Hydrangeas bloom in the garden and culture

1. A handbag and wallet from Gucci’s GG Blooms collection and a hydrangea purse and wallet from Dooney & Bourke’s Hydrangea Monogram Collection.
2. A table runner at La Dentelliere Scarsdale.
3. Stationery and accessories at the Scarsdale Woman’s Exchange.
4. Kim Seybert’s beaded Hydrangea Placemats and matching Coaster Set are best sellers for the tableware designer. Courtesy Kim Seybert.
Hobbs’ hydrangea dress at Bloomingdale’s.

No flower is having a bigger moment this year than the hydrangea. After a couple of years of little or no blooms in our area, hydrangeas are burgeoning across the landscape. Why the spectacular return?

“I am guessing you are growing big leaf hydrangeas – the ones that typically have pink flowers in high pH (alkaline) soils and blue in low pH (acidic) soils,” gardening expert Melinda Myers wrote us. https://www.melindamyers.com/ “In colder climates like ours, they often die back to the ground. Older varieties only flowered on the previous season’s growth, so we Northern gardeners seldom had flowers.

“The more recently introduced repeat-blooming varieties bloom on old and new growth. If the plant dies to the ground, you should still have flowers but later in the season. Keeping the soil moist and fertilizing it in the spring – I recommend Milorganite – have helped gardeners boost the flowering. A good snow cover over winter can insulate the roots and stems so you may have old growth that survived and is producing flowers.”

Last winter was the first in three years in which we had significant snowfall in this area. And we haven’t had to worry about too little rain this spring. If you’re planting hydrangeas – which come not only in white and a variety of pastel shades but as bushes, trees and vines – look for a spot with morning sun and afternoon shade.

Hydrangeas have taken off across the cultural landscape as well. They grace everything from placemats and matching coasters from tableware designer Kim Seybert to stationery and accessories at the Scarsdale Woman’s Exchange to a table runner at La Dentelliere, also in Scarsdale, and dressed in this year’s offerings from Hobbs, the British women’s clothing and accessories brand. Hydrangeas grace the highly collectible Gucci’s GG Blooms handbags, wallets, slides and other accessories as well as purses and matching wallets from Dooney & Burke.

As for the real thing, you can cut and dry hydrangeas https://www.hgtv.com/outdoors/gardens/garden-to-table/how-to-dry-hydrangeas when they are past peak bloom and often turn a pale green tinged with red. That way, you’ll have your blooms to warm the heart as the snows fall – laying the groundwork for another summer of riotous pastels.

Tags: hydrangeas, Milorganite, La Dentelliere, Kim Seybert, Hobbs, Scarsdale Woman’s Exchange, GG Blooms, Gucci, Dooney & Burke, Bloomingdale’s, Melinda Myers,