7.22.2010

blue hydrangeas

My blue hydrangeas on the front yard is in full bloom. Yesterday I asked my husband to cut me a few stems for the dining table, the kids helped him and they got a little crazy and picked all the flowers within their reach then they brought them to me one stem at a time with each time announcing they got a present for me.   Silly kids, now my living room is in a sea of blue hydrangeas.
A few years ago, I bought a small hydrangea plant from Home Depot and planted it in the backyard.  It was a pretty pink shade, the following year the flowers turned to blue.  I later found out that the soil changes their colour.  The more aluminum present in the soil, then the flowers will eventually turned into a blue or purple shade.
One trick I read to changing the blooms into pink is to use a fertilizer with high levels of phosphorus to prevent the aluminum into the system, or better yet consider growing them in a large pots.  Maybe I'll try using the big pot method next time.

I love the blue hydrangeas just the same, I think they look great with the brown apothecary jars.  I like to use them for my flowers.  I don't  really have any vases, one big ceramic vase from Ikea but all my flowers go to jars and bottles mostly, and milkglass vases.
You can't really go wrong with these and the old mason jars, they look nice with any kinds of flowers and they're very inexpensive at the thrift store.

5 comments:

  1. That's an interesting tidbit about the soil, I didn't know that. I really like the blue-it's a beautiful shade, and you're right it goes quite well with your brown and milk glass jars.

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  2. My hydrangeas are blue as well- maybe slightly lighter than yours. I have heard that another trick to making them pink is to plant pennies in the soil near them. Not sure how many you'd need, or if that is even true. Your "sea" is beautiful, and your children are so sweet for bringing you so many presents :)

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  3. Blue or pink - they are gorgeous :)

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  5. So pretty, love your gorgeous vases!

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