Hydrangeas here were zapped in April (and May too). But yours is very nice. And that buddleia has huge trusses. Yes, the bees and butterflies usually prefer plants other than daylilies.

I love your hydrangea and your heuchera collection! Thanks for sharing your other shrubs and perennials!

I always enjoy looking at your pictures! Your hydrangea is beautiful. What a nice variety of plants in your garden.

Lori

Beautiful plants. Some of those don't do well for me. I have tried and tried to grow gardenias with no success. I know they grow here because I see them. I guess I haven't found the right spot or the right kind.

If you are successful in growing Gardenias you are one lucky gal. I gave up long ago, but my neighbor tries one every spring (she's failed to get one to last more then a couple of years). Of course our soil has too high a ph for them and we are one zone too cold, but she keeps hoping. Is yours the fragrant kind?....I'm so glad to see a bed shot of the Black and Blue Salvia. I wondered how showy it would be in the garden. How tall does yours get?........Maryl

Ah, beautiful. My hydrangea has barely started blooming, & nothing yet from my butterfly bushes or Black & Blue salvia. The salvia is sold as an annual here-they used to label it a perennial. Mine has returned every year in this one spot, but refuses to return anywhere else, even in more protected areas. My original hot lips salvia that I got last year didn't return. Fortunately I started a couple of cuttings last fall & they are doing fine & blooming, just small. I'm hoping I can get something similar to yours.

I am in an areas where gardenias are happy to grow. Nothing I do at all. Yes, they are fragrant, and they bloom in the late spring/early summer, sporadic blooms through out the summer, and they bloom again in fall. That bush often has some blooms until the first freeze. I have had blooms in December. If I feed them they bloom even more, but they bloom regardless. the larger gardenias are just budded, but haven't bloomed out yet. The mopheads on the hydrangeas are much smaller than usual and will probably get larger as the summer progresses. It is an "Endless Summer variety. My son declares that the Salvia (and they are all perennial here) is on steroids. I do not ever fertilize it. Maryl, the black and blue gets four to five feet tall and only the other Salvia can compete with it. I am constantly having to pull up volunteers that escape the bed.

Before you get jealous, remember that lilacs, and many other plants that grow beautifully for you will not grow here at all.

Thank you all for looking and commenting. And Ruth, look for a spot that gets water...the biggest one I ever had was planted next to a water tap, ad it got regular wter...Bush and the flowers were huge!

kay

love the garden plant photos. that butterfly bush!!! I was considering one but I water daylilies too much and not sure where I could put one. hmmmm :)

Thanks for the information on the Salvia Kay....Perhaps if Gardenias grew well around here we wouldn't want them so much, but they don't. I do love the fragrance..........Maryl