An Early Evening in Mid-May (in Zone 8b)

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This is a passalong - a hydrangea from my Mother's garden in Virginia.  I don't know it's name, and I need to investigate this a bit, and come up with something.  Each year it gets these gorgeous balls of green - with green petals soon emerging - and each year the plant freezes back to the ground, where it starts all over again in the early spring.  I've found myself protecting this hydrangea, as well as other plants from my Mother's garden this spring - since now they make me feel as if she's with me, walking the paths between beds, perhaps sitting under the bald cypresses pulling up Florida betony.

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So, besides this beautiful hydrangea - the garden is jumpin'.  This is despite my sporadic attention - I find myself this season focusing on issues other than blooms - structure, architecture - the architecture of my garden - and now that my landscape 'plan' is in place, I've spent time removing the lower limbs from the bald cypress trees to open up a space for a shady walkway, mulched in cypress leaves - deciding where the additional beds on the sunny side of Pamdanistan will go, beds that will house herbs and cut flowers - mostly annuals that I love like zinnias and sunflowers and french marigolds and teepees of scarlet runner bean.  But yesterday, a day in mid-May - there was the fragrance of gardenias and confederate jasmine in the garden, there were hydrangeas in all stages of performance, there were salvias making the hummingbirds happy, and roses making those annoying beetles even happier, and there were the exquisite leaves of the climbing hydrangea...and I learned that my 'Empress of China' dogwood was blooming afterall, but blooming in a way that was less a rolling out of flower petals - but a slow and elegant emergence of petals....oh, and the pomegranates are in flower (outrageously so, as always) and how can one ignore the elephant garlic?  I never cook with it, I let it go to seed each year - because aren't those flower heads simply glorious?

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Once again, my thanks go out to May Dreams Garden for hosting Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - a ritual of observation (and documentation) that I am quite fond of.

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Comments

[Layanee]

I loved that link to the 'Seinfeld' post. I often feel that way also with my family! The picture of your Mom in the garden is lovely. She looks so dignified while gardening. Not a spec of dirt on her. Beautiful hydrangea buds and bloom day photos.

[Pam]

Thanks Layanee. It made me laugh, digging out that 'Big Mama's' post. I wish I had made it up - or was elaborating...but nope, not one bit. (And I have a photo of my Mom, working in my own garden, framed and sitting on my otherwise empty mantelpiece - since almost everything else is packed up).

[kate]

It never ceases to amaze me how many plants you have in bloom. The Hydrangea from your mum is exquisite ... so many good memories you have at Pamdanistan.

[Taylor]

That's it! If I ever manage to make it back to Charleston, I am spending an afternoon in your garden whether you like it or not!

I can't get over the variation of color and texture you have there. Glorious.

[Les]

Would your Hydrangea be H. arborescens 'Annabelle'?

[Pam]

Les, that was my best guess - at first I didn't think that
'Annabelle' did well in the warmer climates, but after further reading, I have found out that it does. You've confirmed what I was thinking, thanks!

Taylor, there is an open invitation - come anytime.

Kate, thanks - and I like that hydrangea too, and it looks like it might be Hydrangea arborescens 'Annabelle'.

[Carol, May Dreams Gardens]

Wonderful blooms in your garden right now, and a lot of variety, both in color and form. Thanks for joining us for bloom day again. I also enjoy the process of really observing and documenting the garden at least once a month.

[Annie in Austin]

We'll keep those passalongs connected to the ones we lost but still love, even if they're not great plants - but you've got some memory plants that are beautiful in their own right, Pam - like the hydrangea and zinnias.

I love the format you have set up for the flower portraits so that the name of the flower appears when the mouse hovers - what a lovely bloom day entry!

Annie at the Transplantable Rose

[Pat]

I think you should add another word to your blog's subtital, Pam: Beauty! And I love the Joy/Hendrix post...strangely, the melody and video were appropriate for each other. So creative!

[Pat]

BTW, I do know how to spell subtitle correctly.

[Pam]

Thanks Carol.

Annie, I would I could say that I intentionally set it up so that the file name pops up when the mouse goes over the image - but that's a mysterious typepad thing that just 'happens'. It is handy though (although I'm generally too lazy to go and look up the names of many of them - like the salvias on this post).

Thanks Pat. I think the fish video is a riot - my student's get all of the credit for the background music. (No worries about spelling typos around this place, by the way).