Love showing off my garden’s best hydrangeas for American Flowers Week!

July has arrived and American Flowers Week is in full swing! Hundreds of posts featuring the flowers and foliage grown here in the U.S.A. on domestic farms are appearing across social media — as so many proudly share their homegrown blooms.

We’ll compile a summary of these amazing “shares” at week’s end.

Suffice it to say, I’m overwhelmed with the level of participation for such a grassroots project.

From Farms to Wholesalers; from Design Studios to Grocery Floral Departments – it’s inspiring to see that so many fans of American Grown Flowers are taking photos of their local and seasonal blooms and tagging those images with #americanflowersweek to show allegiance to American Grown Flowers.

I’m waving the Thank You flag to each and every one of you!

A child’s table, painted Delphinium blue by a vintage dealer, is my perfect podium for this bouquet.

Hydrangeas, light and dark blue; red yarrow; white feverfew; white gooseneck loosestrife; and green raspberry foliage add up to a star-spangled bouquet.

Even though I had a major lens failure on my camera this week — the worst possible week to be without my camera — I was determined to share today’s bouquet with you.

Thankfully, between iPhone shots and a borrowed point-and-shoot, I captured the essence of a red-white-and-blue hand-tied bouquet that I created earlier today.

The dark and light blue-toned hydrangeas are straight from my Seattle garden.

I cut them late last night and left them outdoors in a bucket of water to cool off until dawn. It has been in the mid-80s this week, so hydrangeas aren’t wildly happy about the climate. But that overnight soak was ideal to revive these lovelies.

A couple of my local flower farmer friends grew the other patriotic-hued ingredients in this bouquet:

From All My Thyme (flower farmer Dawn Severin), red yarrow and white feverfew – both cheerfully yellow centered.

From Jello Mold Farm (flower farmers Diane Szukovathy and Dennis Westphall), the gooseneck loosestrife and the raspberry foliage.

The 2015 American Flowers Week Logo

Inspired by the “ribbon” motif that artist Jean Zaputil used to “tie” the charming bouquet on our American Flowers Week logo, I shopped for flag-themed ribbon at Packaging Specialty in Seattle. This bold red-and-white striped grosgrain caught my eye and yards of it finish off this bouquet.

There’s still three more days of American Flowers Week – and you’re invited to join in! Post your photos and share the #americanflowersweek tag.