Friday, July 1, 2011

Hydrangea heaven


At last, I have HEAPS of Hydrangeas! A few years ago, I made a new flower bed in my yard and planted several different hydrangeas. Last year, I got a few nice bouquets of luscious blooms. This year, I have all the hydrangeas I want! I brought a couple of lovely bouquets to work today to share my bounty.


I took these photos in early evening, so the color isn't great, but I couldn't wait for the morning!



Even the variegated lacecaps have plenty of buds: I have had these for more than ten years, but have only gotten four or five flowers so far, because they only bloom on old wood; in our climate, however, they are not hardy. But this year, they were buried under a blanket of snow all winter and so did not die back. I am really looking forward to seeing these in bloom.


After all that brilliant beauty, the card looks rather wan, but it is really pretty in real life.

This is a large (4" x 9" or so) card I made last year (or the year before?? - it was when Stampin' Up sold the large open-ended envelopes). Anyway, I can't say I like the black background, but I love the card. The stamp set is an old retired one (which I can't find to name), and I used Brocade Blue and Wild Wasabi on Very Vanilla. The excellent quote by Thoreau ("To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts") is also from an old retired set called The Art of Life.

Wishing you a happy summer full of beautiful blooms!

1 comment:

  1. Congratulations on your stunning blossoms. I was out in my garden today and started to see some of my hydrangeas with buds starting to open. I am a few weeks behind you because mine are in the shade. The card is a perfect artistic rendering of the real flower. Great sentiment to go along with it.

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