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

If you missed it, find how to add more flowers to your landscape or garden for free with this easy step-by-step guide. You can use this same simple method to propagate other hardy and tender perennials, deciduous shrubs, and even some trees.

Flowers Sign Vertical – Carved in a 10″ x 40″ Solid Wood Board

Flowers Sign Horizontal

What’s blooming in your garden?

Are you hot, wet or dry?

Thank you for buzzing by! 🐝

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Metamorphosis Monday