Europeans, however, prized them from their first introduction, hybridizing them into a wide variety of forms. There are now more than twenty-five species in this lovely genus.
Hydranges are seen in gardens all over the South. They're so easy to propagte and share that it's a rare garden which doesn't have at least one of the blue mopheads.
This photograph of the greenhouse at Wilkerson Mill Gardens, near Atlanta, is a very small example from their elaborate collection.
The blue coloration seen here--and in many yards hereabouts--results from the high iron content in the native soil. Our clay isn't orange for nothing, its' full of rust!
I'm assured that the more neutral the soil, the closer one will get to white blooms on 'macrophylla'cultivars. At the other end of the pH scale, pink blooms will be the flowering result.
Some cultivars, however, are supposed to be true to color without regard to soil acidity. I really wanted a new color in my hydrangeas, so I planted a 'Forever Pink' specimen two years ago. Last year, a late frost nipped the emerging flowerets on almost all my hydrangeas, so I couldn't tell how the pink bloom color would have held. This year, I do have it in bloom--in a regal purple-red. Time for some lime!
I could go on and on about the colors and leaf varieites of the elegant hydrangea---and next week, I will.
In the meantime---does anyone have a TRUE pink one to recommend?
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