Gnats in My Coffee

As I stroll through my garden, I hold a cup of coffee, the sweet kind with additives that are purported to transport one to exotic locations. It is early morning. I am still wearing my pajamas. My husband fusses at me for walking around that way, but who is to see? I am blessed with privacy. The atmosphere is warm and laden with moisture: 100% humidity. I move slowly through the thick air, like a vacationer drifting in a tube down one of those lazy river rides, breathing in the vapors of the surrounding waters.I don't mind the mugginess of a summer morning when a view like this one in the front garden is waiting for me. Above are more midsummer views of the front garden. The shrubs with lavender blooms are a dwarf form of Crepe Myrtle.

The problem with this scenario is the coffee. What nut drinks coffee outside on such a muggy summer morning? Ice water would be more appropriate, but old habits, acquired in a cooler season, are hard to break. And there is another purpose for the coffee. It is difficult to pull weeds while carrying a mug of steaming coffee. Even with one hand free, the danger of spilling hot coffee is too great to be bending over and tugging at offenders near the ground. So the coffee is to keep me on task, which is to enjoy a morning stroll. I want to concentrate on the garden while the birds are active and before the glare of the white hot sun begins to scorch the skin and dazzle the eyes.Assorted coneflowers(echinacea) are blooming in the front garden now.Penelope Rose in the front garden bloomed lavishly earlier this year and is beginning to put out a second flush of flowers.Colorful exotics like Stromanthe 'Tricolor' bring a dash of color to the summer woodland garden.
Top is 'Limelight' Hydrangea, just coming into its summer glory. Below Limelight is Hydrangea 'Lady in Red', fading but still lovely. Its blooms, originally blue in my acid soil, have turned to rose.

The coffee doesn't work. It never does, and I don't know why I retain the silly notion that it might. A weed right there demands my attention. If I wait till later, it will be two feet tall with offsprings of thousands. So I sit my coffee down on a nearby stump. It will only take a moment to yank the weed out of the ground. An hour later I return to the coffee. A pile of weeds, long snaky vines, and clippings from a shrub lay nearby. The coffee is cold, and an assortment of tiny twigs and dead gnats are floating in it. I sigh. I didn't need to drink the stuff anyway. What I do need is a bath. It is time to start the day.

Hydrangea 'Limelight': Midsummer's beauty

As the seasons turn, different plants take center stage in my garden. Midsummer can be tough here in the Deep South, but while many plants are retreating from the heat, Hydrangea paniculata 'Limelight' becomes a garden stand out.

Limelight's cone shaped blooms open creamy white to chartreuse. A feature of my hydrangea walk, Limelight is also visible from the kitchen and from the patio.I love the blooms that glow in the golden sunshine of late afternoon. Six to twelve inches long, the flower heads are held upright on sturdy stems. The blooms will persist well into autumn, and as that season advances many of the blooms will take on multiple shades of pink, mingling beautifully with other blooms that still retain their green tints. The color, unlike many hydrangeas, is not dependent on soil pH.

Limelight is a large shrub. Mine is about four years old, and I prune it every year. The last two years it easily grew to eight feet tall and wide after pruning. I wonder just how large it would grow if I didn't cut it back! (A dwarf form, Little Lime, will grow up to five feet.) The blooms form on new wood, so pruning should be done in late fall through early spring. It isn't necessary to prune it every year, but pruning Limelight a third to a half will result in larger blooms.

Limelight likes good loamy soil, but it is adaptable. In spring I fertilize with an organic slow-release fertilizer. Then in midsummer I give it a shot of fish emulsion, one quarter cup per five gallons of water combined with epsom salts, one cup per five gallons of water, as a natural pick-me-up. 

Mine gets morning sun and filtered afternoon shade. I think in cooler climates it would do fine in full sun. Limelight tolerates hot, humid conditions, but it will wilt in intense heat and drought. Sometimes I do give it extra water, as I do all my hydrangeas; but generally, I consider this midsummer beauty an easy care shrub.