First Bloom

I love flowers, all kinds really, but I if I had to choose favorites, they would be hydrangeas, roses, and peonies. Molly can attest that I almost always have fresh flowers around the house (right now they are not so fresh, rather some very wilted peonies and very dried out potted pink someting or another) so I decided we needed some flowers for the front porch as well.

First I bought a little rose bush which I potted and put out front, but it needed a friend, so I decided to go get what I really wanted, which was a hydrangea. When I went to pick it out, I found one covered in beautiful blooms and I thought, great, this will help my porch out alot (we desperately need some curb appeal) but when I got the register at Nicholson & Hardie they told me that particular one was already sold, but they had this other one they could give me instead.

Much to my disappointment the plant they brought out was all green, there were no pretty flowers yet, and I was really looking for instant gratification. But, I wanted a hydrangea so badly I decided to go ahead and get it and wait anxiously for it to blossom.

An intersting fact about hydrangea's is that the blooms get their color from the soil composition. I had noticed running around my neighborhood that everyone had these pretty purple hydrangeas, and then later learned that was actually the soil causing them to be all the same color!

Now my patience has paid off, and I have this one beautiful hydrangea, and another one budding behind it! I was nervous about buying a hydrangea becuase I had heard that they are "high maintenence." There is some truth in that in that they need a lot of water daily, but aside from that, it has been great! My hydrangea only gets morning sun and it could not take full sun, and probably not much afternoon sun either. I water it every morning and sometimes by the time I get home from work it is already looking a bit wilty! Luckily with just a little bit of water it perks right back up! My tomato plant does the same thing, it's really incredible! I cannot wait for it to be in full bloom!