Even though we're on vacation and enjoying lazy days by the pool, we have wireless high speed internet and I have no excuse for not posting. However, I didn't feel much like doing anything today so you're getting a post I put together a few weeks ago. Tomorrow some photos of the grounds around our vacation rental (pool time will be somewhat curtailed since I got a little bit too much sun today).
Since the heavy lifting portion of gardening is over for a while, VPH and I have tried to get back to our nightly walk. #5 on Kim's post really inspired me to get my butt moving again. This beautiful spot is .9 miles from our door exactly and if we really move up and down the hills swiftly (not big, but definitely calf-burning) we can get there in 15 minutes.
That is the town beach and park. People always ask why we never "go to the beach" since it's so close to our house. It's Long Island Sound and it's pretty gross. Also, when you grown up on the shoreline you take for granted that the beach is a short walk/drive away and it's just not very interesting after your 100 millionth trip. When I was about 12 years old, Mom made me do a summer class in marine biology where we spent every day wading in salt marshes and examining the flora and fauna. Unless you fall in love with marine biology you pretty much lose any interest in salt water after that. Give me a nice chlorinated pool any day though.
It's nice of the town to put this beautiful flower bed in the middle of the road.
See the paved road in the center of this photo? My friend Kathy's house is to the right of it. We had book club there last summer, what a beautiful spot. She has two little boys and I just kept thinking what a fantastic location this is for them to grow up. Ironically it takes about 15 minutes to drive from my house to hers because though it's only a mile as the crow flies, there's no direct route.
VPH taking in the sights.
There are some incredible gardens between the beach and our house; today we'll be taking a look as we walk back from the beach.
We have never seen anyone at this house, so we think it must be someone's weekend place (we rarely walk here during the weekend). They must pay a boatload for landscaping since there's never a blade of grass out of place:
These people live here year-round and obviously have a green thumb:
I love their little patio behind these flowers:
I want to know how these folks get their hydrangea such a deep blue.
The blue is such a deep, dark blue that doesn't really translate here. I may just have to knock on their door some day and ask what they're doing.
Walk Part 2 later this week.
Hydrangeas can range from many different colors. The color is determined by the amount of acid in the soil. They may be putting something in the soil to control the color or they could just be lucky. I am not sure what the ph of the soil needs to be to achieve such a brillian blue, but I'm sure you could look it up or experiment.
Posted by: Quinn Ryan | October 04, 2007 at 06:38 PM
Quinn Ryan -- I don't know what brought you to this old post, but thanks for stopping by. I know you get blue hydrangeas from acidic soil, but I'm telling you, I've never seen hydrangeas this blue in my life. I keep an eye out for a homeowner when we walk by, but no chance yet to ask what they're doing.
Posted by: Heather's Garden | October 07, 2007 at 12:11 PM