Hydrangea Harmony

         Welcome to Hydrangea Cottage.                                        

This is what I think when I pull into the driveway at my house lately. 
My front door usually visible, is obscured by a hydrangea blooming with vim and vigor.

                                                                               

          I love it, and even tho it may look a little unkempt this large, it is lovely;
    and I will observe each and every stage of it's burgeoning blossoms.

             Summer time brings with it much coming and going. 
                Last week I cooked at a camp that my children are involved with.
                         I love being away and then coming home. 
                     My gardens have  grown profusely.

                                                   

I knew I had a potential gardener for a daughter when one of them said, "Mom, look at the vine on the arbour, how much it has grown!"
So between our comings and goings and the having and holding.
 the breathing and bearing, praying and believing.
I am here.
And HE is there.
Bestowing earthly heaven in home and hydrangea.

                    And we are put on earth a little space,
       that we may learn to bear the beams of love.                                               ~William Blake

     

My Hydrangea Love Affair Revisited...

                            

recently someone gave me this hydrangea and as I thought about where to plant it I remembered my hydrangea history.....















you can read more about my journey with hydrangea here...

http://lucy-martin.blogspot.ca/2012/09/hydrangea-my-favourite-flower.html

here it is; another lovely hydrangea from my journey. Isn't the power in a bloom amazing?
                       Blessings to you on this wonderful Wednesday.

Hydrangea, My Favourite Flower

My fixation with hydrangea began innocently enough.
 It was spring and I was browsing at my local greenhouse. It almost jumped out of the corner at me as my mind began filling with visions of a profusion of blooms.The scent lazily wafting visitors as they approached.







                                                                                                                                                

I saw endless dried bouquets and wreaths and centrepieces and knew how I wanted this plant!

After purchasing it eagerly,I went home to plant it at once.






Now anyone who has been gardening at all knows how patient you have to be. Growth and blooms require time - much patient time.

The season passes and the following spring my hydrangea is a nice ,green plant. But no blooms. A tiny,speck of anxiety goes through me, but I am convinced I can correct this inefficiency. I start reading all the material on hydrangea I can get my hands on. I picked any poor unsuspecting gardeners brain, until I thought I had heard every remedy and method to correct my hydrangea.
I tried pruning,  replanting in various spots, watering with vinegar,aluminium sulphate and fertilizer.
Still the plant flourishes,but no blooms.
One spring I was hopeful when some buds appeared,but the flowers were small and weedy looking.

Finally, almost ten years later,I am in the same greenhouse and it dawns on me to inquire about the particulars of this hydrangea.

 

" I see," he nods."yes, I understand, but that certain hydrangea is native to these parts. Oh, that flower is all you are going to get. It will never bloom like those other hydrangea."

What a poignant reminder this was for me....... to accept and appreciate what I can't change.

How often I try desperately to change something,       only to realize it is doing or being
                                  exactly what it was created to do.

                              The good Lord knows this~ as for me?
                                             I'm still learning.

 

                    .

      
                                 My hydrangea today. Finally what I had envisioned so many years ago.
                                                      I am so grateful. Yes, for its beauty,
                                           but also; for the passionate lesson I will never forget.