The Year of the Hydrangea

This has been a great year for flowering shrubs, especially the hydrangeas.  Here is a photo of Limelight:

This is the Quickfire, taken a couple of weeks ago, after it started turning pink:

Unfortunately, the Oak-Leaf was totally eaten down by the deer last winter, so there will be no flowers this summer.  I'll be sure to have it wrapped for winter.  And the Pinky-Winky has some small blooms just starting, after having received a good pruning by those nasty 'rats-on-hooves.'

The star in the flower beds right now is Joe-Pye Weed.  It is about six-feet tall and the butterflies just love it:

Yesterday, I saw the first hummingbird in the garden:

Alas, I am also realizing that we are coming to the part of the year when fall clean-up is not too far away.