What's This?

It seems that I was just getting started in my New England garden when I had to leave it. I still visit it in pictures I took in the summer of 2006 and this is one I came across recently.

When we moved into our new home in the northeast we had some of our old schoolmates over to celebrate and one of them brought a Rose of Sharon plant. It was so beautiful with the variegated leaves that it didn’t need to bloom to decorate the garden landscape, but when it did, it produced little pinkish purple flowers (I think).

At some point I added Morning Glory seeds to the garden and the vine wrapped around the Rose of Sharon and when the Morning Glory bloomed it gave the impression that the Rose of Sharon had blue flowers. A pretty effect.

Morning Glory flowers can be beautiful shades of blue, just like the hydrangea, but their flowers only last a day. They will have to be planted each year after the danger of frost – which isn’t until June 1st up here in New Hampshire, so starting them indoors is a good idea. I didn’t realize the importance of starting seeds indoors when I first moved here from Florida.

The vine of the Morning Glory will climb just about anything so plant it near shrubs or even a dead, branching stick stuck into the ground to add interest to the garden.