Brrrr.....It's Cold Outside!

I hope the photo of this lovely hydrangea caught your attention in your blog roll. I started to use a photo of a snowman but I'm assuming many of the great people out there in blogland are sick of snow and would roll right past anything snow related. This seems the time of year when the heart and mind starts to long for the warm breeze of Spring. I must admit, I feel a little itch in my fingers to dig but the ground is quite cold at the moment and digging would be pointless and a fruitless endeavor.



My flower gardens are still sound asleep. They look pretty pathetic at the moment but when I look at the pictures I took the last couple of years while the gardens were in full bloom, well...in my mind I can almost feel the warmth of the summer heat on my back as I lean over to tend to the garden.

Aren't these Annabelle hydrangeas lovely? Every year they are heavy with white blooms. I am never disappointed in them. They are very happy blooming where they have been planted. They become so heavy my husband put a white fence in front of them to hold them up. He's so handy!




These are oak leaf hydrangeas. They are every bit as stunning as the rest of the hydrangeas in my cottage garden. They were given to me by a friend. Have you ever noticed that the flowers that do best in the garden are those that came second hand by a friend? They just seem so happy to travel to a new place and seem to bloom just to check the place out....I know that's weird but if flowers could talk...well, it could be their story.



Another plant given to me; this one came from a neighbor. One day while I was out walking, I stopped at a neighbor’s house; she was out tending her garden so I stopped for a short visit. While we were talking I admired this plant shown in the photo. Come to find out it is called Bee Balm. I had never heard of it before. She offered to give me a sprig of it to start in my own garden; told me it would attract bees and hummingbirds. She put the startling in a cup and I proudly brought it home. I hate to admit this but I hastily put it in an old can or pot and left it out all summer this way. I watered it occasionally and thought to myself "you better plant that before it dies", but I rushed off to do other things. Finally, toward the end of Autumn I planted the Bee Balm, not really expecting it to survive over the winter. The next Spring I noticed something I didn't recognize coming up in my garden; I decided to let it grow and find out if it was friend or foe. As you probably expect, it was the Bee Balm. Not only did it survive, it's been thriving. Each Spring since I planted it, I have to pull out the overflow of this plant, otherwise, it would take over the garden. I've heard, since I planted it, that it’s a weed but I don't think so, it looks too pretty in my garden.




My lavendar; it's planted with the roses and they compliment one another dramatically. I love its fragrance and use it in little sachet pillows and other things. It's a fabulous grower!



Coropis; I love the color! They seem so cheery. The yellow against the blue green leaves is simply a summer delight. This is one of those plants you could stick a sign in that says SIMPLIFY because they are easy to grow and they thrive in the worst of conditions.




The Shasta daisies are such smilers! They raise their heads to the sky and seem to smile. Maybe they are saying thank you to the Creator for making them so beautiful. Cheery little flowers! Some yarrow is mixed in there too. I'm not to fond of this variety of yarrow but they have a home here in the garden and this is where they are staying.




And the rose. Maywood Cottage is the home of 5 variety of roses so far...that's so far, as in there will certainly be more. I took the photo of this rose after a tremendous storm last year. I was so amazed that any of the roses survived such a beating. I blogged about it at on my "The Old Cupboard Door" blog. You can read it here: http://www.theoldcupboarddoorblog.com/2010/06/story-of-rose.html

I hope you have enjoyed a stroll through my gardens. I've got big plans and new ideas for the garden this year. I can almost smell the sweet musty smell of the soil and feel the spade in my hand....it gives me something to dream about while we are waiting out this long cold winter.

Thanks for visiting Maywood Cottage.

~willa~