Hydrangeas

I hadn’t really noticed hydrangeas as identifiable shrubs until I was about twenty… maybe we had none in our garden, maybe they weren’t popular in our area, but the first time I remember noticing them was when I was with a German friend and he pointed out the Hortensien, and that is what I called them for a while, not realising that the English name was hydrangea.

They are wonderful and varied shrubs, and climbers with very distinctive round or flattened flower heads which are actually little florets. The amazing thing about some of them, the mop-head and lace-cap sort as they are so prettily called, is that they change colour according to the soil they are in – which means gardeners can have them any colour they like by adjusting the chemical quality of the soil around them.  However, white or green plants just stay the same, white or green. Hydrangeas are native to Asia and America but they can be found just about anywhere now.

As well as mop-head and lace cap, there are three other types, hydrangea arborescens, which are evergreen climbers, oak leaf hydrangeas and  hydrangea paniculata which have conical-shaped flower heads and can grow enormous – 3′ by 8′! Good heavens, I bet they look magnificent!. I’m not sure I have seen any of those with the strange sounding flowers. In Japan, where they are understandably very popular, they have a tea made from them and has a religious connection for Buddhist people. In Korea, however, the tea is used as a herbal remedy.

Hydrangeas look wonderful in sunshine, glowing like little beacons, whatever their colour: