Wednesday 10 March 2010

Alphabe-Thursday...H is for Hydrangeas


For Mrs Matlock's class this week I'll bet some of you thought "oh! Maggie'll write about Hilton Head, since she loves the place so much and would love to live there one day". DH thought that would be my subject today. Wrong!!
(However, you could click here to see why I really would like to be there right now!!)
Instead some scenes from last summer, featuring a favourite flower of mine: the Hydrangea or Hortensia as is is called here in France.As you probably already know there are two types, mop head and lace cap. It's the mop head variety which can be either white, pink or blue. It all depends whether the soil in your garden is acidic (blue) or alkaline (pink). We have three large pink Hydrangea bushes and one that starts off blue but can turn gradually "purplish" during the summer months, I think it depends on how much rain we have! They are on opposite sides of the garden which may account for the different soil types.
Last year I planted a white Hydrangea, beneath the blue Hibiscus tree, next to the existing pink Hydrangeas. Click here for more pictures of the garden last year.
According to the Royal Horticultural Society's website white and green flowered cultivars do not change colour regardless of the ph of the soil The RHS advises using rainwater to water Hydrangeas, since mains hard water can affect the flower colour, turning blue flowers mauve or pink.
Now Head over to Jenny's and don't be late for class, she is a real stickler for punctuality and she'll give me a C- if she finds out you dawdled here and missed assembly.

32 comments:

  1. Beautiful H post Maggie. Those hydrangea's are gorgeous

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  2. I can't wait to have hydrangeas this summer! The deer fence will be my ticket to nice, fat hydranges blooms. I have three plants but the only one that has bloomed, up to now, is the one completely encased in wire. I don't think that's any way to enjoy a beautiful bush!

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  3. Morning Maggie, I love hydrangeas, I have four bushes in the garden, I planted a new one last year, but I can see it has new shoots so should be ok for this year. I always wait until the frost has finished in the UK before I cut off the dead heads.

    No probably with watering them with rain water here!!

    Jackie

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  4. Good Morning Maggie,

    I love your hydrangeas too! I only have one bush in the farm house garden and it has not bloomed in the 3 years that we have been here. We had to have an electrical utility pole set in the area where it is planted and it hasn't bloomed since. Call me "crazy" but I say it has something to do with all that electrical power going over it!! It bloomed the year before we had the pole set, so I am firm with that deduction!!

    I love the mop head and the lace variety too, but the most common around this area is the Oak Leaf.

    Have a great Thursday!

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  5. Maggie,

    Beautiful hydrangeas. They are an absolute favorite of mine.

    Your gardens are beautiful. I love nasturtiums and use the flowers for garnish.

    Have a wonderful weekend.

    Carol

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  6. Hydrangeas are a favorite of mine. They look beautiful on the bush and in the vase...and they dry easily too!!

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  7. I adore hydrangea! My neighbor gave me one last year that she was going to just throw away.

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  8. One of my very favorite...I so need to plant some in my landscape.

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  9. We have Hydrangeas too in our garden back in USA. Not in Malaysia, they do not grow that well here. Lovely pictures.

    Happy Thursday!

    hugs

    shakira

    HOPE FOR GREAT LAKES NOW!

    THEME THURSDAY-HATS

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  10. Both my wife, Happymrsc and I love hydrangeas. Lovely post and pictures...Peace

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  11. The hydrangeas are beautiful. Your pictures really showed off how pretty they are and I learned a lot too (I'm not much of a gardener).
    Have a great day.
    Jane

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  12. I love hydrangeas. I have one bush that had been moved from behind our pond to next to our house. The first year it bloomed, but last year there were no buds or blooms at all. I hope it comes back this year. It should with as much rain as we have had this year.

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  13. Maggie, hydrangeas are some of my favorites. Not only do I love the lacy nature but cut hydrangeas tend to last for a long time. They are also wonderful dried. I've have a small one planted in the garden and then larger plants of the oak leaf variety. That variety seems to do best here. Yours are so large and lovely. I love seeing photos of your French garden, my dear friend.

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  14. Your hydrangea bushes are beautiful. I live in the high desert and they don't grow well. Loved them when we lived in California. Speaking of hydrangeas, I love the scene in "It's a Wonderful Life" where Donna Reed gets stuck in the hydrangea bush! Joni

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  15. Maggie, Your hydrangeas are gorgeous!
    My Mom has a really huge blue lacecap growing out in the backyard. It was one she rooted from a cutting taken from a beautiful shrub at a friends house. The friend is no longer in that house (following a sad divorce) and likes to come to my moms house to "visit" the offspring of her beautiful hydrangea.

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  16. I love, love, love the full round blooms of hydrangeas! The blue ones are my favourites, and I have some that fade over the summer to a delicate purpley green.

    A great "h"

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  17. I love the flowers. Gorgeous. I wonder what kind of soil we have. I'll have to look in the neighborhood because I know I've seen them around here.

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  18. I like hydrangeas, but it must be too hot and humid here because I don't recall ever seeing them in this area. I see artifical ones at Michael's. :)

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  19. Hello, Hydrangeas have got to be one of the hardest words to spell too huh lol Beautiful though .

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  20. They are sure beautiful. I have friend that used them to decorate for her wedding.

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  21. I just love hydrangeas! Hoping to plant some of my own this year!

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  22. I love Hydrangeas as well. You life in Normandy looks so gorgeous! I am really enjoying your blog.

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  23. I love hydrangeas, they are so beautiful. I saw one recently (in a catalogue) that was the palest green, it was gorgeous! Unfortunately I have a black thumb, I would hate to kill that beautiful, innocent plant! Kathy

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  24. Beautiful, beautiful. I can almost smell summer in the air!

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  25. I love hydrangea also. I had a Niko (not sure of spelling) at my previous home. It was so pretty turned a beautiful olive green later in the summer. There are some here but they have not bloomed since we bought this home. I do not know the color and am beginning to think I need to move them.

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  26. Hydrangeas and peonies are my favorite "shurb flowers". I have both in my yard and they are so lovely. Thanks for all the information about hydrangeas.

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  27. Oh these are my 3rd favorite flowers (lilacs and sunflowers are #1 & #2)

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  28. I love hydrangeas and I never knew the soil was related to the color until about a week ago...I love the pink ones and they dry so beautifully! Happy Alphabe Thursday!

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  29. Oh Happy Day! Hydrangeas are one of my favorite flowers...right up there with heliotrope.

    AND

    I never thought of it for H!

    Thanks for the lovely post...

    You started my morning out just right!

    A+

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  30. Those hydrangeas are beautiful. I bet you get extra credit for the most difficult word to spell. I also like the way you snuck Hilton Head in.

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