I accidentally did an experiment on the hydrangea bushes out front. One I trimmed in the fall. I trimmed the dead wood down, but just to where some new shoots were starting. The other one, I trimmed it all the way down to the ground – just about 3 or 4 inches from the ground – dead wood or not. The bush shown above? The selectively trimmed one. It is just bursting with flower buds. We are going to have a jackpot crop this year. I’ll be taking buckets of them to work again, like I did a few years ago. Yay! I love hydrangea season!
Meanwhile, the hydrangea trimmed down to the ground? It’s got about 1/4 the amount of buds. I’ll remember that for next season.
How are the flowers on the cat poison chart?
It says low on the toxic chart if they ingest the flowers. I’ll be careful with them. We’ve got a couple of high shelves they don’t jump up on, so I’ll use those spots again. Also, what’s NOT poisonous to the kitties? Well, I found this list that shows the non-toxic plants for kitties. Thank goodness. I was starting to think everything was going to poison the little guys.
On another note, my buddy, Cynthia, just got back from Paris. She visited Versailles. Mike told me to google the Versailles garden, and man. It’s amazing. Why couldn’t I shave the front yard into something like that? I could create some winding paths to create something similar.
I think. On a much smaller scale, of course!
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Here is what I have heard. If your hydrangea is looking thin in the greenery department and you want it bushier, you trim everything BUT you won’t get flowers. On the other hand just trimming off the dead and leaving new buds will give a bumper crop of flowers. I’m jealous of yours. They are gorgeous!
Ooooh your hydrangeas are looking great!! You guys must get more sun in the city, ours are still just at budding stage with all this rain. And yes!! the Versailles Gardens are amazing- we didn’t have enough time to properly explore them but we overlooked them, incredible! Must go back and spend a whole day there….! Giverny gardens where Monet lived were my favorite though, much more wild and crazy yet still manicured- beautiful!
Cynthia lived and returned to tell the tale! Excellent.
My understanding of the reason you cannot make the front yard like that is that you are not retired, independently wealthy, have extra property to move plants in from, and have a professional gardener on staff. Maybe that is for a start. Maybe even at Versailles they have simplified the gardening.
Congradulations on the Hydrangeas. They look terrific!
Oscar is pretty indifferent to the camera. But Donner will close his eyes every time the camera is about to click, so I take a continuous blast until he opens up his eyes. Then I just hope he doesn’t move too much, but lots of times he does. He’s an eye closed-wiggler for the camera. Sheesh.