Lovely Little Lamb Hydrangea

Spent four hours in the backyard edging flower beds. Hard work, but of course they look terrific!

The Little Lamb hydrangea has a bouncing white spire at the tip of nearly every branch. Last summer the plant was younger and smaller and had six huge cones weighing down the branches. This year the blooms are more in tune with the catalog description: diminutive, i.e., bouncing little lambs. Gorgeous!

You can see a photo here http://www.colorchoiceplants.com/little_lamb.htm, although I'd hardly call my plant a dwarf. It's easily 5.5 ft tall.

Loves the location: morning sun. Looks beautiful with red and white swamp hybiscus and American beautyberry. Some Joe Pye, cardinal flower and Mexican petunia in the background.

Georgia

Spotlight on the Chaste tree

Each time I drive around the corner to my house, the Chaste tree in my front yard knocks me out. Long, blue flowers covering the tree have been blooming since early June and when the sun shines on them they light up the yard.

I have two specimens. One was labeled a Chaste tree, the other a Texas lilac, when I bought them at different nurseries. I've since learned they're the same plant. One was shaped as a tree, the other is smaller and shrub-like. I guess I can prune them both into trees.

I'm wondering if the dried blooms are desirable to birds. If I clip them off, I might get another bloom later in the summer.

Besides being beautiful, the Chaste tree is drought-tolerant. Yeah!