Saturday 19 May 2018

Hydrangea

I love the hydrangea.  The flowers are large and full of colour, whatever colour they turn out to be.  The are called 'ortansia' here which is a beautiful name for them.

I once had a blue hydrangea in the garden which was flourishing till one of our neighbours walked past and put the evil eye on it.  She admired the flower without 'ftoo-tooing' it and told me I was very lucky to have it survive because they only did well growing in pots.  A  fatal pronouncement.  It withered away and by the next summer was dead.

Every hydrangea I have has turned out to be pink even though one of them started out blue.  I now plant them in pots of course.  No risk taking with the new ones.  

I spent time in the winter looking at videos on Youtube finding out how to keep or turn hydrangeas blue.  It is all to do with the Ph of the soil.  Coffee grounds and eggshells seemed to be the clue to establishing the right Ph for blue hydrangeas though it did say it would take time for the colour to change.  

We drink filter coffee so all the grounds went around the plants.


This is the largest one in a huge pot which is actually half a wooden wine barrel.  At the moment it is still pink but still getting doses of coffee grounds and eggshells


The plant in the smaller clay pot though has turned out to have  lilac/purple flowers.  I'm quite chuffed with this result!


I also studied tomato growing.  My plants are usually big and healthy but with few tomatoes.  This year I hope for more fruit than foliage.  I learnt how to prune the tomatoes and they also have had lashings of coffee grounds, eggshell milkshakes and goat droppings.   The cherry tomato has produced 4 tomatoes and is only 6 inches high.  The other plants have flowers and I see 2 tomatoes forming.  Ftoo-ftoo.  I should plant some garlic around them to keep off the evil eye too.  Hopefully this year we'll be making greek salads with our own tomatoes.   

17 comments:

  1. My poor husband, resident gardener, planted hydrangeas (in the ground!!! eeek!) some years ago. They flourished amazingly, the first year. People going by, marveled about them.

    Next year... Less flowers...From then on, just flourishing bushes.

    He read everything, and did everything, he read!!!! Never again have they bloomed.

    Perhaps someone went by, and put a hex on them, here!!! I will tell him that. And make him feel better. LOL

    Pots hu? Don't think I will tell him that. He can't take another round of beauty, followed by no more flowering. LOL.

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    1. Try the pots and tie a head of garlic around one of the branches. Good luck I'm spitting on you now three times to stop that evil eye!!

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  2. And you can dry the petals of Hydrangea, and smoke them. They are supposed to have the same effect as Cannabis. I cannot confirm this as I am a non-smoker, but here in France the flowers disappear regularly.

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    1. Petal of hydrangea mmm seriously? I'd be falling about laughing even before I started smoking petal of hydrangea. Maybe I'll crush some up and put them in my next batch of brownies............or not

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  3. My mother in law does that to me every time she admires one of my pot plants
    I think I should just hang garlic around her neck and make it really tight!
    I have two hydrangeas at my back door. But our chicken keeps getting out and sitting in them
    Branches are broken and they look sad. So I’ll be cutting them back. Giving them a feed and lots of water. I’m sure they will come back next season.
    As for that chicken .......

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    1. Hydrangeas here are really hearty, take all weathers. Luckily we don't have chickens though, or a dog. Our nieghbour Vaso always admires them but she doesn't need to put the evil eye on mine, hers are much bigger and healthier.

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  4. Hydrangeas grow very well in Ireland. I think it's the acidic soil. You can easy make cuttings and play about changing their colours by putting rusty old nails under them.

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    1. I have heard of rusty old nails but apparently it takes years for the iron from them to bleeach into the soil.

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    2. I have also heard of the nails as well. What about iron filings? Or iron tablets dissolved in water and then drench the soil in it? Worth a try

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    3. just googled it, there is something called Ironite. that you can use.... who knew!

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  5. Hydrangeas and rhodedendrons don't grow well about here because our soil isn't right for them. I love to see the rhodedendrons growing wild though as they do in parts of Northern England/Scotland.

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    1. I've never tried rhodedendrons. Those grow well here too.

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  6. They are called Ortensias here too.
    Greetings Maria x

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    1. I think it is a lovely name for a flower. I know a french woman here named Ortansia. I wonder if the name of the flower comes from the french

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  7. hydrangeas are my favourite flower, they look so old fashioned, think blue ones I like the best.

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    1. I prefer the blue but most are pink. Today is siter in laws name day and I gave her a white hydrangea. I thought I might buy a white one for myself one day. I wonder if it will stay white

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