“Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”
James 1:19-20
Happy Thursday dear readers! With our oppressive heat, I am saying hurry up autumn (although I know it is thirty more days)!! We have had several days that the thermometer has reached 100 degrees! There is something about these triple digits that make me yearn for cooler weather. Living in the Deep South, I will just have to wait.
With sprinklers running daily, the garden is in survival mode and looking a little spent. However, the limelights and vanilla strawberry hydrangeas are fairing well in spite of the weather and we are spotlighting them today. I won’t ask you to take a walk in the garden, just stay inside where you are cool and I will brave the heat to give you a little garden tour!
I have returned to the hydrangea farm several times since I last gave you a tour. It is now limelight season and Martha’s are beyond gorgeous! The ChromatiNet shade cloth keeps them in tip-top shape.
Martha has 1,500 limelights on the farm. These blooms will be harvested in September and will make their way to Japan.
Hydrangea “Paniculata” comes from the fact that their blooms are cone-shaped rather than ball-shaped. The unique panicle limelights have football size blooms that grow on new wood.
Can you believe that Martha grows more than fifty varieties of hydrangeas?!!
Leaving Martha’s amazing farm, let’s get back over to my garden. If your garden or landscape needs a showstopper, I highly recommend limelight hydrangeas.
Limelights are your answer if you need low maintenance and beauty! They change from a lime green to a creamy white in late summer.
The limelights were planted when our garden was established in 2015. They are fast growers and tolerate heat and humidity, which makes them perfect for a Southern garden.
“When summer gathers up her robes of glory,
And, like a dream, glides away.”
-Sarah Helen Whitman
This view from back of the garden shows both the limelights and vanilla strawberry hydrangeas.
I think they are so pretty when tinged in pink. We are too far south for them to take on a true strawberry color.
The vanilla strawberry hydrangea is also a member of Hydrangea Paniculata. It was voted the top plant in 2010 by the American Nursery and Landscape Association.
As you can see, their blooms become quite large!
A “bloodgood” Japanese maple makes an interesting backdrop for the panicled hydrangeas!
Sunshine ligustrum with its chartreuse foliage gives texture and a change of color to the garden.
“Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above,
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.”
-Thomas Chisholm
Thank you so much for your sweet visits and gracious comments. You always make my day…now I wish you a most wonderful Thursday!
Linking with:
Pieced Pastimes, Between Naps on the Porch, A Stroll Thru Life, Katherines Corner, Follow The Yellow Brick Home, Celebrate & Decorate, Me and My Captain, Shabby Fufu, Designthusiasm, Imparting Grace, Calypso in the Country
Just beautiful Pam! I need a ChromatiNet shade cloth while I’m trying to water and weed in this oppressive heat. 😉 Our limelights are the only thing that still have some appeal in the garden and have survived these mid 90 degree temps with no rain the last month. We’ve had rain all around us but nothing but a few drops for us. Love the shot with hay bales in the background! Does Butch bale hay from your pasture or does someone else? Stay cool. ♥
I agree Mary, the shade cloth would be wonderful. I need to weed so badly, but early mornings have been so hot. Butch doesn’t bale the hay, a cattle farmer from a nearby farm bales.
I love the Limelight Hydrangeas, but unfortunately this year so do the deer. We have lived here twenty years and this year the deer have taken over our development. They have eaten all my Oakleaf, Limelight, Strawberry and other Hydrangeas as well as all Daylily blooms and now leaves. Gone are my Hostas, ground cover, dwarf peaches and even Geraniums in pots on my porch. Never have we had so many baby fawns. I’ve sprayed everything with Deer Off, and it doesn’t help.
Oh Vicki, that is terrible. I am so sorry and I don’t know what you can do to prevent them from eating. We live in the country and we see deer almost daily. I expect one morning I will get up and they will have had a buffet party in my garden.
Beautiful hydrangeas, thanks for the tour of the grower’s garden. It is hot this year, I am looking forward to the cooler days of autumn.
Thank you Carole!
So beautiful Pam! I had no idea there were so many varieties of hydrangeas! We have actually had afternoon showers the last 3 days so my yard is looking a lot happier! So many gorgeous photos, a real treat for the eyes! Temps supposed to be in the 80s this weekend, celebrate!!
Jenna
Thank you Jenna. We would be so thankful for some rain. Happy Thursday!
Sprinklers! Yes, please … morning, noon, evening!
Running now🥰
Pam, your Limelight’s are so pretty. Ours is still in it’s cream color and will begin to show pink around the middle of Sept. It has been hot here as well, but not the temperatures you have had. I remember in VA, Sept. would often bring more severe heat than August, so I know you are looking to cooler days.
The hydrangea farm would be wonderful to visit. I can’t imagine the work such a place would be to keep it well maintained.
As always, beautiful photos. Have a wonderful weekend and stay cool, sweet friend.
Thank you Sandra. I love going to visit the farm and my sweet friend Martha! Wishing you a wonderful weekend as well!
Pam, The hydrangeas are breathtaking! So is the heat & humidity! We had a sudden thunderstorm that watered the plants a couple nights ago.Today we’re back to watering. At least today we won’t be in a heat warning but will still be hot. We’re ready for Fall as well but it will be here soon. Thank you for the lovely pictures. Stay cool. Have a great rest of your week! Clara ❤️
Thank you Clara, still no rain for us. Our high was in the low nineties, so that was helpful. Have a wonderful weekend!
Even though it is hot and sooooo humid here, I am really trying not to wish days away. It’s something I started doing when I worked…don’t wish for Friday when it is only Monday because you’re wishing your life away!!! But I do wish for a good rain every day!
How much sun do your Limelights get and what, if any, is their pruning schedule? Gorgeous photos in spite of the heat.
Thanks Roxanne, still no rain. It was only in the low 90’s today. My limelights are in full sun, and Butch prunes them in late winter. Have a wonderful weekend!
So beautiful! I need to move my hydrangeas, they don’t get enough sun and the leaves are beautiful, but they barely bloom! Thanks for all of the inspiration!
My pleasure, thank you for visiting!
Your hydrangeas are so beautiful. They seem to weather this heat better than most. Your background maple and other garden plants make for a beautiful show. How wonderful to have this farm near you. Have a great weekend.
Thank you Dianne. Happy weekend to you!
Thanks for the glorious tour of hydrangeas this morning! They are all so pretty! I have a question, because I’ve heard conflicting answers…can limelight’s take more sun than other hydrangeas? I think they are so beautiful, but I am limited as to where I can plant them. Happy Thursday, sweet friend!!!
Yes, Shannon limelights can take sun, better if they have some dappled afternoon sun. Mine are in the sun all day. Happy weekend!
I agree, those limelight hydrangeas are just beautiful, and a perfect plant for the garden, whether they’re en masse or as a specimen. They light up the landscape!
Thanks Rita, have a good weekend!
Oh, those strawberry, pink-tinged hydrangeas! I could stare at them all day! SO, so beautiful. God must smile down upon us when we enjoy the beauty of His creation so much. I am so thankful fore eyes to see and take it all in. He is so good! May He bless you richly today, sweet friend. 🙂
Thank you Cheryl. God is so good and His creation never ceases to amaze me!
They are looking gorgeous! It amazes me how they can travel all the way to Japan. I am here in Japan for few more days 🇯🇵 then going back to Spain 🇪🇸
It is amazing they can travel that far, they are dried before harvested. In Japan they preserve them.
Oh my! Absolutely stunning!Blessings!
Thank you Maristella! 🥰
You and Butch are such consummate partners with God in His garden of Nature. When I read
descriptions of “the garden” that awaits us, I visualize yours, multiplied many-fold. Golden hands
and hearts – that is what you both have, not to mention tired backs at day’s end, which will no longer be the price come Paradise. Strawberry vanilla scheduled for next year.
Thank you dear Mary. Yes, tired hands and backs! Weeding needs to be accomplished, waiting for rain to soften the ground.
Have a wonderfully blessed Friday!
Lovely Pam! So delicately pretty. It’s so strange to hear you’re all sweltering in the heart there when we are shivering in the winter chill here. 😀
Bless you,
Jennifer
Thanks so much Jennifer. Stay warm as I try to stay cool🥰
Sorry spell check… it should read ‘heat’ not heart!
Wow, that pic with the hay bales in the background is so pretty. If I find a vanilla strawberry hydrangea I will not be able to resist buying it. But the chances are slim in this heat.
Glad the temps are a tiny bit better. It has been too hot to do anything but I have been very busy so haven’t been able to do anything in my garden. The weeds have taken over.
I wish some people in our area would get into the flower farm business! Enjoy your weekend. We are at our daughters house.
Thank you dear Bonnie. The heat and humidity have really bothered me this summer. We still have had no rain. Hopefully tonight and tomorrow. Enjoy your family!❤️
I am in heaven looking at this beautiful blooms. I would love to have some to dry.
Happy weekend,
Kippi
Thank you so much Kippi! They do dry beautifully!
Thank you Pam for the lovely tour of those beautiful hydrangeas. I think it is great to know those limelights can take some sun. We have very little shade, so we need something that is sun worthy.
Thank you Linda. Wishing you a wonderful week!
such a gorgeous showing of all these amazing Hydrangeas. I’m making note of that beautiful little bright green shrub. I’ve not seen them before and I LOVE the chartreuse color!
Thanks so much For hosting Debra!
A hydrangea farm? I would be over the moon as it is one of my favorite blooms. Alas, the lake ones, while getting flowers, haven’t materialized in the way I thought they might. Maybe they’re in too much shade. Just looking at row after row here really is breathtaking!
Thank you Jeanie, hydrangeas are one of my favorites!
Wow, talk about gorgeous! I don’t think we have anything like this in So Cal… maybe the Ranunculus fields in San Diego. Hope we get to see you at Tuesday Turn About, Pam! We miss ya!
Thank you Julie so much. I hope to see you next Tuesday!
We have both limelight hydrangea and vanilla strawberry in our backyard. I can’t tell much of a difference between them and wanted to get your opinion! We have a hedge of limelight and need a few more to fill the hedge. I considered transplanting my vanill strawberry hydrangea and also my tidal wave hydrangea to the existing hedge of limelight. What do you think? Will they blend in or stick out like a sore thumb? Curious to get your thoughts on the difference in varieties. We live in Kansas so far enough south that neither will get too pink. Thanks!!
Hi Jacinta, my vanilla/strawberry hydrangeas grow much larger than my limelights. If you want a uniform hedge, I would stick to all limelights. I am not familiar with a tidal wave hydrangea. I hope that helps, it is just my opinion.
I cannot decide between limelight and vanille fraise. What are the main differences? I really like the idea of the white flowers turning pink.
I need a hydrangea bush approximately 6 feet. I like whiter flowers and would like the flowers to be large. I normally like green glossy or strong leaves. A stronger robust looking shrub.