2007/FEBRUARY/20
The long winter is over for both hydrangea with new shoots making an appearance even though its February. Warm winter I guess. I'll trim back the neighbour's invasive ivy and cut off the dead bits from last year when I get back from this weekend's snowboarding in Hakuba.
2006/JUNE/27
The rainy season has helped, but it looks as though hydrangea #2 has enjoyed some good root growth. The leaves don't wilt (as much) between waterings and while the petals are fading and the damaged leaves beyond help, some new leaves have finally started to make an appearance. I had to pop down to Himeji during a Discovery gig and neglected (due to exhaustion) to water it on my return to Okazaki, however everything seems fine. #1 is going brilliantly and the ivy gets a trim each week. Lovely new flowers appearing. Looking around my neighbourhood there are some wonderful (and large) hydrangeas, so I'm wondering how many years it will take before I need to start thinking about pruning. Meantime though, I think its time to spend a bit more time in the back garden.
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2006/JUNE/09
Miracle of miracles, #2 survived my trip to Sapporo and environs and isn't dead. I was worried about the heat and asked Tomas if he could drop by and check on it, maybe give it some water if the leaves were wilting etc. When he visited I'd only been gone 3 or 4 days, but the new hydrangea was in a horrible state. Tomas looked after it until I got back and apart from some leaf damage it is OK. Some new shoots starting to appear also. Until the roots are deep enough, it looks like this isn't a good place for this plant. It is close to the wall so there must be a fair amount of heat radiating, and the eaves of the roof stop some of the rain from soaking the soil. #1 is doing fine. When I returned that bloody invasive ivy growing in from the neighbour's place needed to be cut, but thats all. Nice flowering now and lots of growth.
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2006/MAY/25
Now that the side of the house is done, time for the front. There are two hydrangeas now. #1 was planted by my mother in April 2005 and looks like it is about to flower. It is a bit of a struggle to keep my neighbour's ivy from reaching out to choke it. Hopefully it will still be OK when I get back from Hokkaido in 2 weeks time, which is my way of saying it will probably die a horrible death. #2 was purchased and planted last week. I dug deep and used a fair bit of potting soil. It had apparently been grown in a hothouse somewhere as it is fully flowered at the moment. It hasn't had the chance to grow deep roots yet so a warm 12 hour period is enough for every leaf and flower to wilt. I'll be away 2 weeks so it is therefore doomed.
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