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The Anniston Star
LIFE & ARTS
m • WHAT’S PLANTING NOW
in bl
summer
charm
Hydrangeas: An old-fashioned bloom for June
BY KRISTEN BONNER
Special to The Star
Bursting into summer with bunches of
brilliantly colored blossoms, Hydrangeas
boast an infallible air of class and old-fashioned charm. While many people associate
the flower with memories of playing in
grandma’s flower bed, hydrangeas are back
in and better than ever.
With about 100 different species in the
family, Hydrangeas range from 3-20 feet
in height and 3-18 feet in width. Its flowers
bloom in clusters at the end of the stem
and come in vibrant shades of white, blue,
red, pink and purple. The color of the
blooms depend upon the acidity or alkalinity of the soil.
“If it’s more acid, it’ll produce blue flowers,” explained Victoria Dubose, owner of
Bloomin’ Miracles in Jacksonville. “If it’s
more alkaline, it will have pinks or purples.”
Besides a soil test, there are ways to
predict which color you’re going to get.
According to Dubose, landscapes with a lot
of pine trees tend to be more acidic.
“There are also additives that you can
get from your co-op to add to your soil,” she
said — for instance, aluminum sulfate adds
acidity, lime adds alkalinity.
Hydrangeas thrive with morning sun,
afternoon shade and plenty of water — at
least once a week. But even if a location is
lacking in afternoon shade, Hydrangeas
may still thrive there.
“Something I learned years ago,”
Dubose said, “is the hydrangeas with the
leaves that feel like sandpaper will tolerate
more sun, while the ones with leaves that
feel like vinyl seem to do better in afternoon shade.”
In their peak blooming season,
Hydrangeas are a pretty hot commodity at
Bloomin’ Miracles. While some customers
prefer the look of the French Hydrangea
for their yards, Dubose said, others tend
to go for one of the many Paniculata varieties. The French Hydrangea, also known
Photos by Brooke Carbo/
The Anniston Star
The many species of
Hydrangeas
include
the Mophead (top) and
Bloomin’ Miracles’ Annabelle (above). RIGHT:
Gladiolas are popular with customers of
Bloomin’ Miracles in
Jacksonville.
as the Big Leaf Hydrangea, is the
most widely grown variety. It
produces big, ball-shaped
clusters of white, pink,
blue or purple flowers
— depending on soil
conditions — and grows about
7 feet tall and 8 feet wide.
Hydrangeas in the Paniculata
species grow from about 8 to 16
feet tall and get between 6 and
12 feet wide. In late summer, July and
August, the plant bears large conical
panicles of creamy white flowers, with
pinkish white florets. One example is the
Oakleaf Hydrangea, a white, cone-shaped
flower blooming shrub that happens to be
one of Dubose’s personal favorites.
“It really thrives down here because it
stands up to the hot, dry climate,” she said.
“And plus, it’s our state wild flower.”
The Oakleaf Hydrangea gets it’s name
from the shape of its large leaves, which
often turn vibrant shades of red, orange
and yellow in the fall. It will grow to about
6 feet tall and 8 feet wide and can be purchased in either single-blossom or double-blossom form.
With a blooming period of summer and
fall, incorporating these so-called “grandma’s flowers” into your garden this season
will make your lawn look anything
but old and outdated.
Another hot pick in the horticulture world right now is gladiolas.
These colorful perennials bloom
from bulbs, so planting and flowering times differ from those of
nursery-bought plants. Gladiolas can be planted as early
as two weeks before the
last expected frost and, in
our warm climate, straight
through June.
For a continual display of
color, plant a few bulbs each
week. Bury bulbs 2-6 inches
deep in well-drained soil
with full sun. Taller varieties need to be staked when
planted. Or, as Dubose
suggested, tie a string from one
end of the planting area to the
other to help prop up blooms.
Planting to flowering can
take anywhere from 70 days to
three months, but while these
bulb bloomers may require a little
more time and patience, the breathtaking results popping up in your flower
bed will be well worth the wait, and the
work you put in.
Their pout is worse than their bite
Ask a dog person what’s so
great about dogs and at the top
of a very long list what do you
almost always find: the welcome home.
It’s good
stuff — the
wagging tails,
the manic
licking, the
all-consuming joy
brought on
Brooke
by your mere
Carbo
presence.
Dog Dish
The old
school hiphop, of course — well, at least
in my house. That Koopa’s a
master at jumping up, jumping
up and getting down, and you
should see Kollee jump around,
jump around — little one’s got
the thing on lockdown.
Now if I were to leave, say,
my teenage brother stuck at
home all day with the homescreen of a “Big Bang Theory”
DVD playing the theme song on
repeat for eight straight hours,
you think I’d be greeted with a
House of Pain impression upon
my return? Not likely.
But Team Kooplee forgives
and forgets the moment I walk
through the door. If only they
were as understanding on my
way out.
Seriously, to the list of
acceptable reasons for being
late to work, along with alarm
clock malfunctions and flat
tires, I strongly urge we add
doggie guilt trips.
When my boss wants to
know why I missed a deadline, I
find it outrageous I can’t simply
explain that Kollee sat in front
of the door and looked up at me
with her satellite ears pinned
back flat against her head. Like
I’m supposed to not fall at her
feet, gather her up in my arms
and tell her she’s pretty until
she falls asleep in my lap and
I have to wait for a neighbor to
pass close enough to the porch
to warrant a menacing warning
bark? Be reasonable.
I’ve tried explaining to her
that peanut butter-filled hooves
and gas money to the Irondale
dog park don’t grow on trees,
but it just goes in one satellite
ear and out the other.
And the only thing worse
than a Kollee guilt trip is, you
guessed it, a Koopa guilt trip.
Yep, I’m afraid getting down
is not the only thing Koopa’s
mastered — I’d put his passive
aggression up against any
scorned woman of the week
Lifetime throws at us.
It really is something to see
— the sulking in a corner, the
death stare that cuts away as
soon as I look at him (a trick he
also pulls with the camera, by
the way) and finally, the long,
heavy sigh — you could cut the
“fine, see if I care” subtext with
a knife.
And if you think Departing
Mom has it rough, you should
see the guilt trip that gets laid
DOG DISH Pet of the Month
Brooke Carbo/
The Anniston Star
COCOA
When dog mom Taylor
Haynes first laid eyes on
Cocoa at the Red Desert
Humane Society, “it was
true love,” she says.
Cocoa, who was found
with his family in an abandoned trailer in the middle
of the desert, had been
waiting at the Wyoming
rescue since being sprung
from the pound just two
days before his time was up.
Taylor, who had just left
home to move across the
country for her husband’s
job, was there volunteering
when the “Heinz 57” came
in for his grooming.
“He sat in my lap and
looked up at me with these
soulful eyes,” she recalls,
“and I just knew, this is my
soul mate.”
When Taylor returned
home, shaggy soul mate
in tow, she discovered —
aside from his penchant for
cheese puffs — the desert
dog was really a Southern
gentleman at heart, keeping his mom’s dance card
filled every morning.
“He puts his paws up in
the air and dances around
while I’m getting ready,”
she explained. “We even
nicknamed him Dancer.”
Submit Dog Dish Pet of the Month entries: On Instagram,
#DogDishStar. Email [email protected].
Or mail to Brooke Carbo, Assistant Features Editor,
The Anniston Star, P.O. Box 189, Anniston, AL 36202.
on Distracted Mom.
Occasionally I’ll work from
home, which you’d think they’d
love, eliminating the need for
my departure as it does.
Apparently my presence
alone doesn’t cut it. I must
also actively engage in one or
more of the following: petting,
playing, watching them play
(believe me, they check), dispensing treats, walking (though
adventure fielding is preferred),
loudly inserting their names
into show tunes or spooning.
Notice loading the dishwasher,
showering and anything that
requires a phone and/or laptop
didn’t make the list.
Back in grad school, Koopa
picked up a neat trick after
one too many nights curled up
beside me on the couch while
I burned the midnight oil. It
started off innocently enough
with one paw placed casually
on my leg. If that went unnoticed, he added a second paw
that led to a full-on cat stretch,
a subtle reminder that, hey
it’s 4 a.m. and maybe some
of us would like to go to bed.
Soon those paws would creep
up onto the keyboard (ZXvdF<tab>!!1 … yeah, I thought that
might get your attention). A few
calculated moves more and I
had a big, black mutt standing
between me and my laptop, literally. Like his whole body was
blocking the screen.
These days Kollee takes a
more direct approach, plopping down on the keyboard like
she aimed for my lap and just
missed, droopy ears locked and
loaded should I object.
Still, Koopa’s method had
its merits. Eventually he’d give
up and put himself to bed, but
not before turning back to let
out a heavy sigh of exasperation
(fine, see if I care) and sulking
off, head hung in defeat.
Thesis or no thesis, that pitiful sight usually did the trick.
But looking back, his despondency seems a bit melodramatic. All that fuss over sleeping on
the couch? I was the one up all
night analyzing dissonant cognition in media exposure data
— if anyone should have been
sulking it was me.
Yeah right ... like I have the
ears to pull that off.
A new
direction
for decor
The paper map is a thing of the
past for most people, as technology
and GPS are rendering them obsolete — except when
it comes to home
decor. Framed maps,
map printed fabrics
and globes are popular accents right
now, and luckily for
the DIYer, it’s pretty
easy to find old paper
Deirdre
maps and atlases to
Long
turn into something
new.
Several months
ago my friend and
fellow recreator Anita
Stewart gave me a
stash of maps she had gotten from JSU,
where she’s an adjunct art instructor
— you can check out some of her art
at the Visual Arts Society Members
Exhibition, now up at Hammond Hall
gallery on JSU’s campus. She knew I
liked using paper after we met at the
Anniston Museum’s Winter Market
last year, where I was making paper
bags out pages from The Star. I haven’t
turned any of the maps into bags yet,
but I have found other uses for them,
as a credenza top and a piece of art.
We have had this large piece of
furniture I call the credenza for several
years, but it’s never had a real top on it.
My husband salvaged it from a job site
when he worked building custom cabinets. The builder had gotten some of
the shelving measurements wrong and
had to build a new body, but kept the
old top because it still fit. This meant
the old topless cabinet was no longer
needed, so my husband brought it
home.
After dealing with no top for several months, we finally cut a piece of
plywood to fit it, painted it black and
attached it. And so it has sat — usually
piled with so much junk you can’t see
the top anyway — for approximately
four years. I had originally planned to
tile the top, but that meant learning
how to apply grout and tile, and buying
all the necessary gear, a fairly expensive process.
One day I realized I could just cover
the plywood top with some of the old
maps and have the style I wanted at a
fraction of the cost. First I coated the
top of the plywood with a layer of Mod
Podge. I lined up several maps on the
top to my liking and let it dry, with
the edges hanging over. Once the top
dried, I painted Mod Podge along the
edges of the plywood and carefully
folded the maps down over it. Once
it dried I trimmed the maps to the
edge of the plywood with an X-Acto
knife. This method caused the maps
to bubble a little bit on the top, but
nothing major enough to bother me. I
coated the top of the maps with more
Mod Podge, which is a temporary
protectant until I get the time to apply
polyurethane varnish as the permanent finish.
Other sheets of the maps, which are
1985 U.S. Geological Survey maps of
Greenbrier, Tenn., were turned into a
piece of art, inspired by a photo I saw
on Pinterest (whenever I want to work
through one of my stashes, I make a
Pinterest board for it). I cut the larger
sheets of map into pieces approximately 5.5-by-6.5 inches (I just kept
folding the larger map in half until I got
a size I needed, and then cut along the
fold lines). I shaped those rectangles
into funnels, using more Mod Podge as
an adhesive to keep the shape.
For the focal point of the art, I chose
a compass, which I bought on Ebay for
about $7.50. I arranged a rough version
of the finished product on a table, then
built a 4-by-4 inch base by hot gluing
together twigs from our backyard.
Then I used hot glue and E6000 to
secure the compass to the middle of
the base.
I hot glued the funnels around the
compass, starting with the eight principal points and filling in the spaces from
there. Once everything had time to dry
and stabilize, I went back and secured
it all with some E6000, because I find
hot glue tends to lose its adhesiveness
after a while. I then attached some
twine to the base for hanging.
MAKE
THIS!
Deirdre Long/The Anniston Star
Page 8E Sunday, June 22, 2014