I’ve had a long love affair with hydrangeas. My grandmother and mother cultivated gardens overflowing with massive hydrangea plants and introduced me to the plants as a young girl. My mother called the large globe-shaped blooms snowballs, and I’d laugh with her about snowballs in the summer. I was hooked and my fascination continues to this day.

At my house and vacation home, hydrangeas are my rock star, taking center stage. On Martha’s Vineyard where I have a vacation home, hydrangeas flourish in the sandy soil bathed in the nourishing sea air. A little Holly Tone in the spring and fall to fertilize is all that is needed to produce mammoth blooms.

Now that I am a grandmother I am continuing the tradition and introducing my two granddaughters to my favorite flower. My very eager helpers enjoy learning about growing hydrangeas and they especially love cutting the blooms for indoor vases.

On our family vacations at my home on Martha’s Vineyard, the girls help me cut blooms for vases. *

Their arms are filled with copious blooms! And I enjoy sharing my gardening passion with Madeline and Charlotte and another generation of green-thump women are born!

My granddaughters, enjoy choosing vases to display our blooms throughout the house!

In the fall the blooms can be dried for winter arrangements filling my home with summer memories!

*In order to extend blooms’ life, I seal the stems in boiling water. First, add mild dish soap to room temperature water in the vase  – soap keeps bacteria away.  Remove the leaves – they take up a lot of water. Cut the stems on an angle and cut up the stem so they can soak up more water.  Dip stems in boiling water – this prevents sap from blocking stem. 

Enjoy!