Things have been quiet on the garden front over the past week or so. It almost feels like the “calm before the blooming storm” as many of the perennials (coneflowers, daylillies, russian sage, phlox) are about to put on their show but they’re not quite there yet.
Still, the garden is always developing and there are new surprises even if it they aren’t obvious to the naked eye. This includes all of the new visitors to and fro; some wanted and others … not so much. Here’s what’s been going down in my garden ‘hood of late:
One shrub I have virtually ignored since planting it about three years ago is Hydrangea ‘Lady in Red’. I’ve never witnessed the supposed red fall foliage and haven’t had more than 2 blooms total to date. In fact, it has been difficult to tell the difference between it and ‘Endless Summer’. Well, this year it has shown some serious promise with multiple blooms and a more interesting foliage color:
Every time I am outside with the camera, I snap off at least one photo of my Hypericum ‘Albury Purple’. I can’t get enough of the foliage color along with the small yellow flowers. It is now loaded with berries so it stands out like no other shrub in my front bed:
Speaking of berries, my Viburnum ‘Shoshoni’ is also loaded with berries and the birds swarm to them like mad. I’d love to say that I successfully planted another Viburnum cultivar nearby in order to get these berries, but truth is, I have no idea why they have formed now after having nothing the first few years:
A bird photographer I am not. But I don’t let that stop me. I stalk them whenever I can and then try to figure out what I am actually taking photos of. My wife bought me a new book on New Jersey birds so watch out, a new obsession is in it’s infant stage:
