Hydrangeas Have Staying Power

Long-standing blooms

I was sorting through my flower photos from the 2019 gardening season, looking for shade-lovers to share today.  All I could find were photos of my hydrangeas. The largest hydrangea in each of the photos in the collage below, is the same flower!  The top left photo was taken in early June, 2019, and the one on the bottom right was taken in late August, 2019.  In January of 2020, the dried-out blossoms were still on the bush!

Same Hydrangea over several months

Hydrangeas aren't cheap to buy, but when you take into account how long the blooms last (months!), and how long the plant lives (years) I'd say they give you a very good return on your investment. Plus, they can often be found marked down at the big box stores. Hydrangeas are pigs for water, and the staff just doesn’t have the time to water them like they need. If you catch the m when they’re just looking sad but not crispy, they can usually be resurrected with a little TLC and a lot of judicious watering

One of the reasons that I loved living in the Ozarks, was that I could grow mophead hydrangeas there.  They love the mild winters and wet weather.  The only challenge I had with them was finding shady spots that weren't too close to the black walnut trees. 

In 2018 and 2019, I filled all of those spots with as many hydrangeas (and hostas, and bleeding hearts) as they would hold.  Most of them, especially in 2019, were purchased on clearance.  They were all planted under the eaves of the tea room and its' garage, and we didn't have rain gutters on the roofs yet.  2019 was such a wet year that despite how thirsty hydrangeas are, I didn't have to water those beds once all summer.

I ran a soaker hose under the mulch in the hydrangea beds, because they' need extra watering from time to time.  Every summer won't be like 2019, after all.  But outside of mulching after planting, a bit of light weeding and a dose of Holly-Tone fertilizer, I didn't do a single other thing with them in 2019.

In late 2020 we moved to Southeast Tennessee, and we spent a couple of years remodeling our new home. Then, we bought land, and we’re still in the process of building our forever house.

Soon, it will be time to start again with flowers. I can’t wait!