Flower power

 My favorite summer flower has to be the hydrangea.
Their blooms last such a long time, you get to enjoy them for weeks. Unlike, say, roses where you have one week of glory in June and then you spend the rest of the summer deadheading. Trust me on this, I used to have half my backyard fence covered in 'New Dawn' climbing rose vines. They were glorious to look at for that one week, but major effort thereafter.
I'm partial to the 'Nikko Blue' variety of hydrangea. Their unique blue color is so quintessentially 'summer' to me. Here are some pics of the large bushes in my backyard...

"Nikko Blue" hydrangea

And I love the contrast of that color to the green grass and weathered shingles of he house. It's a tasteful pop of brightness in a monochromatic color scheme. And you can't beat hydrangea for cutting purposes. You get to bring the joy of their beauty inside as well where they can last several days.

An arrangement for the dining room table

The last great thing? They dry terrifically too. The light tan they turn is the color of the sun washed sandy beaches.  Here's a huge arrangement of dried hydrangea in my bedroom...

Dried blooms from my backyard

Here are some more snaps from a different angle. As a rule they like partial sun, which my yard gets a lot of. Some years are more productive in terms of blooms than others, it depends on the severity of the preceding winter. The last two winters were particularly harsh so blooms were scarcer.
These shots are from a few summers ago. Stunning, right?

Swathed in a riot of color

Quintessential summer

Even a couple of blooms can add the right pop of color to a room, here are two on my bedside table: