in the garden - the first hydrangeas

Our Oakleaf and Endless Summer hydrangeas at our front entrance have started blooming.

This is our favourite spot to sit in the morning with our coffee, and in the evening, once the kids are in bed, with a glass of wine.

The Endless Summer variety is called Blushing Bride, and they're white with just a hint of pink as the blooms are fully opened. The continue to bloom through the summer (hence their name). This is the first year they have really established themselves, and had lots of blooms. I do give them a little extra water when it's really hot with little rain, otherwise they can look a little wilted.

 

Beside them are the Oakleaf hydrangeas. Their blooms are massive, and the leaves are a really interesting shape (like a giant Oak leaf). They take on a more rust-colour as the summer ends, which is pretty for Fall.

Now is a great time to buy them at a reduced price, though it's really ideal to plant them in the Fall or Spring. If you're local, Ridgeview Garden Centre in Grimsby is closing and all of their shrubs and trees are up to 80% off. I picked up a couple of Hydrangeas for in pots by our door, and a few Boxwoods, and they were all 30% off. In the spring, Vermeer's in Fonthill also does a big Earth Day sale, and all of their previous year's perennials are (I'm fairly certain) 50% off.

Fall in the Garden

I love having a garden full of white flowers, but when the Summer fades and Fall arrives, something wonderful happens. My all white garden transforms into pretty shades of greens and pinks and reds and golds.

The Anemones that I planted early this Spring have been in full bloom for weeks now. They are tall, delicate flowers that open and close with the sun.

Pumpkins now sit on our front step, welcoming all who enter.

Though we have many farm stands selling pumpkins around us, most only have pie pumpkins and tradition orange carving pumpkins. I had to drive to a few stands in neighboring towns to find more unique varieties. I love the beautifully shaped Cinderella pumpkins (front), the Ghost pumpkins (white, in the back) and the interesting varieties of Hubbard and Acorn squash.

My Hydrangeas have started turning a deeper shade of green with pink tips as the temperatures drop lower at night.

I also finally decided to paint the front door. It's now the same colour as our shutters, and I love it lighter.

    

The Ivy has started turning a brilliant shade of red.

And, we've even enjoyed a few late Raspberries.

The Front Yard - Landscape

I'm quite thrilled to show you how we've made on in our front yard.

Truth be told, I wasn't sure how we were going to pull it off. Neither Ryan, nor myself, are in any way professional landscapers, and aside from enjoying gardening, we have little experience doing any sort of landscape design.

However, after finally deciding to decommission our existing septic system, and hook up to town septic lines, our front yard was utterly destroyed. To be fair to the crew, they did their best to work around my well established lilac bushes, and they even managed the save a small white pine we had planted when we first bought the house. But everything else had to go. 

We literally started from scratch.

The entire front yard was scraped and leveled. This was a huge amount of work. Because we were on a tight budget, we did everything ourselves, except this part. Our neighbor luckily has a small excavator, and was able to do this for a very reasonably price.

After that, we were on our own. Once we had a blank slate, we mapped out where our new walkway would go, and where the sod would end and gardens would begin. We put in a large flagstone walk, which allowed for access to the front door from both the main drive, and the extra parking space. We had no idea how hard this would be.

Next we built up beds for gardens. We more than tripled the amount of garden space, which once established, will provide a great deal of privacy. After gardens were put in, the entire front lawn was given a layer of top soil, and we laid sod. Our property is on an angle, and no matter how hard we tried to come up with a symmetrical design, something curved and free-flowing worked much better.

Finally came the planting, which was my favourite part. I think I visited over 20 garden centers in the area. I had a very specific list of perennials that I was looking for.

After the work was finished on the yard, we decided to spruce up the house a little. We've never really done anything to the exterior, and as I mentioned before, our budget was small. But, a little paint on the eves and shutters went a very long way. It'll look even better in a couple weeks once the new roof is installed.

Spending money on your septic is so unrewarding. If you're going to invest a large amount of money in your home, you hope to at least have the benefit of enjoying the results. However, now, each time we come home and walk up our front walk, we do just that! It's so nice to have a yard and gardens again.

You can see here that we still need to install our edging posts around the extra parking space. I'm also on searching for two larger lanterns to mount on either side of the door, and a new fixture for above it. I think this will bring more balance to the entrance.

My goal was to create a full, multi-levelled garden that blooms throughout the year. Once matured, the garden will have entirely filled in. All of the lower front plants are wild Geraniums and a couple varieties of Anemonies which spread and have beautiful white blooms. In the back, for height, I planted Dogwood and Vibernum bushes. These will get quite large, and create privacy. There is also a white Magnolia tree, a Peony tree, and a dwarf Cypress tree planted.

I grouped varieties of Hydrangeas together to create more of an impact. I also have a few varieties of Peonies planted to break up a the design a little, and flowering Woodruff as low ground cover.

Here you can see how established my Limelight Hydrangeas are, to the right of the house. I'm looking forward to seeing the entire garden established.

Between the houses here is where my Lilac bushes are. Unfortunately they are now quite sparse. I've planted a new Lilac in the back corner, as well as another Vibernum, which in time, will fill out this empty space.

This is my Mother-in-law's garden. The landscape design was done years ago by some of Ryan's best friends. I love how it's evolved and filled out perfectly over time. I used many of the same plants like the Dogwoods and Anemonies and Woodruff.

Now I just have to patiently wait. 

Hydrangeas in the Garden

My mostly green gardens have erupted into a sea of splendid white blooms.

Tonight, they are heavy and bent low from the summer rains.

My Pee Gee hydrangeas are fully in bloom in the front gardens. It's their first year and I'm please with how well they've come along. These were the ones that I picked up from our local garden center for $10 on Earth Day.

My Annabelle hydrangeas are fully open, and nearly finished with the heat. They are my earliest bloomers.

Our sod has filled in nicely, and we are so happy to have the landscaping done in the front. However, I can't wait to see everything established and fill in over the next few years.

My Limelight hydrangeas are enormous! They have entirely filled out my from garden and stand more than 8 feet tall. 

My Bombshell hydrangeas, one of my earlier bloomers, have started showing the slightest hints of pink.

This variety, Bridal Veil, is new to my back gardens. It's similar to a Mophead hydrangea, or Lacecap.

I even got a few large blooms from my newly planted Oakleaf hydrangeas. They've been planted all along the garage, and I can't wait to see them established. They're so majestic looking with their large, shapely foliage and handsome blooms.

Our hedgerow isn't a variety of Hydrangea, but it does flower and is quite fragrant.

And my beautiful flagstone walkway that Ryan spent days working on. 

I couldn't be happier with it, dear!