I've been waiting so long I can't remember if it happened before.
I anticipated it every year for the last four or five years, and for whatever reason, it just.didn't.happen.
I forgot to pay attention.
I think I forgot they were planted.
After all this time I most certainly forgot the specific name of this hydrangea.
But I don't care, I'VE GOT A COUPLE BLOOMS!
Real live hydrangeas that are growing in my own yard. Amazing.
I looked over wondering what that pink was, and there they were.
Now I have no trouble with stargazer lily's. In fact two plant have 12 blooms each and are so heavy they are tipped over. Should I be doing something for these? Maybe they are not to get so tall and I should be pruning them?
Guess I better look that up.
But as far as the hydrangeas, should I cut them?
Wait and dry them?
Do people even bring real hydrangeas into their house for a vase?
Gosh, this is like bringing home that first new baby, I've gotta read up on it.
Bet if I Google "My First Hydrangea" there is a whole book.
Uncharted territory, something I know nothing about.
The only thing I know about hydrangeas is that I love them.... and finally after a long wait, I've got one blooming.
How long do the blooms stay on the plant? Winter's coming 'ya know.
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Bliss, your variety of hydrangea appears to be "endless summer". I have several, and they have been so disappointingly bare for the last 3 of my 10 years of growing them. One year was the harsh winter, the next was a conscientious effort to hard prune them, knowing last year's blooms would be negatively affected (they bloom on the old wood). This year, I don't know what happened, but I only have a few, low-hanging blooms. I'm ready to pull them out.
ReplyDeleteYes, you can bring them in fresh for bouquets, but cut them early in the morning, and put them in a vase right away (even take it outside as you cut). Using the spice alum, dip the bottom of the tips in before placing them in the vase for display will really keep them from wilting (otherwise they will, within minutes). As for using them for drying, I usually let them pretty much dry on the bush (blooms last for months!), then cut them as they start fading on the bush. I still haven't cut the blooms I first saw at the end of May.
As for the stargazers, they can get tall, and you can simply stake them. They're a good plant for the back of a bed, with lower, filler flowers in front.
Congratulations on your blooms - they're both very pretty!
I didn't get any blooms this year at all, but I moved my plants last year. Hoping the blooms will be back next year. I have an endless summer.
ReplyDeleteI dried some last year, and this is the time of year I would cut for drying IF I had any blooms.
congrats on your pretty blooms!
gail
Ours were pitiful this year...burned buds from a late freeze. I'm so glad you finally got some! (Ps- my son is applying to a PhD program at University of Many-snow-Ta. I don't think he has any idea of how cold it gets.)
ReplyDeleteReally pretty, Bliss! My hydrangeas haven't bloomed much the last few years either...luckily my son has a lot of blooms at his house and lets me take what I want.
ReplyDeleteNot glad I don't have many blooms, but glad I'm not the only one.
ReplyDeleteTwo huge Nikos here and very few blooms.
Yet the old-fashioned white ones have never looked so good. Huge plants covered with bright white flowers.
Hair spray can help keep the dried blossoms from breaking up so easily. I don't cut the Niko for inside.... just the old ones, most of which will turn pinkish with age,
Have fun........
I planted a few hydrangeas a few years back (no blooms yet) and then my husband got a little too crazy with our new hedge trimmers and gave them a trim last fall. Ah well. I think I see a leaf poking it's head out. But now they're even shy-er. I mean, who wouldn't be with a crazy man with an electric trimmer whacking off it's head! ;)
ReplyDeleteThese last two years I haven't had any blooms. I attribute it to cold winters but really don't know why.
ReplyDeleteMine didn't bloom at all last year (well, 1 bloom). This year I got tons of flowers. I cut them and they make great bouquets--last a long time if you cut the stems every so often. I let them dry on the plants outside. Mine are starting to fade but they were gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all...........YES people cut them off and bring them into their house and put them in a vase with water. They are beautiful and will last a long time. Hydrangeas are one of my favorite flowers. I have a bush that I planted recently, that is full of beautiful healthy leaves, but still no blooms. So, I know how excited you are to finally have blooms! Enjoy them! I would like to have some star gazer lilies like you have. They smell heavenly! Good to know that they are easy to grow.
ReplyDeleteI was just reading a blog post by a nursery owner in Detroit. Her opinion was that we shouldn't be even trying to grow mop-heads because it's too cold and that's why they bloom so inconsistently. So I guess you are a victim of too cold weather. Try planting a limelight. They are very hearty. I think I need to replace a couple of mine with a Limelight. Yes people cut them off and bring them in. You have to re-cut the stems every few days and so they don't shrivel up. If you leave them on until mid-September you can take them off for drying. They don't dry well in mid summer.
ReplyDeleteHhmn. Decisions, decisions. How bout just cutting the big one for show inside and let the little ones keep going? We've never had any but I used to love my aunt's big white, blue and green ones. The bushes covered the whole front side of her screened porch. It was fantastic.
ReplyDeleteNice...let them dry on the plant, if you want to save fry blooms. Cut and take in now, if you want pink flowers now. They just don't bloom well that far north...too cold winters. I live in south central Missouri, and winters here are almost too cold. The new
ReplyDeleteEndless Summer ones bloom on old and new wood.....it helps to get blooms!
Good luck! oh, and stake the Lilies, don't cut them back, as they grow from that one main point, on each bulb.
I remember when they originally came out with the Endless Summers. We finally were promised a blue hydrangea that would actually bloom here in Minnesota (the plant was developed in Minnesota you know). My gardening friends and I all rushed out to buy them. And they have been a huge disappointment. I rarely get more than 3 or 4 blooms on the two bushes that I have. I am thinking I should just yank them out and replace them with Limelights (which are absolutely covered in blooms from head to toe, but unfortunately not blue ones!) We Minnesotans are going to have to just enjoy the blue hydrangeas vicariously through the blogs of Southern gardeners!
ReplyDelete