Last spring, we excitedly broke our "never order plants from catalogs" rule and got this "Vanilla-Strawberry Hydrangea" from the Jung seed company. We put it in the ground in its stick state:
We watched as it leafed out:
And could hardly believe it when the first blooms opened up.
At first I was alarmed and disappointed that these blossoms are solidly white, since I read in source after source that you can manipulate hydrangea colors, but only if the initial flowers are blue or pink.
But my thoughts were rescued when I re-read the plant's catalog description, which says, "Enormous flower panicles held on upright red stems emerge creamy vanilla beginning in midsummer, changing to pink and finally to strawberry-red. As new blooms continually emerge, the plant becomes a multicolored visual masterpiece."
So once again, my garden reminds me that patience is a virtue with many rewards. Worst case, a white hydrangea. But possibly--even likely!--subsequent flowers throughout the rest of the summer, and next year, will unfold in deeper pinks and strawberries. That would work for me just fine.
Waiting to see what unfolds--something we should all be doing every day.
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