Out the front we have a row of seven and one big one out the back. They drink a lot! I will have them well watered and if the next day is hot they will start to wilt and I'm back out there watering. To cope we use the water from the laundry and bath on them! Today is warm but tomorrow and thursday are shaping up to get to 40. last year we had one day that was 46. I will be soaking them tonight and in the mornings as well. Around Adelaide I see many people prop umbrellas over theirs in the heat but ours are under trees and so quite happy mostly.
They extra joy is they look amazing picked indoors and they last and last! In a vase they also drink a lot of water, you have to add water everyday. Fresh flowers in the house are just beautiful. This vase was one of a pair from an op shop. They are plastic and were black. I painted them to look like stoneware urns. Just right for big arrangements like this!
It is hard to show how big this is, its really huge and spectacular!
The colours are wonderful! Last year I had several vases this size. Then if you keep the water in the vase they will gradually dry and keep most of their colour. Then they are very good for filling in vases, wreaths and lots of floral crafts. If I knew someone who dead head and prune their hydrangeas I would ask for them and hang them upside down in bunches as they are so gorgeous and people actually throw them out. Others are smart and sell them to florists. This to me is an example of use what you have, there are so many things that you could make.
These are previous years hydrangeas used as a filler with roses I make. They still look pretty.
One day I'll do a tutorial on how to make the handmade roses. I use crepe paper that I dye soft colours. They are actually really easy to do yet I have seen handmade roses for sale online for small fortunes.
The next few hot days I will be staying in as much as possible, watering the garden enough for it to cope and swimming in the evenings. The heat is very hard on people, animals, birds... I am lucky I can stay out of it mostly. Many people cannot. I keep the freezer full of ice and like when the girls were at school send frozen drinks, frozen dampened face washers and hand towels in zip lock bags (these keep lunches cool and then can be used to wash and cool yourself) , ice packs etc to work with Andy. Also bowls of water under the verandah for the birds and old sheets over the chook house to wet during the worst of it.
Hot days are wonderful for quite things indoors. It's another reason having something lovely to do makes you happy. You don't feel frustrated or bored you feel quite happy to be working away on your crochet or card making or what ever you are doing. It makes it a little better!
Annabel, your hydrangeas are spectacular! And I love what you did with the urn, it looks really beautiful!
ReplyDeleteThank you Muppet! The urns really were hideous being plastic and black so I got them for $1 each. The paint I used was left over from other things too. As long as no one lifts them they look convincingly like stone or maybe painted wrought iron! Being really big they fit these big arrangements really well too so I use them all the time! Thank you for your kind comment! xx
Delete