Saturday, May 17, 2014

'Tis The Season For Flowers And Mulch

It's Spring and flowers are popping up everywhere!
Our youngest daughter gave me these beautiful white Hydrangeas for Mother's Day last week. 
They are still looking fresh.

I learned something new about hydrangeas last week. 
I didn't know that sometimes if they are kept out of water too long...such as a car ride home... that they can wilt. 

I don't ever think I've bought hydrangeas; I've always cut them out of my neighbor's yard (with her permission of course). 
You can see more of my neighbor's hydrangeas  in one of my tablescapes HERE

A quick search on Mr. Google told me how to fix that....just cut off about an inch of the stems under water and immediately dip the newly cut stems  in 2-3" of hot (just boiled) water for about 30 seconds.
Seems that if they are out of water for awhile, a sticky substance forms and clogs up the stem so that they can't soak up  water. 
After putting  put them in hot water, put the hydrangeas in some fresh water in a vase. 
They perk up in about 30 minutes.



Mr. DIY gave me 3 blue hydrangea plants for Mother's Day.



We planted them and they look great. I can't wait to cut flowers from these beauties!



The black tubing is the irrigation and will be buried underneath the mulch.



Speaking of beautiful hydrangeas, I propagated a new plant from  a cutting of this gorgeous hydrangea outside my doctors office. 
I sure hope I can keep it alive during the hot summer!




My peonies are currently blooming in the garden and I had to cut a few and bring them in. 




I love cutting fresh flowers in the garden. 



If you've been following me on Instagram, you know that I've been working hard in the garden spreading mulch. We had 300 bags of dyed mulch delivered and we bought 19 bags of regular hardwood mulch to spread around our raised beds. 
These were 4 full pallets of 75 bags. Our daughter's boyfriend spread the mulch in the front yard. 
I'm so glad he could help us out. 


Fresh mulch each Spring makes the whole yard look pretty.

I took this photo late yesterday  of the backyard garden path as some clouds were coming in. Mr. DIY was able to stop at the landscaping supply  before they closed and picked up a yard of Cypress chips for the garden path. 

We still have about 114 bags to spread this weekend. It's going to be gorgeous and perfect weather here ~ sunny and warm, but cool enough to work in the garden.

Will you be spending some time in your garden this weekend to plant your favorite flowers?

Pam

If you'd like to follow me on Instagram, click HERE


7 comments:

  1. Wow ~ that's a lot of mulch sista! ; ) Your yard is beautiful, especially your flowers. Our peonies are getting ready to bloom - ours are more white and very pretty but I love the soft pink color of yours. All of your hard work is really paying off!

    ReplyDelete
  2. You guys are so efficient! Your yard is immaculate and looks fabulous with the fresh mulch. My peonies are growing quickly but it will be June before I see flowers. I hope the hydrangeas do well for you- I'm sure they will. That one you are propogating is beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Do you rake out the old mulch before laying down the fresh? I have 1 peony bush that bloomed early last week. Every one of those blooms came inside so I could take a big whiff & bury my nose into those soft, ruffly petals. ahhhh...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Beautiful hydrangeas and peonies! My tree peony bloomed a couple of weeks ago. My others are all ready to pop. I can't wait! Your mulching looks beautiful. What a huge job, especially dealing with all of those bags. I hope you have lots of advil. :)

    Pam

    ReplyDelete
  5. We just finished adding dirt & new mulch. We put down 120 bags. Not nearly as much as you but it sure was tiring! I have managed to keep a hydrangea alive for a year & IT'S BLOOMING!! I'm soooo excited!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh my goodness…. what a job! We use about 10 bags and think that's a lot!!! Looks just beautiful Pam (and Mr. DIY!)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wow...that is a lot of mulch...your flowers are gorgeous...I would love to plant peonies!...

    ReplyDelete

Leave a comment and let me know you stopped by! If you are not on blogger, leave me your email or some other way of getting in touch with you in the comment. That way I can reply to your question or comment.