Talk of the garden
It's always fascinating to see which plants are going to get the buzz during a garden tour. This year the winners were the usual: henryi lilium, strobilanthes (Persian Sheild), and-a new contender-the Alpenglow hydrangea.
Now, this was interesting. Because they weren't so much admiring the plant as much as pressing me for what I add to the soil to make it the deep pink it is. This image does not really do that justice, so take my word-it is a very deep, true pink.
This is the damage that the changeable Endless Summer and other hydrangeas have done. People are just assuming they have to add stuff to create color-and in my experience that never really works, by the way. Just according to what I have seen: your milage may vary.
What I do is buy a named cultivar that stays the color it's supposed to be no matter what. I add nothing. But boy were people giving me an argument about it. It seems the gardening world (at least that portion that attends Garden Walk) now assumes all mopheads morph according to additives.
Oh, this oriental lily hybrid ("Amazing") got a lot of compliments as well.
Comments
So all's well that ends well.
Funny how people always try to make gardening difficult by adding this and that. They need to just relax and let nature take its course.
He'd love to get a glimpse of your blog !!
The whole Garden Walk phenomenon has grown into something remarkable. It's a grassroots annual tourist attraction, as much fun to watch as it is to partake in. Congratulations!
You need a rose book, but try for one that advises organic growing. New transplants will take some time to settle in.