A cool spring and abundant rain have brought a bumper crop of hydrangeas this summer. Hydrangea blooms are many and huge, and the bushes themselves have grown substantially over the last few months.
On July Fourth we walked into our friends’ Roland Park garden, and it was hard to believe that one year ago a derecho had devastated the trees, knocked out power for days, and covered this garden with massive fallen limbs. This year, with tree removal, pruning, and light and plentiful rain, the same space is bejeweled with hydrangeas.
Many varieties of hydrangeas are in bloom at once: old-fashioned mopheads, deeper shades of ‘Endless Summer,’ delicate lacecap, gigantic oakleaf, snowball ‘Annabelle,’ ‘Blushing Bride,’ that turns from white to pink, and the beginnings of ‘little limelight’ with panicle blooms similar in size and shape to its bigger sibling ‘limelight.’
I haven’t seen any ‘limelights’ in bloom yet, or any climbing hydrangeas, but my goal is to find more space in my own garden for more hydrangeas, those quintessential summer shrubs that bring cheer during the dog days in steamy Baltimore.
