Gardening in Spring, 2014 (IV): Hydrangea

Finally after almost 3 years since it was introduced to the garden, our hydrangea is going to bloom this year.

It has been a anxiety-making process since the first flower buds were discovered beneath folded leaves in early May. I started to look for information regarding the ways in which to ensure its blossoms. Many days were spent worrying about slight signs of invasion of insects; many more days were wasted on wondering if my home-concocted insecticide would damage those flourishing mopheads.

In the end, despite all my concerns, they seem all managed to emerge from their leafy cradles and get ready for their time: the rainy season.

Our hydrangea is supposed to yield flowers of the colour of lazurite. However, given that the colour of hydrangea is determined by the pH of soil, and that it has been 3 years since its arrival, I do not know what shade I should expect this year. No discrimination against other colours though. Yet, I still think the colour of lazurite gives a mysterious and regal look, while others seem too amicable. Therefore, after all the worries regarding whether it would bloom or not, my new anxiety is as to what shade the flowers would be. (Will there be an end???!!!) Some research on the Internet told me that the level of acidity in the soil has to be reduced; therefore, I started covering the ground around its root with used ground coffee and tea leaves, which are expected to balance the pH level.

Today, I spotted an almost invisible tint of blue at the edge of one of the greenish white petals, a diluted shade which my camera is doomed to miss, and which is very likely undetectable to others.

Fingers crossed for lazurite blue.

Update on 4/June/2014

The mopheads are growing under unexpected heat before the rainy season, which is bound to start tomorrow. The shade of the petals is changing everyday, and excitingly the colour of blue seems to be emerging!

Update on 10 June, 2014

The photo was taken on the third day of the rainy season, which kicked off with a quite unbelievable pour.  Regrettably, the mopheads look very pale with only a very light tinge of blue and purple on some edges of petals. Yet, I am already very grateful to the blossoms.

Gardening before Rainy Season 2014 (V): Lavender

Quietly lavenders have also joined the ensemble in the garden. They smell wonderfully sweet as everybody knows. The shade of lavender looks best in early dawn, when the air is still moist and somehow grey. Strong sun beam easily discolours their soft tone and disables camera to see it.





Update on 8 June, 2014

It has been pouring since the day before yesterday when the rainy season officially kicked off. Many of the lavenders have been bent by the heavy rain. I rescued some of them to be displayed in a newly-adopted flower vase.

Gardening in Spring, 2014 (III)

The front yard

Distant Drums and California Poppies

Compliments from passers-by these days really flattered my vanity.
I have heard that parents who helplessly admire their own babies for no reason are considered foolish. I guess, along with this logic, I would be a foolishly infatuated gardener.

Poppies and Roses are blooming at their peak despite the howling wind of printemp in Japan.

Corn Poppies

 This is the first corn poppy in the yard. There is a long story about the ways in which I simply uprooted all of its sprouts imagining that they would be invasive weeds. Thanks to my poor vision though, some have survived my destructive hands, and now it is blooming like beautiful a red saucer.

The Blue Moon

Voluminous, gently coloured and fragrant are the Blue Moon. I sometimes wonder how I would count roses, since that the blossoms are as big as one's palm. Perhaps, a head of rose?

Gardening in Spring, 2014 (II)

Here is a collection of roses this year. In general, they are doing pretty well compared with last year. Royal sunset and distant drums have probably adapted themselves to their new home well enough to produce very healthy-looking flowers.

While the distant drum is shorter in build, the royal sunset winds its way to the top of a spire that is fixed on the ground. 

Royal Sunset

Distant Drums

Our blue moon is an old friend in the garden. It has never failed to amaze us over the past three years; however, after its first blossom last week, the following flowers, though abundant in quantity, look smaller in size.

I was unable to cut back one main stem of the blue moon last winter, and now, despite that it still manages to pride itself on carrying more than a handful of buds, it seems to be too tall to balance the bush.

The Blue Moon

Garden in Spring, 2014 (I)

Our garden has been blooming all the way since March after a frosty February. Exciting!

I have unknowingly developed this strange anxiety about posting photos of flowers on fb, worrying that I would be bombarding others with my personal hobby. In the end, photos of, for instance, babies are definitely more inviting and exciting. Therefore, for the time being, I would grow my private interest here instead.

I sometimes felt funny that when the public side of the self gets too much publicized, there is a tendency in me to privatize it.

In a Christmas party last year, a neighbour said that he always saw me in the garden. I understood that he meant no harm; however, it is difficult for me to take it as a compliment, given that most adult females in this neighbourhood are young mothers preoccupied with their toddlers. I have been feeling a certain degree of pressure on childless couple, who have had too much time to spend on plants. (I do believe, however, I would never abandon the lives in the garden even if there are other lives in the household.)

Comparatively, I believe, I made much less efforts in my garden than the years before. Apart from giving regular fertilizer and water last winter, I did minimum. However, when the first sign of life showed up in spring, this obsession with the vegetable matter was duly awakened.  

Here are some of this year's highlights.

Baby's breath spirea in March, 2014

Tulips in April, 2014

Tulips in April, 2014 

Flower buds of peony in April 2014

Peonies in late April, 2014

Poppies of different kinds from late April

A close-up of the front yard crowded with peonies, pansies and a purple ground cover in the back, since late April

Poppies may sound like a cheap choice in a garden, but they are one of my favourites every year. They are very colourful, resilient and simple. And most of all, they remind me of the four years I spent in another country.

What would come next is no less exciting, and, truely, I have never been so looking forward to rainy season in Japan. After two years' bareness, the hydrangea has finally produced some flower buds.