Fences and Hydrangeas

 I have been enjoying a week off work and have managed to do a few jobs in the garden.  Above is the rather tatty looking fence at the bottom of the garden.  It was painted a nice dark green and did a good job but gradually over the years was looking less than smart.  I had seen a few show gardens on TV and one at RHS Chatsworth where the panels were either painted black or charred so that they were black.  Any green in front of them really looked vibrant. 
As our fence is right at the end of the garden, I thought that painting the panels black would make them 'disappear' when you look down the garden and would also make the plants stand out well.  I painted one coat of black (it said it was one-coat, but I now know better than to believe that) and was really disappointed as it just looked a greyey-green, with the original green showing through.

So, another coat was added and it looked much better.  It the photo above, the sun is making it look lighter than it really is - it does look much darker in real life. Now when you look down the garden, your eye is fooled into thinking it's just a dark area and goes on further.

 The green (camellia) leaves do show up much more effectively now.  However,  I am wondering whether it needs a third coat, just to make really sure...

In other news, my hydrangea collection is doing well, despite the lack of rain.  Above is the newest blue flowered one, looking remarkably pink/lilac.  I would really like a proper blue hydrangea, but seem to be fated not to have one. 

 Here is Diamant Rouge, looking rather more 'vert' than 'rouge' at the moment.

 Merveille Sanguine has a lovely pinky-red flower with cream when it is just opening.

 Really pretty.

 So is Dark Angel...

 .. pinky red and creamy green.

 Annabelle is doing amazingly well and is the only one planted in the ground.  I do give her a bit of extra water, just because it is so dry and she has a lot of flowers to support.

Creamy white with a touch of green.

 Magical Revolution which I am still not sure about due to the colour combination.  It seems happy enough though.

Endless Summer White or The Bride which is a lovely plant with just a hint of pink in the flowers.  It suffered a setback when the wall fell on it, but has recovered really well. 
Perhaps I should give up on a blue one and enjoy the ones I have which are doing so well for me this year.