Recently one of my blogging buddies, Laurie Graves, mentioned that she’d be interested to see how a hydrangea might change colour as it aged. I didn’t have the sequence of the flower she admired, but was inspired to share this instead.
A little context first: to get to our favourite pie shop, my sweetheart and I have to pass this hydrangea. You might not notice how floriferous it is from my first shot, because the flowers blend into the foliage by starting off green, then open to dusky shades of pink/purple/blue. Your guess is as good as mine whether the flowers open blue or pink, and how they change as they mature. Each flower seems to have its own trajectory.
There are so many how-to posts with advice on ‘encouraging’ your hydrangea from pink to blue that I was intrigued by this plant. Not all hydrangeas are able to change from pink to blue, but those that do can be influenced by increasing the soil’s acidity (the more alkaline the soil, the pinker they will be; the more acid, the bluer).
Either this hydrangea hasn’t read the posts or it has a secret underground apothecary of lime and aluminium sulphate to variously draw on. Plants are marvellous things, so I don’t rule this out.
By the 1st of July, the flowers are almost fully open and are on the pinkish side of purple.
If I was more of a scientist than a hungry pie consumer, my pictures of this sequence might be more orderly. Cropped the same. Coming from the same angle. Taken at the same time of day.
We’re told to make sacrifices for art, but there are limits. Letting your pie go cold or, even worse, allowing someone else to nip in before you and snap up the last green Thai pie while you dally over someone else’s hydrangea? Rather you than me.
Just over a week later, from this perspective the hydrangea is on the blue side of purple.
Eleven days later, it’s pink/lavender with just a little bit of blue. If you’re thinking this is a rather large number of pies, don’t judge me!
At the time of writing, you might hardly recognise it as the same plant. Autumn has turned it russet, uniformly so. Terrace house gardens don’t have room for many plants, but for me, the various moods and overall magnificence of this hydrangea more than justifies its space.
Postscript
Shared for Cee’s Flower of the Day.
Susan Rushton 
The hydrangea is one of my favourite flowers. Unfortunately, the deer passing through our yard love them too.
That is a pity. I am always excited to see wild deer and know of a few places they can be found, but it’s not much fun when they eat your plants. They can be very destructive.
Hee hee. Love hydrangeas and this one’s a beauty b u t! Your priorities are in order… pies then fleurs. 🤭😊🧡🌻. One needs sustenance in order to perform scientific research. 😉.
Great point. Although if every picture I took of a flower were to be accompanied by a pie, things might not go too well. Luckily most other plants do not have pie shops a few doors down.
I’m just thrilled to live vicariously there through you Miss Susan. 🧡💛🌻😊
Wow!
Such wonderful shades during different times of the year. Very lovely captures 🙂
It’s like having several plants in one.
A very good response to Laurie, Susan.
She deserves no less, as I’m sure you’d agree.
I do
Gorgeous and my favourite flower
They can be very generous plants, year after year.
True
How very extraordinary. And lovely really. And if it gives you excuses to go on a pie-hunt more often than is strictly necessary – well, good on it!
A hydrangea made me do it? Any cravings for savoury deliciousness are, of course, by the by, but while I’m so close….
Wonderful images
Thank you
Always welcome
First I must thank you for more than one laugh-out-loud moment in this. Then I must express my awe over this plant; it is magic! And then I have to ask what green Thai pie is. I congratulate you on having your priorities in order, and I thank Laurie for having inspired this!
It’s a savoury pie, served warm, with a spicy chicken and vegetable filling inside a well-baked crust. They could use the plant as an (alternative) advertising slogan: Chance to look at a hydrangea free with every pie. It would not be much of an incentive when it was not in flower, but you appreciate your pie more at that stage of the year because its colder.
Wow. That sounds delicious! All that and a hydrangea too? What bliss!
I thoroughly enjoyed watching it change.
That’s nice to hear.
This is the most floriferous hydrangea I’ve ever seen. One happy plant! Great sequence, Susan.
You’re right. It’s very happy.
Love this! Thanks for the share.
My pleasure.
To be honest I’ve never really been too keen on hydrangeas. Beautiful when in full bloom but once they start to fade and turn brown they just look a mouldy mess. I like the third and fourth pictures though, the blooms look lovely 🙂
I’m sure they’ll go through the brown/lacy stage before too long. I doubt they are pruned somehow. They always seem to do best when left to do their own thing.