dianaschnuth

[Taken 3 August 2013]

I have three varieties of hydrangeas growing on my property: several mophead (Hydrangea macrophylla) ‘Nikko Blue’ hydrangeas (which I only identified so specifically from a long-ago nursery tag I found); one purple lacecap (Hydrangea macrophylla normalis) hydrangea, and this Hydrangea paniculata, which is probably about 8′ tall and just as wide.

The flowers start out a light greenish color, then bloom full to white, and take on a dusty rose-colored cast in the fall. Around Thanksgiving this year, I cut a few of the dried flowerheads to put in an autumn/winter vase with some decorative pebbles.

[Taken 9 April 2013]

These daffodils were some of the first flowers to show their heads last Spring. There are also some pink hyacinth popping up in the background.This is the flower bed right next to our back door, under the kitchen window.

The conspicuously bare branches near the pink hyacinth belong to the Japanese maple and the butterfly bush. (The butterfly bush took so long to come back to life — early summer, as I recall — that I wondered if it was actually dead.)

Same with the clematis — it’s just out of frame to the right, but it was just a dead-looking plant on a tall metal trellis for most of the Spring. Once it finally came out of dormancy and bloomed, I discovered that it’s the kind that blooms in June and repeat flowers, and needs to be cut back to 12″ every now and then (as my former landscaping guy recommended).

But the clematis is a post for another day. For now, the countdown begins: only 11 more weeks until I see some color in my yard again!

[Taken 9 May 2013]

This currently unidentified red flower peony Alexander Woolcott bloomed before I could get my landscaper in to help identify all the plants and flowers on my property. The long leaves in the foreground belong to this plant; the wider ones in the back are the hollyhocks’ leaves (long before they bloomed).

It got cut to the ground with the rest of the perennials during the fall cleanup, so hopefully it comes back next Spring so I can try to figure out what it is. I really liked it.

Update, 12/30: I Googled double red flower yellow center to find images that looked like the above, and I’m 95% sure this is peony Alexander Woolcott. Given the number of other peonies on the property, I’m not surprised.