Late Summer flowers in the house

When we first saw this house it was in late April and the home inspection was sometime in May. While walking around the outside and looking at the landscape I noticed a tree at the front which being that time of year was all spindly bare branches. I asked our realtor if she knew what it was, and being a realtor who really only cares about the sale, she said "dead". We moved in on June 1st and slowly the tree started to fill up with leaves and tiny flower buds which much to my surprise and joy looked like a pegee hydrangea and what a pegee hydrangea it is. Truth is it is actually two and it fills up with flowers like nothing I've ever seen and then cascades all the way down to the floor.

It's like a giant umbrella of flowers. They start out a soft delicate white and then the tips get a little greenish, then they mature into green and pink

and some off white

with huge flower heads covering every inch of it.

At the end of that Summer a man stopped by said he was a wholesale florist and offered me $300.00 for the flowers. I said no, the joy of looking at this most stunning of displays was priceless. Every year Frank brings out a ladder and cuts, cuts, cuts. Sometimes he hangs out of the bedroom window to get at the real big guys at the top. There have been times when he's gone to the neighbor's with arms full of flowers; no wonder the ladies on the block all think he's the bomb. Once they reach the later stage they dry perfectly and we have flowers in the house throughout the winter months. So to Jane's flowers in the house party we go

with my most precious of flowers. And we'll add some herbs to the mix cause this hot humid icky Summer is just making everything grow like mad

It's pesto time!

...and Max could care less since he's too busy doing his favorite thing