Hydrangea Heaven - a little too close for comfort!

The beautiful flower before the overwatering disaster!

Following my blog entry about the gorgeous hydrangeas and how easy they are to grow etc., I thought I had better revise that opinion. Having potted on Vanilla Fraise into a small tub, I thought it would grow beautifully and be happy. Nothing could be further from the truth! I assiduously watered it, thinking that it would need large amounts of water, but it rapidly started to wilt, the flowers turned brown, and I thought it was not long for this world. In a panic, I took it out of the tub and put it back into a smallish pot, without watering it for a few days. It appears to be slowly recovering, and to help it, I cut off the wilted brown flowers. So, I think I made the mistake of over-watering it (I didn't think you could do that with hydrangeas, but it seems you can!) I am watching and waiting and hoping for the best.

Heavenly hydrangeas

I used to have a 'take them or leave them' attitude towards Hydrangeas - I thought they were a bit suburban and unimaginative plants. I then went through a phase of hating them due to a rather nasty still life watercolour painting art exam in which a blue hydrangea was the subject, it took me hours and even then it didn't look as though I had spent hours on it. However, in the last few years, I have begun to discover just what beautiful plants they are. It began with Hydrangea Arborescens 'Annabelle', above, which is a woodland plant with amazing huge white flowers. (They are easy to look after, as long as they get plenty of water - 'Annabelle' is very quick to wilt if it dries out.)

I was then intrigued by Hydrangea paniculata 'Vanille Fraise' which has white flowers initially, maturing to shades of pink.

And finally, the one above is a bargain plant from a cut-price supermarket - I don't know the type of Hydrangea, but it has a very pretty pink/purple flower which is fading through lime green to beige. I also recently bought two new American varieties which are supposed to be easy to prune and really hardy. I shall see how they do - so far, they are putting out lots of leaves. Yes, I think I am a Hydrangea convert. Now, if I could just have that half acre of garden, just think what I could do!