Hydrangeas have to be one of the more magnetic flowers to photograph. Two summers ago, when I was a more dedicated user of instagram, hydrangeas cropped up in my feed regularly. Yet, I didn’t have any growing in my yard.
Last summer, we finally added some in the form of Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’. I’ve always had a thing for white and greenish hydrangeas and we were trying to stick with mostly (North American) native plants. ‘Annabelle’ fit the bill on both counts. (Not that I don’t appreciate a hedge row of blue or pink H. macrophylla.)
I also knew I wanted this particular variety because I frequently pass a pair of ‘Annabelles’ in my neighborhood. I used to fantasize about taking a few blooms home with me. So, it was a thrill this morning to go to my own newly established plants and select a few stems to clip and bring inside. There they are – puffy, delicate, frothy, almost delicious-looking.
With plenty of blooms left on the plants, I’ll get to watch the flowers as they weather and change over the rest of the summer, long life and variability being one of the beautiful aspects of most hydrangea blossoms. I’ll probably even cut a few to bring in and dry. Feels almost like having my cake and eating it too.
Bottle Branch 
Hydrangeas are up there in my flowers Top Ten, but there’s something about our garden they just don’t seem to like, I’ve tried several over the years and none of them has survived – maybe I’ll try again, you’ve just reminded me how much I love their brazen flounciness.
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Indeed, they are brazen aren’t they 😉 Funny how there are plants that just won’t cooperate… I’ve never had luck with roses or aquilegia or monarda. Hope you get some big beautiful hydrangeas next time you try them!
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Love your Annabelle blossoms. I enjoy hydrangeas and have endless summer in Maine. Winters here mean they are hard to grow but I keep trying.
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Oh thanks! I love a good endles summer variety too! I didn’t know there were hard to grow farther north. Hope they last for you!
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You are witty and well mannered AND crafty??? Wow. Love your hydrangea. I love the look of dried hydrangea but don’t know how to do this. I tried hanging some with ribbon attached to stems in my basement, but they dropped a great deal of leaves.
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Kate, I am so glad you found me here and flattered to be called witty!
I haven’t dried hydrangeas in many years, but I remember doing it by putting them in a tall, narrow necked vase and letting them dry out. I think I did take the leaves off first. I’ll try again this fall and see how it goes.
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Oh! Hydrangeas are my favorite flower too! Of all time!!! I WILL have them in my yard someday. Totally!
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Your hydrengias are so beautiful. I have not been able to hydrengias in my garden and they are one of my favorite flowers.
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Thanks, Martha. I’m sure you have other amazing plants that compensate for any lack of hydrangeas. I think I might be fixating on mine as a way to distract myself from a woeful lack of roses in my garden 😉
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I love this. We have blue hydrangeas out front, and they definitely populate my instagram feed. I’ve written at some length about all the metaphors that hydrangeas present – the way they changed based on the soil in which they grow, the subtle way their color shifts over the course of the summer, the way I have to cut back most of the first growth of flowers and pitch them to make way for a (hopefully) second crop. I should do that today, actually. It always makes me sad. xo
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So this cultivar doesn’t change based on soil – only over time from more greenish to whitish to brown. Hmmm. Metaphorically, what does that say, that I avoided those color changing varieties?
Pinching back almost anything can be hard, but atleast you can bring some more in!
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