Hydrangea - Flower of Many Colors

Hydrangeas are to summer what Azaleas are to spring: a dramatic punch of color in the landscape. In older neighborhoods, large shrubs of mophead Hydrangeas dominate the garden with billowing blue flowers signaling the start of summer. Blue is a rare color for flowers and will get plenty of attention; stealing the show from other flowers.  But not all Hydrangeas are blue. White, pink and purple mopheads can also be found along with Lacecaps, Oakleaf, Peegees and Arborescens.  Lacecaps and mopheads are closely related. Botancally they are Hydrangea macrophylla and native to Japan. The color of the flower depends on the pH of the soil. Most of the Hydrangeas around here are blue because the soil is slightly acid. Adding lime in the fall will turn the flowers pink the following summer. If you want to have fun with your hydrangeas, sprinkle a hand full of Lime on one side of the bush and a hand full of Aluminum Sulfate on the other side. When the Hydrangea blooms you will have pink, purple and blue flowers. This trick will not work with white mop heads but they will blush with pink hues as the flowers fade. Hydrangeas age gracefully turning mauve, slate and chartreuse and other antique shades providing weeks of changing colors.

 Hydrangeas are great cut flowers and are a favorite of June brides and Church Flower Guilds. Just cut a handful of blooms, remove the lower leaves, and stick them in a vase for an easy flower arrangement. 

If you are trying to grow more native plants then Oakleaf and Arborescens Hydrangeas are for you. Both were traditionally white but now a few pinks are on the market. Pinky Winky Oakleaf starts out white and turns pink as the flower ages. Oakleafs need really good drainage, plenty of sun and room to grow. They often get 12 feet tall. The orange fall leaf color is a bonus.

The cultivated Arborescens Hydrangeas have huge white mopheads and often need staking. The wild forms look more like Lacecaps with smaller flowers. ‘Annabell’ is one of the most popular cultivars but new pink cultivars have hit the market in recent years. Plant them in morning sun or dappled shade.

Pruning Hydrangeas can be a little tricky, but the old garden rule “Prune after the bloom” holds true for Hydrangea macrophylla both mopheads and lacecaps. Flower buds for next year form in the summer. Flower buds are easy to identify –big and fat compared to leaf buds. So when you prune, cut just above a fat bud.   But all hydrangeas can go for years without pruning. I only prune them when I cut them for flower arrangements. Peegee and Arborescen Hydrangeas bloom on new wood and can be pruned in the winter without loss of bloom. Peegees and Oakleafs can be trained up like a small tree.  

When purchasing Hydrangeas look for repeat bloomers and new color combinations to try in your garden.

#Hydrangea #flowers #gardens

The Three Sister Garden of the First Peoples

Although we grow many of the same crops as Native Americans, our gardens look very different.  Today we plant our gardens in neat rows that are carefully spaced and our crops organized for crop rotation.  A patch of corn here and a few rows of beans over there and then there are large commercial farms with hundreds of acres of a single crop. Native Americans developed a unique system of companion planting that was well established before Europeans arrived.  Corn, beans, and squash were gifts of the Great Sprit and were called the Three Sisters and always planted together in the garden.  The Three Sisters Garden has always fascinated me for I am the oldest of 3 sisters and we all love to garden.

There were many tribes in North America and many had their own legends about the Three Sisters and there were variation in the garden design as well.  Some gardens were large circles with mounds of soil spaced 4- 5 foot apart.  The mounds were about hand high and 20 inches wide, with a flat top.  The corn was planted first.  Many of the First Peoples looked for a sign from nature to tell them it was time to plant. My father always said to plant corn when you hear the Whip-poor-wills calling at night.  

Planting the Sisters

Men hunted, fished and tended the tobacco plants. Women cleared the land and did most of the vegetable planting.  Four corn seeds were planted on the top of the mound in a circle spaced about a hand stretch apart. Often the seeds were lined up with the compass points to honor the four directions.  When the corn reached about hand high, the beans were planted in between the corn to complete the circle. After the beans were up the squash was planted on the side of the mound.  The three sisters helped each other as sisters do. The beans could climb up the corn and provide the corn plant Nitrogen in the soil. The squash would run about on the ground and shade the soil keeping moister in and weeds out.  There were some variations; sometimes the squash was planted on smaller mounds in between the larger corn and bean mounds.  The First Peoples cook corn and beans together in a dish called succotash.  The Proteins from the corn and bean combination is equal that of meat. 

Some eastern tribes planted Sunflowers Helianthus annuus along the north edge of the garden. Tribes west of the Mississippi planted Cleome hassieranna around the garden.  Lewis and Clark called the cleome the Rocky Mountain bee plant.  These flowers provided food for the pollinators and the sunflower seeds provided food for the people too. 

 Pumpkins are the unruly sister and were planted in a separate patch because the vines could climb up the corn and the heavy weight of the fruit would pull down the corn.   Did the Pilgrims serve pumpkin pie at the first Thanksgiving? Probably not, since sugar, flour and Crisco were in short supply in 1621. Traditionally a whole pumpkin was placed on a bed of hot embers and roasted until it collapsed and then served without any Cool Whip. 

Kathy Rice Woolsey 

1306 Main St. Lynchburg VA-USA

We still have plenty of daffodils, tulips, hyacinths and other spring flowering bulbs in stock. Fall vegetable seeds and plants are available and the ground is in good shape to plant.  Have you started feeding the birds yet? We have huge selection of feeders and birds seed, suit and meal worms. We have fresh supplies of striped sunflower, oil sunflower, nyjer, safflower, peanuts, millet, and mixed bird seed.

Do you hate to Christmas shop at the mall? (so do we) Come see us on black Friday!
We have great gift for gardeners - tools, bird houses,hats, gloves, birdbaths and whirligigs.