July 16, 2011

Annabelle Emerges



I have a large hedge of Hydrangea "Annabelle" along the eastern wall of my house, grown full and massive over the years. When I think back to planting three small bare root plants and see what they've become, I am quite astonished. I love watching the flowers develop, from a spiny green round, looking almost like undersea coral...




to the barely opening florets, bright green at the ends of the paler green stems.




The petals open a pale cool green and begin to form a large, grand flower head.




And the green pales to white as the petals spread and the flowers now dominate the greens of the leaves. Later in the summer, the flowers will again take on a greenish cast and it is at that point that I can gather bunches for drying, keeping summer alive throughout the winter.

4 comments:

  1. A beautiful record of the the change from one week to another, hydrangeas sure do thrive in VT.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Aren't these wonderful, Lisa!
    though I must say I wish I could grow the colored varieties, but it's too cold in Vermont. Dona, we have to be happy with the ones that do so well here.

    ReplyDelete
  3. These are so ubiquitous that I've never really stopped to look at this progression closely. Now I know what I've been missing.

    ReplyDelete