I have a lot of hydrangeas in my yard, all but one of them coming from a single bush. (The odd-bush out is, of course, the white one which grows in a big pot and doesn't seem to mind.) I don't provide them with any special care and I'm a confused pruner when it comes to hydrangeas, so they tend toward odd shapes but always to abundant blooms. They're a plant I really have respect for.
Fortunately, and especially in August, hydrangeas are very easy to root from green cuttings, so next year I hope to have even more of them. Point Roberts ought to be advertised as the Hydrangea Capital of the World, I think (like Petaluma being the Chicken Capital of the World, and Castroville being the Artichoke Capital of the World). I've never seen such abundant hydrangeas. Because the soil is so acidic here, they tend toward the blue kind, but some approach a gorgeous purple and there are occasional pink ones to be seen. And obviously people could manipulate that more if they were so inclined to if they changed the soil acidity. For information about changing color,
try this site.
It does seem to me (in my ceaseless search for a nonexistent economic development plan for Point Roberts) that if there is any economic development to be found here, it will be in hydrangeas. We have a lot of them, they are of superb quality, they don't exist grow easily or at all everywhere in the U.S. They don't, however, always come with chartreuse frogs. The down side is that there aren't a lot of uses for them other than as flowers, live and dried. What we need is research to discover that hydrangeas could be the source of an amazing medicinal product. Then, we're talking full home-business development.
Now, the down side even of live flower hydrangea use is that, if you cut them and put them in water, they are very likely to be wilted within a few hours. This, I am told, is because the plant puts out a sap to prevent water loss. Thus, when you cut their stems, the sap immediately seals the stem and it can't get to the water you have obligingly put in its vase. The answer to this is boiling water. It seems like plant cruelty, but it works beautifully. Cut the hydrangea stalk (in the green area, not the hardened brown/grey section) and put it in tap water. Then put it in water you've just brought to a boil and let it sit in the hot water for about half an hour. Then put it back in the tap/cool water/vase. If, after 3 or 4 days it begins to wilt, you can repeat this (recut the stem) and it will likely liven back up. However, you can't do it indefinitely. So few solutions to anything work forever, of course. Hydrangeas do not make us feel blue, but they certainly tell us what blue looks like
Update: For information on rooting hydrangeas.
