Hi my friends! I’m joining a talented group of bloggers today sharing our Summer home tour. If you’re new to my blog, welcome, so happy you dropped by. I have to confess, I don’t do a lot of things differently for summer, so I’m not sharing a whole lot inside my house for this post. But I am sharing my explosion of hydrangeas this year since they are putting on quite the show and that is way more interesting and exciting than anything going on inside my house right now. We’ll peek inside the house, but the show is out here, let me tell ya!
A big thanks to our hostess Marty, with A Stroll Through Life for putting together this wonderful Summer home tour and inviting me to be part of it. Be sure and go over to her blog to see the rest of the week’s bloggers.
And if you’re coming by from Cristina’s place at Remodelando la Casa, welcome! Cristina does beautiful designs.
My landscaping has just exploded in 3 years with lots of new growth. I guess it’s true that the 3rd year of the growing cycle is huge. It has been at my house.
My beautiful Endless Summer hydrangeas were gorgeous last year and even more so this year. I took these pics with my big camera and my iPhone, so the color is a little different, but equally gorgeous.
This shot with my phone looks more purple, but they are somewhere in between and a beautiful shade of blue.
Each week they got bigger and better with the blooms bursting.
And it’s been so fun to see it this year.
I have been bringing plenty of them inside to enjoy too!
Couldn’t resist some closeups of those gorgeous flower heads.
They really are the most perfect shade of blue.
Another plant putting on a big show this year is the dwarf gardenias around the front of my house. They have exploded with blooms and the scent was just incredible this year.
So nice to walk out the front door and have this in your face with that smell! Oh the smell of gardenias in the summer, what a Southern experience. I wish I could pass it through the computer screen to you!
Gardenias flanking the front porch.
I wish they lasted longer, but after a couple of weeks, they turn yellow and then brown, but if I remember right, I’ll get a light blooming again later this year.
In the backyard, those white planters are full of blooms too and looking so good. We’ve gotten so much rain that they are happy, happy plants.
Having blooms around on the patio is a nice addition and it wouldn’t be summer without them.
So, let’s go inside! I really don’t do a lot of summer decorating inside the house. I guess I’m just too lazy to change things out that much, but I do love the blue and white on my foyer table and bringing in some hydrangea blooms to join this grouping was a perfect addition. I don’t have a ton of blue and white, but they sure do look pretty all grouped together. I got most of mine from the old Bombay stores, Ross, or yardsales. I am always on the lookout for more!
The dining room is a perfect spot to add more to the table as well.
These beautiful blue blooms are so lively and fresh for summer and add a beautiful touch to my centerpiece.
When these fade, there’s always more to bring inside!
And that my friends is a tour of my summer home! I hope you enjoyed the explosion of color and blooms that I’m experiencing right now. I tend to slow down in the summer and really relish this time of year. With our heat and humidity it just slows me down naturally and I am looking forward to a fun and full summer that’s still ahead. I hope you all have a great summer as well!
Thank you so much for stopping by. You can find the other bloggers participating in this tour below! Please stop by and show them some summer love!
Monday – June 12
Tuesday – June 13
Wednesday – June 14
Thursday – June 15
Fri – June 16
Your flowers are beautiful, Rhoda! I was lucky enough to move into a house with several mature bushes and I am in heaven! You’re right that gardenias (and night-blooming jasmine) are the scent of summer in the South; I love walking the dog at night because it smells so good outside! XO, Christy
Christy, your new house is so cute, I love it!
Oh, I could spend all Summer long right there in the yard looking at all those blooms! Those hydrangeas are really amazing!
rhoda- your yard is spectacular. It sure has come along way. How many hydrangea plants are there? Just beautiful. Glad Im’ not your neighbor, i would be snipping some blooms all summer!
Hey, Laura, thanks so much, you saw the house before anything had been done to it. I think there are 8 hydrangeas in that grouping. If you were my neighbor, I’d tell you to cut all you wanted!
Rhoda , I’m with you I bring out my sea shells and drift wood and I cut flowers from my yard as well. There is something very southern about a bouquet that has been cut and brought in from the yard. Your yard has really grown into a spectacular show during the summer. Very very pretty. In fact your home just seems to have relaxed into a restful , comfortable place to unwind at night at the end of a long day. You have done so much there and now IT IS TIME TO RELAX and just enjoy all your hard labors. I love everything you’ve done.
Carole,you are so sweet! I have really been enjoying my house now that it’s all done.
Your yard is lovely! What healthy hydrangeas! Mine haven’t done well this year, and I think last year’s draught was too much for them. The gardenias are also beautiful. Thanks for sharing and inspiring!
I’m not a gardener but I do know if you will “dead head”-pull the brown magnolias off -your bush should produce more blossoms. Good luck.
HI, Louise, you’re right! I did deadhead all my magnolias after the blooms all died back last year and they came back strong for me.
Hydrangeas and gardenias! So much beauty and fragrance. What more could a girl ask for. Your home is gorgeous inside and out!
Your gardens are GORGEOUS, Rhoda! I have to say your banks of hydrangeas are as glorious as P. Allen Smith’s! 🙂 I’ve enjoyed those posts ever so much, thank you. Glad your garden is doing so well!
Enjoy,
Barb 🙂
Thank you, Barbara, it’s been so fun to watch those hydrangeas grow and this year is the banner year for them!
Those hydrangeas are to swoon over, its amazing how flowers can make things just come to life! What a beautiful home tour!
Maria
Everything is gorgeous! Love the blue and white pieces. 🙂
Your outdoors certainly has exploded with beautiful nature and color. There is nothing better than sitting outside admiring all these blooms.
The whole place is looking great, but those flowers are astounishing – and this is a word I never use! hahah Congrats for having made such a welcoming place.