Growing up in New York, my family loved the blue hydrangeas that lined our driveway. My mother started them from clippings from my grandmother’s garden. And when my mother and father moved some 50 years later, I took cuttings back to California and made starts for my brother and sisters. Today, all of us— including my nephew—have an affinity for blue hydrangeas. So I was thrilled to find a mature blue hydrangea at our home in West Linn, as I never could grow blue ones in Oakland. Here it is in late May, just getting started.
Here it is on June 14th, turning a deep almost turquoise blue!
A view of the blue hydrangeas and the roses in our cutting bed on June 17.
The view of the same shrubs from our bathroom window at 8 pm on June 18th. I can soak in our Jacuzzi and admire the view—our own Zen sanctuary!
Our roses have taken off— these were planted two years ago. Now the line our cutting bed— they are tall enough for me to cut long-stemmed roses!. The ones on the right are very aromatic—salmon pink roses aptly named “Heavenly Scent”.
Another view of Heavenly Scent.
Peonies and roses in our cutting bed.
These roses were planted three years ago and provide great color outside our bedroom window.
Candy Cane and California Gold roses in our veggie garden.
Last year we made a new bed on both sides of our new deer fence and planted lilies, coreopsis and ornamental oregano, which were tiny plugs when planted a year ago.
We also made two new beds by the front. Here are Kniphofia (red hot pokers) with the roses in the cutting bed and midnight blue penstamon in the cutting bed yeond.
In late May we still had some peonies (pink on left), the iris were coming into bloom as was the yellow yarrow in the bed behind our shop.
Keep this in mind— the Japanese maples in spring. Come fall, the green one turns bright red and the red one fades.
