I always marvel a the color and size of  hydrangeas.  I have 3 large bushes and considering they’ve  been transplanted several times since we moved here – it’s a wonder they have survived.   I discovered by trial and error that they do not like the west sun.   When they were on the west side of the house – by 3 o’clock in the afternoon all the leaves looked like limp green wash cloths.  I practically had to drown them in water to revive them – only to go through the same exercise the next day.  That was a few years back – all 3 plants are now situated on the east side of the house where they get the ‘not-quite-so-hot’ morning sun with shade in the afternoon and are thriving beautifully.  The  plant  pictured has a mixture of colors in the flowers and while I’ve read that the soil acidity is the defining factor; I really don’t care what color they are – and you can see a couple of the blooms are bi-color.   All the plants in my yard are low maintenance plants.  I don’t want anything I have to ‘baby’.

I spent some time picking blueberries and will post a great recipe for a banana-blueberry pie later on.  Also spent time weeding the garden – not   my favorite thing to do but the promise of fresh tomatoes, squash and cucumbers keep me task focused.  

Did manage to get into some ants while weeding – and will pass along this helpful hint to stop stinging.  Put ammonia on ant bites – in fact you can use ammonia on just about any bite – wasp, yellow jacket, fire ants, etc. – it stops the sting and if you put it on quickly enough the next day you won’t even know you’d been stung.  We keep a small bottle with a sponge top  filled with regular household ammonia – in the kitchen and in the barn.  Anytime we get a bite, we liberally wet the area with the ammonia.  Works like a charm.

When we moved to the country I wanted to have as close to a maintenance free yard as possible – and daylilies fit the bill in the flower department.  They are leafy, offer a variety of  colorful blooms and require no work other than cleaning out the dead leaves from last year.    Just mulch them a little in the spring and they are good for the summer.

I have them in  beds  that get the full afternoon sun and this doesn’t seem to bother them at all.  It can get over 100 degrees in the middle of summer and I wanted plants that were not only heat tolerant but also could also withstand our occasional winter freezes. 

I have tried other types of lilies – Stargazer, Easter, etc. – but find that the moles find them a bit too tasty.  Seems every time I’ve set out something other than daylilies they get eaten up before they can even put out a sprout.  I have tried planting the bulbs inside of open-weave metal baskets and this does help but makes working the bed somewhat difficult.  I have yet to find a good, working mole deterrent.    Anyone out there got any mole secrets?

I enjoy my  daylilies – even though they only bloom for a day and am always on the hunt for new varieties - which isn’t an easy task.  If anyone knows of anywhere to get daylilies or order them – please leave a comment with where to find them.  Thanks !    Jan

Now for my 10 chores:

1. Weed-eat yard

2. Put mulch in flower bed around cedars

3. Clean out flower bed along path beside garage

4. Prepare garden for planting

5. Plant herbs in herb boxes

6.  Fertilize blueberries

7.  Grout tile on outdoor kitchen

8.  Plant petunias I just bought

9.  Plant Old Maid seeds

10.  REST

If I get just half of this finished, I’ll be happy.