I’m sure there are beautiful junipers somewhere, well-grown and well-loved, gracefully fitting into their landscape. The ones across the front of my house, however, were not those junipers. These were overgrown and scragley, with dead branches and sharp, unfriendly prickles. I have hated them from Day One and have long plotted their demise. That day finally arrived.
In place of those sad junipers I’ve planted three Hydrangea arborescens “Annabelle”, an old-fashioned shrub that is very hardy in the Midwest. I had seriously considered planting “Endless Summer”, a blue hydrangea that is advertised as blooming reliably in the north (the vast majority of blue and pink hydrangeas bloom poorly in the north because they form their flower buds in the fall; these buds rarely survive the harsh northern winter and as a result, no flowers), but I’ve recently read several reports that say “Endless Summer” isn’t all it’s cracked up to be – stunted bush, few flowers, poor color. I decided not to risk a poor performing plant in a high profile place like the front of the house and instead went with “Annabelle”. While it doesn’t have the highly desirable blue flowers, it does produce lovely flowers that go from light green to white to tan and it produces them in large quantity. The bushes can get fairly large, but cutting them back in the spring controls them without loss of flowers. They also should fit in nicely with my “cottage garden” plantings, which are full and lush with soft colors.
There’s still a lot of work to be done here – more weeds to pull, some hostas rearranged, paths mulched and new perennials added. I’m heading to Sunnyfield next month, when the perennial sales have started, to look for Japanese painted ferns, hellebores (maybe), coral bells, tirellas and any other shade perennials that might look good in this bed.
To get a look at the transformation so far, click on “view slideshow”. And watch this space for further developments!
