They have been magnificent every single year!! Sometimes I get huge blooms that cover the bushes .. which grow taller than me (and I am average height) ... and sometimes I get bushes that have less flowers but still with the most gorgeous colours from shades of blues to purples - depends on the hot or not-so-hot summers. I used to feed them on tea leaves .. and still do ... but now it's tea from tea bags ... but in the 'old days' I used to get Tanganda Tea from Rhodesia/Zimbabwe and the dregs of each pot of tea used to be swirled and tipped onto the soil ...
Every year, the old 'trunks' get more and more gnarled. I break off the really, really dead wooded ones and trim the bushes religiously hoping for a great show in summer. I am never disappointed! In the photo below there is a small hydrangea in the background which was grown from a cutting from this 'old lady' ....
Is it time to say goodbye to my three faithful 'old ladies' which sit year after year in a quiet shady corner .. which burst into new life when spring comes ...?
I have taken some cuttings again .. but they take so long to grow into the magnificent bushes I have now. Do you I pop along to the nursery and buy new ones? Will I get those beautiful shades of blues/purples again?
I don't think so ... the secret was in the tea!
Oh wow!! I remember these beautiful hydrangeas...
ReplyDeleteI think you should get one or 2 new bushes from the nursery and also do the cuttings.
ReplyDeleteI see life there, where there is life dont cut down!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI would not cut them down, you say they still bloom abundantly?
ReplyDelete