Summer Hydrangea Diary

courtesy of Reenie-Just Reenie

Hydrangea is a genus of about 70-75 species of flowering plants native to southern and eastern Asia The flowers are extremely common in the Azores Islands of Portugal, particularly on Faial Island, which is known as the “blue island” due to the vast number of hydrangeas present on the island.

Hydrangea flowers are produced from early spring to late autumn; they grow in flowerheads at the ends of the stems. In many species,the flowerheads contain two types of flowers, small fertile flowers in the middle of the flowerhead, and large, sterile bract-like flowers in a ring around the edge of each flowerhead. Other species have all the flowers fertile and of the same size.

Chris wrote about his Endless Summer Hydrangea Diary,  the post also features beautiful pictures of the Hydrangea.

I love the big bright blue, pink, and purple flowers of big mophead hydrangeas, they really brighten up shady spots, they’re some of my favorites. But here in zone 5, most varieties just do not bloom. They can’t make it through the winter and then don’t have any blooms on current year’s growth.