Hydrangeas!

I never actually thought that I’d love Hydrangeas as much as I do now. In our previous garden, we had a wall Hydrangea, which was stunningly beautiful and it gave off a sweet perfume. We inherited this when we moved in, in 2001.

To the right of this, was another Hydrangea, a delicate and pretty pink variety…

The only other Hydrangea that we possessed was a plant of the paniculata variety; this was in a container. I can’t seem to find my photos of this but it was a pale pinkish/ whitish colour, similar to this, below…

When we moved across town, last year, to a new area, I was informed by my son that ‘Hydrangeas grow really well here’ and so with a new front border to plant, I took his word and I chose a selection. Planted in the early autumn, they weren’t very big…but smaller plants are easier to plant…and smaller plants grow quickly anyway! Biggest is not always best etc !

And even though they aren’t yet that tall, just look at how they have all bloomed!

And boy was he correct because in the area where I live, called Aller Park, it seems that almost everyone has a Hydrangea.. or two…or three..in their garden…and it must be a good year for them as they are absolutely lovely!

My new Hydrangeas have amazing blooms and one or two are cabbages! That is of course, metaphorically speaking but no exaggeration and I’m amazed! And here are a few facts:

The etymological meaning of ‘hydrangea’ stems from the Greek words for water, (hydros) and jar, (angos) or angeion ( pitcher). 

Hydrangeas do best when they are planted in moist, well drained soil as well as dappled shade. They don’t like the conditions to be too sunny, nor too shady. I’m hoping that I have got it about right! 😁