Hydrangea Blossoms.

[theOEGBman]

Wow, is that how you spell that? LOL. Looks kind of weird now. Anyways, my grandma has two Hydrangea bushes in her front yard, and they have some blossoms on em! They are usually covered in them, but my uncle was a jerk and cut them down to nothing, so they just have a few flowers this year. I still managed to get some pics though.

 

[tricia]

I love hydrangeas! That last picture is especially beautiful!

 

[Tutter]

Very pretty!

My mother had someone cut her camellia back like that, but it's finally producing profusely again. It took a couple of years, though. Grrrr.

Thanks for sharing! :happy_flower

 

[aquarose]

I believe that most, if not all, hydrangeas bloom on last year's wood, so ill timed pruning will mean no flowers for a season. I LOVE hydrangeas. I just got my fifth one on Mother's Day. I got the BlueWave lacecap. I also have the classic snowball bush (Annabelle), another blue one called Little Prince, I think, and a reddish one. My first was a potted Mother's Day gift year's ago, and now it is huge. Always wanted to try an Oakleaf Hydrangea. Your photos are great, and they kind of look like my Annabelle hydrangea.

 

[theOEGBman]

Me too, Tricia. I would have gotten a pic of the whole bush, but its pretty bare this year. I loved that last pic too, the flowers are gorgeous.

Thanks, Tutter! Well, my grandma always trims the dead blossoms and stuff off, but my uncle whacked it down to nothing. Its a shame, but its not shocking. He's always causing trouble.

Yeah, Im not too familiar with them but that seems about right! Awesome! I havent really kept up on the different varieties, this is the only one I know of, and I dont even know what kind it is. Its got blue, purple and pink flowers on it. My grandma said my great grandma used to stick rusty nails in the ground around it and it would make the flowers change colors. I would love to see pictures of yours! Thanks.

 

[backintime]

I have six Annabelle Hydrangeas, and I've been cutting them down to the ground each fall. They seem to get thicker (more stalks) each year and have never failed to bloom profusely, BUT (why is there always a big butt? LOL) just about the time they are covered with huge dinner-plate sized blooms, I can count on a big nasty wind & rain storm to hit, and they all get top-heavy and fall flat. Do the ones left to grow on "old" wood bear up better in wind and rain? Do you ever have to prune them? If so, how/when?

 

[aquarose]

Hey Backintime. That is so disheartening when the gorgeous blooms catch and hold all that rain and end up on the ground. Always happens with my peonies too. I have always been shy about cutting back hydrangeas after I went a summer once without blooms. I just looked at this website, http://www.hydrangeashydrangeas.com/pruning.html and I learned that Annabelle are hydrangea arborescens and the ones that bloom in pink or blue are hydrangea macrophylla. The Annabelles can be cut to the ground and bloom but the others can't. It also said that if you don't prune your Annabelles, and they bloom on old wood, they should endure the rain better. I will certainly be paying attention to mine to see if this is true.

 

[peeps7]

Hydrangeas are one of my favorite flowers, unfortunatly I haven't been able to keep one alive here. (Dogs)

 

[backintime]

I have gotten so desperate to save my hydrangeas during rainstorms that I have actually stood outside in the cold rain for an hour, tapping my flowers with a BADMINTON racket to knock off the rain as it accumulated. You should have seen the look on my husband's face as he stood in the window watching me! :/

I have also had neighbors find me crying over my beautiful "squashed" flowers and help me try to tie up each and every sagging stalk with yarn.

How bad is that?!!!

 

[aquarose]

I can totally sympathize! (My husband thinks I am nuts too!) This year, before any rain, I cut all open peonies to avoid having them laying down in the mud. I took them to work and treated my colleagues to fresh peonies. They loved them! Sounds like you might have too many hydrangeas for that though.