When you’re blue and you don’t know what to do…
The battle for blue hydrangeas is one I waged for many years. It’s true that certain hydrangeas change their flower color depending on whether the soil veers toward the alkaline or acidic, and they fluctuate between pink and blue, with all sorts of shades in-between. It’s a lesson in science as much as beauty, and that is the crux that appeals to my scientific aesthete.
We haven’t had blue flowers from our hydrangeas in a very long time. Hell, we haven’t had ANY flowers from most of our hydrangeas in many years, but back when we did I amended the soil with all sorts of random metal objects in an effort to get them to go true-blue. Screws, nails, washers, paper clips – anything that could rust got littered about the base of our plants. I tried coffee grounds and soil acidifiers too, but no matter how much I tried, we ended up with pink so I gave up. Those super-saturated shades of deep blue seemed to only be found in the beautiful yards of Cape Cod or coastal communities. Sometimes, you just can’t force nature. Pink was perfectly acceptable – if not glorious in its own right, and I’ve never had a problem with pink so why start now?
This year, however, one of our backyard plants – which are the ones that haven’t bloomed in over a decade – suddenly sent out some flowerheads, and as you can see here, they are starting off with the faintest hint of blue, so I have hope we may get some bluish shades after all this time. Maybe those screws finally rusted enough to have made an impact. Whatever the case, I’m thrilled with the result.
True blue, baby, I love you…
