GBBD July 2014: month of extremes

This month started out with dry and hot weather.

A lot of watering was needed to keep plants in the garden

and in the container garden going.

Hydrangeas suffered most. A lot of flowerleaves got burnt.

Eventually, I decided to just pinch out those flowers

and that worked really well to make the Hydrangeas

more presentable again. Only the white Hydrangea flowers were

too much burnt to be able to be 'saved' still.

 

 

 

 

 

 After that first week of heat came two weeks of the other extreme,

a lot of wind and rain that is, blowing over plants in containers

and turning both garden and container garden into a mess.

 

 

I saw things from the positive side and cut

the broken Hydrangea branches to make the largest bouquet

of Hydrangea flowers I have ever had in the house.

 

 

 

Rain on petals can be pretty.

 

 

Today, there was no rain and a blue sky appeared.

Time to show what's blooming now.

Nothing to show for the garden but as I started

taking pictures in the container garden, I was amazed

at how many blooms there still were, even after

the devastation from the last two weeks.

No roses blooming right now but there are Hydrangea flowers,

some already fading, others just starting to show colour.

 

 

 

 

 

Hydrangeas had a lot to endure already this year.

Holes in leaves from large hail,

extreme heat and extreme wind and rain.

Still, such wonderful plants I wouldn't want to miss.

 

 

The white Echinacea just started to bloom.

 

 

 

Such a simple but beautiful flower. Really love it!

 

 

And sooner than ever before, Japanese Anemones are blooming already.

 

 

All in all, Hydrangeas take the lead this month

and have gone from starting to bloom to starting

to fade in a short time this year.

And with Echinacea and Anemones,

simple flowers have started to steal the show

on the terrace as well.

 

 

That's it for this month's GBBD.

More garden prettiness from all over the world can be found here.

 

 

 

 

Marian