Posted on by Donna

In A Vase On Monday-Summer Treats

DSCN6340

“A good garden may have some weeds.”  ~Thomas Fuller

 

 

Some weeds!  SOME WEEDS!  Geesh, I am chock full as you will see in my garden review post in a couple of weeks.  I am uncovering my gardens bit by bit and it has been wonderful.  Of course many of the weeds have lovely flowers, and then there are the volunteer flower seedlings that are now huge.

And here in Central NY, what better season than summer to be treated to multiple blooms.  All these blooms come from the Sidewalk Gardens.  Since I have cleared the weeds, I can now see more of the plants and flowers.  And some of the blooms in these vases are volunteers that are being moved or pulled.

This first small vase actually has all volunteers from the Sidewalk Garden.  Scabiosa ochroleuca or Yellow Scabiosa is growing all over, and even when I pull it, it continues to float over the garden.  I love this plant.  Campanula rapunculoides or Ladybells  grow on one side of the garden, and moves a bit if I don’t control them.  I learned in my old garden to be wary of this plant as it can be very invasive.  So I have it in a somewhat sunny dry spot.  There is some Phlox paniculata ‘Junior Dance’ volunteering.  And I included a few dwarf Echinacea.  I put in one small plant a few years ago, and it has cross-bred and now I have many varieties of purple Echinacea all dwarf.  And the clump keeps growing and sending out volunteers.

 

 

 

hydrangea collage

The next vase is a celebration, and such a treat for me.  For two years now my ‘Endless Summer’ hydrangea did not bloom.  Weather in winter and late spring freezes, almost killed these two bushes, and I was expecting to replace them.  I even went so far as to research what bushes I would use as replacements, and reserved them for the fall.  Then suddenly, the shrubs bloomed, and bloomed and bloomed.  And they are still growing and blooming.

This container is wooden so I placed a rectangular glass vase inside of it.  And I like the effect of the blooms just spilling out of the wooden vase.

 

 

  

DSCN6302You can see the huge blooms are mostly pink as our soil is alkaline.  But one of the shrubs does sport a bit of blue and purple, and grows right next to the other shrub with only pink blooms.  I added Yellow Scabiosa to this vase too.  The other plant I added has light purple tiny blooms almost like oregano flowers, but with a mint fragrance.  I cannot find the name of this plant so if you know it let me know!

  

I am joining in with a few memes this week as I prepare these vases:  Cathy@Rambling in the Garden for her wonderful meme, In a Vase on Monday, Today’s Flowers hosted by Denise@An English Girl Rambles and Judith@Lavender Cottage who hosts Mosaic Monday.

 

 

 

 

RECIPE 

As we are in high summer, and the hot weather is here to stay, I thought I would share with you a wonderful recipe that is healthy, tasty and so refreshing.  I call it Fruit and Herb Infused Water.

 

fruit water

This refreshing water using fresh fruit and herbs so there is no artificial anything, or sugar as it is not needed. 

The recipe came to me via Facebook, and I have adapted it a bit here and there.  Don’t you love the jug.  We found it in our local grocery store.

 

[yumprint-recipe id=’6′] 

 

Well I hope you enjoyed my summer treats.  What have you been enjoying this summer?

 

______________________________________________________________________________

Next up on the blog:  

Wednesday, I will have my Simply The Best Natives post just in time for Wildflower Wednesday and Garden Blogger Foliage Day.  And Monday, I will have another vase with an update on my Veg Garden. 

 

All original content is copyrighted and the sole property of Donna Donabella @ Gardens Eye View, 2010-2015.  Any reprints or use of content or photos is by permission only. 

66 Replies to “In A Vase On Monday-Summer Treats”

  1. Beautiful, Donna. So glad your hydrangeas bloomed again and even the weeds look good in a vase. I have quite a bit of weeds, too, and unfortunately poison ivy, oak, and sumac. Is there any way to remove the poison plants safely or stop them from growing? Have a good week! 🙂

    1. The poisonous plants are hard to control Loredana. I would contact your local Cooperative Extension and see what info they have for your area…also I would hire someone who specializes in removing these plants. Likely they may have to use chemicals which won’t keep them at bay forever. We pull ours with disposable gloves and throw them away in plastic bags….but ours are very small.

      1. Donna, thank you for your advice. You’re right, I need to hire a professional to remove the poisonous plants. At least for an initial cleanup and consulting on what they look like, so we can recognize them. I know that poison ivy and oak have three leaves, but poison sumac is harder to distinguish from other nonharmful weeds. Glad to hear yours are small and easier to handle!

  2. I so pleased for you that your hydrangeas have lived and flowered so beautifully. your first vase of weeds and volunteers is so pretty, just shows what we miss if we are too assiduous in weeding early on in the year. your drink sounds delicious, I’ll try it as I need to drink so much while it is so hot here.

    1. I am enjoying finding so many beautiful blooms as I am weeding. You will love the drink Christina, and I am sure you will be able to tweak it with yummy fruit growing in your garden.

  3. I love the weeds. To be honest I find wild flowers and weeds far more interesting to many garden plants.

  4. Your volunteers are beautiful as are the hydrangeas. The hydrangea looks wonderful in that wooden vase too Donna.

  5. Good morning, your vases and arrangements are just lovely. The hydrangea is my favorite. And the fruit/herb infused water does sound refreshing. Thanks for sharing the recipe. Happy Monday, enjoy your new week!

  6. Loved your beautiful vases! I have the Endless Summer Hydrangea, too. I’ve had it for about 8 years now. It flowered the first 2 years, and never flowered the next few years so I moved it to an area with a little more sun. I’m still waiting for it to flower. The plant does look really good though even though I trimmed it by mistake this spring. Hopefully, next year I will get flowers.

    1. Sue I trim mine every spring too as it grows on old and new wood thankfully. As you know our hydrangeas rarely grow on old wood because of our cold winters and springs….but the new wood helps as it did this year. I don’t trim too much off once I see them growing in spring. Do you fertilize yours or top dress around it with compost? I think they may need a bit especially in our climate.

  7. Beautiful vases! What gorgeous hydrangea. I guess threats work? I definitely have a lady bells problem. I pull them every year and this year I have more than ever! They are all over the garden! I love the idea of that fruit and herb infused water Donna – thanks for such delicious photos and recipes!

  10. Love those flowering weeds! Gorgeous flowers. Thanks for the recipes for the herb and fruit infused water. They all sound so good for these hot hot hot summer days! Happy Monday!

  13. I’m glad that Hydrangea came through for you, Donna! It’s a beautiful flower, whether pink or blue. I’m going to have to try that fruit and herb infused water too.

  15. That Hydrangea was certainly worth waiting for Donna. Thanks for the recipes too. We’ve been trying lots of fruit smoothies this summer but I think I prefer the calorie count in your drinks!

  16. Some of my favorite bouquets have been “weeds” gathered from the roadside. Isn’t it wonderful what a good weeding session can uncover?

  17. That hydrangea looks amazing and seems to be living up to its name now – and your self-seeded vase is SO pretty. I would be happy if your echinacea and sacbious self seeded around my garden a bit too! Thanks for sharing.

    1. It sure is living up to its name Cathy! I wish I could share the scabiosa and echinacea for your garden Cathy, but I guess I will have to settle on sharing them in a vase!

  18. Congrats on the hydrangea! Funny how people always say it’s the cold that gets them yet after such a cold and snowy winter they’re at their best!
    Your vase has a nice wildflower feel to it and the mirror reflection gives it a kinda romantic feel… Is that just me?

    1. Thanks Frank….here actually it is more the late spring freezes that kill the hydrangea flowers which is why those that don’t flower on new wood are iffy to flower at all here.

      And yes that is why I loved that picture of the wildflower reflection…it just seemed romantic!

  19. The endless summer blooms are so pretty Donna – I couldn’t wait on mine as frost was killing the buds. It was dug up and sold at our garden club plant sale.
    Thanks for linking to Mosaic Monday.

  21. Lovely wooden container, Donna. Your hydrangea is blooming- wow, nice color. I have Grandiflora and Lime light hydrangeas but are not in bloom, waiting.

  22. Your vases are gorgeous, as always, Donna! I have the Creeping Bellflower here, too, as a volunteer, and I’m trying to pull it all before it takes over the woods. (One of my neighbors must have planted it, and a little critter brought it to my garden. 😉 ) But it is a great cut flower! How wonderful that your Hydrangea is thriving! The blooms are beautiful, and that rectangular vase is awesome! Thanks for the infused water recipes, too!

    1. Thanks so much Beth….I am thrilled about the hydrangea this year….I hope to have a few more vases featuring them. Glad you liked the recipe…it is yummy and so easy. I’ll be catching up soon with you on your blog…

  23. Oh what gorgeous blooms! we had a cabin in VA until last year and that tall purplish bloomed all along the road…I was in love with it…and hydrangea is a favorite of mine. The infused water looks so refreshing! Have a good evening!

    1. Oh that must have been beautiful to see the purple flowers along the road Debby. Thank you for you comment and visit today!

  24. Oh beautiful photos. The one good thing about a patio container garden is no weeding. But I think I’d rather weed. LOL. Thanks for coming by and visiting my blog. I enjoyed visiting you back. Have a great Wednesday.

  25. Your hydrangea is beautiful… I love them because thy are beautiful in al stages. The heart mosaic is really neat, wish I could do that. There are blackberries along the Lake here .. I might just try that water … A very good idea!

    1. I agree Sallie the hydrangea is so beautiful from bud to faded flower. I bet those blackberries would taste delicious in the Infused water.

  27. Weeds, the curse of the gardener. We worked on weeds this morning. I kept telling hubby that if we did our routine every week the weeds would be losing. I do admire your hydrangeas. I have given up growing them. They are so tempting and pretty.

    1. I agree if I could get out there daily I might win the war on the weeds, but oh I have so many gardens, I need a helper gardener to fight the weeds I think. 🙂

  28. Your hydrangeas are perfectly gorgeous! And I love volunteer Phlox – my white “David” always put out a lot of seedlings (mostly white, of course) in my Midwest garden. What a pleasure…

    1. Oh I would love my phlox to seed around more especially in the back gardens…if I can keep the deer from eating them, they might grow bigger and spread more in other spots too.

  29. I have written to you before telling you how much I LOVE your blog. It is a great presentation. I have a question for you. Are you able to play around and present your photographs as you do because of the template or theme you selected for your blog OR because you have brought an app or widget OR ???? to it. I use a wordpress theme, which I like, but it would be nice to post the photos is a new and zippy way. Would appreciate your wisdom on the matter. Thank you.

    1. Thanks as always Stepheny for your kind comments. To answer your question, no my pictures have nothing to do with a WP template I use. I use Picmonkey.com to post process some, and then Fotor.com to make the collages as you see in the heart hydrangea and fruit water pictures above. Then once the collages are made, I save them to my desktop and then upload them to the post.

      Both Picmonkey.com and Fotor.com are free websites that also have advanced aspects that can be purchased. I use the free versions.
      I hope that helps…let me know if you have any more questions!

      1. Thank you for the info. Fascinating. Something more to learn on the learning curve. See how smart you are. And then there is your eye when you photograph things, your artistic side kicking in, sharing your passion with your followers. You’re something, and hope you know it.

        1. I am happy to pass on the info Stephany…I learned from a blogger friend too and keep learning….using these websites really gets me connected to my creative side.

          You always say the nicest things….I don’t think of myself in that way so it is wonderful to hear it…thank you and much gratitude!

Comments are closed.