Will you plant those hydrangeas...?

Here is a photo of our old oil tank from a few years back. It took us several years until we switched from the original in-floor oil furnace (heated one spot really well, really noisily, rest of the house not so much) over to electric baseboards. It was another year before we got around to having the old tank hauled off (as scrap metal). 

I took this right before the scrap metal guy picked up the tank. Mike had tipped it up to drain the remaining oil so that we could dispose of it properly. 

What instigated the next photo is something I wrote on one of my infamous 'to do' lists one weekend, shortly after the oil tank got hauled away. 

It read, "Plant hydrangeas by basement door." 

This task was aimed at Mike for one very good reason...

A thick concrete slab had to come out before the hydrangeas were planted! Loud and heavy machinery had to be rented. 

After he broke up the concrete,  he hauled it away for recycling.

Concrete removed. There was a foot of gravel under the concrete, so next up was an infusion of soil and compost. Eventually the siding will need some touching up (on another 'to do' list). Those  vents you see in the two photos above are from the old California Cooler. This was the only section of the house that didn't get resided, thus the old vents are still in place. 

Endless Summer hydrangeas planted. xo. This is the best hydrangea bed in the whole yard. They love the full shade. I was lucky to find these at our local nursery for just $17 each, which I thought was a great deal considering their size.

 The only original windows left in the house are the basement windows, of which the laundry room window is shown here. These basement windows were an old blue for a long time until we had the chance to paint them white one day. They look much crisper now. 

More blossoms are on their way. 

They'll keep the limelight hydrangeas on the patio company. The limelight are getting bigger each year. I'll do a patio post on them soon (it's on my 'to do' list). 

This fall I'll prune them back as they are getting a tad overgrown around the stairs and reaching out into patio a bit too much.