I hope my hydrangea bed is finally done!!! :-)

16 years ago

Thanks to all of your great ideas and advice, I think that my hydrangea bed could finally be done! George, Luis and Bogie - your suggestion of a sun-tolerant rhododendron was absolutely perfect - look, I found an Olga Mezitt on Friday! It is gorgeous and I love it! It is now sitting between my Limelight and Quick Fire on the left. It is also a main focus as one approaches the bed from the driveway. Here it is:

The photo was taken this afternoon, before I got the top soil in - it looked so much better afterwards but then it was too dark to take a photo though.... anyway, you see that I have changed things around quite a bit. The biggest change is the Olga Mezitt, which is flanked by the Cherry Cheeks daylilies on the left. Apart from the Olga Mezitt, I have put in more evergreen shrubs in there now, to create the backbone for the winter garden. You may notice that there are 2 Gold Lace Junipers and 2 Blue Chip Junipers now in the center. The Gold Lace should get to be about 3 feet tall, but the Blue Chip will stay low as it is but spread out quite a bit. Then between the Limelight and Sambucus Black Lace at the back on the left, I have put in a little Vintage Gold Cypress. The Sugar Tyme Crabapple at the back of the bed is now flanked by a pair of Golden Princess spirea.

Then on the right, the Pinky Winky and Little Lamb are now separated by the Physocarpus Summer Wine, which is contrasted by the adjacent Gold Lace Juniper. In front of the Gold Lace Juniper is a triangular planting of 3 Barbara Mitchell daylilies, which should provide some nice foliage contrast to the adjacent Little Lamb hydrangea and Bowl of Beauty peonies.

Sorry to be boring you with all these details, but I am so excited about this new flower bed!

Thanks again for all your helpful suggestions - keep them coming! :-)

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Comments (16)

ego45
16 years ago
Ostrich, you've earned my seal of approval! LOL!

For the next year:
-find a blue-purple group 3 vigorous clematis (something like a Jackmanii) and let it grow/meandering without support all over the bed. I see it planted somewhere between two yellow junipers,
-geraniums Rozanne or Jolly Bee planted anywhere in this bed will provide long lasting blue,
-think about nepeta 'Walker Low' as an underplanting between peonies and on a far left and right ends of the bed,
-think about possibility to use your Limelight as a support for another group 3 clematis (possibly less vigorous than Jackmanii).
Good luck and enjoy, you did a great job!
ostrich
Original Author
16 years ago
Thank you, George! Your "seal of approval" is really important to me, seriously!!! :-)

I see your point about having some blue/purple in there. In fact, what I will do is to transplant a couple of Salvia Marcus there from another bed there. These salvias have not been doing too well in that spot because it was a bit too moist and shaded there. I am sure that they will love being in this bed because of the increased level of sunlight there!

Since I got some Geranium Jolly Bee already in the opposite bed, I may not repeat it here... also, I got some nepeta Walker's Low in the bed not so far away too! You know, we like the same plants!!! LOL

Anyway, I do see your point though, and will add some blue/purple colors there next season. Thanks!

I can't wait until next spring! :-)
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yellowgirl
16 years ago
Hi Ostrich,

Spending the time and energy to get it right in the beginning is well worth the effort. Can't wait to see (and I have faith that you will post) next season's pics. Lookin good...yg
ostrich
Original Author
16 years ago
yg, thank you so much! It was certainly quite a team effort, with a lot of great information and advice from many people here on this forum! Yes, it was certainly worth it! Thank you again.
bogie
16 years ago
It's looking good! It is always so satisfying when we can pat ourselves on the back for a job well done!
ostrich
Original Author
16 years ago
Bogie, thank you so much! I really love having Ms. Olga M there - she looks wonderful! I do very much appreciate your input. Thanks!
ego45
16 years ago
By its own nature Olga Mezit have an open habit (vs more tight/dense habit of PJM) which IMO is a nice feature in naturalistic plantings where shrubs ment to grow into each other without featuring them as individual focal points.
However, if this is not what you want in this particular situation, I'd suggest to prune off about 1/2 of the new growth every year in a first 3-4 years after planting in order to create more dense branch structure. Pruning should be done within 1 month after the flowering in order not to interfere with next year flowering buds formation.
ostrich
Original Author
16 years ago
George, thank you for this very helpful information. I really appreciate it!

BTW, so far, my Olga looks pretty dense and the leaves are pretty small. We shall see how it looks by next year! I may have some pruning to do then :-)

Thanks again!
luis_pr
16 years ago
Enjoy Olga, ostrich:

{{gwi:504756}}

(Photo taken from a trip to New Hampshire this week. Is yours like that in Ohio?)
ostrich
Original Author
16 years ago
WOW! Luis, that is really pretty! I love the reddish color against the yellow mums - it's gorgeous!

Unfortunately, we don't have the same colors in Ohio yet... we have had such a drought all summer, and now the temperature is up in the 70's again (which I am NOT complaining about! LOL) so the foliage color is all messed up this year... but it's nice to see your photo! LOL!

Thanks, Luis!
bogie
16 years ago
Hey Louis, hoped you enjoyed your trip up here! We were really dry during the summer, which affected our fall foliage a bit, but there has still been plenty of nice color. Yesterday it was in the 80's (in southern NH) but the temps will be falling back down to normal in the next day or so.
luis_pr
16 years ago
I had a great time, bogie. I went to check up on my MIL who lives in Groveland Mass but took a scenic tour around Peterborough/et al one day and anothertownwhosenameescapesmenow on another occasion. The foliage color change was still impressive. We do get some here in Texas but it is not the same thing. Trees in MA/NH/VT are huge compared to those that grow in northcentral Texas.
luis_pr
16 years ago
For example, many of the trees in the background are 2-3 stories high. That is difficult to achieve here because we get less moisture. I suppose some people can but it gets expensive $$$:
bogie
16 years ago
Glad you had a good time. The Peterborough area is nice for taking in the scenery - especially on a bike. I am still awed by the fall colors after 20 years of living here (originally from Kansas).
ego45
16 years ago
Talking about fall colors

{{gwi:279642}}

Ostrich, sorry for off-topic :-))
ostrich
Original Author
16 years ago
Luis, Bogie and George - please post away these absolutely gorgeous photos! I just love New England during fall. So very beautiful indeed! Thank you for posting them!

Now, George, don't tell me that is your backyard - is it!? It's so beautiful!!! We have LOUSY fall colors here in NE Ohio this year, due to the summer drought and the unseasonably warm fall. I am so envious of all these colors.... sigh....

I hope my hydrangea bed is finally done!!! :-)

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I hope my hydrangea bed is finally done!!! :-)

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