Could you catch a White Wave?

HOW do you like your hydraugeas, lace caps or mop heads? The lace caps, generally with flattish heads encircled with open rayflowers…

HOW do you like your hydraugeas, lace caps or mop heads? The lace caps, generally with flattish heads encircled with open rayflowers obviously reminiscent of a piece of lace work, are often considered in polite circles to be more desirable than the large blowsy mop heads tightly packed with showy flowers. Gaudy and ostentatious to some eyes which profess to prefer something closer to the wild type - elegant simplicity being always thought of as sophistication. There is snobbery in the hydrangea world. Nice people grow the lovely climbing Hydrangea petiolaris or forms of the large growing species H aspera or the Villosa group. You are always on safe ground there. After that, you may indulge in lace caps White Wave, Blue Wave, any wave you like once you do not fall into the trap of growing or liking a mop head. Another bit of nonsense which is supposed to say something about class.

If you can grow hydrangeas and if you have the space, then grow them all. They can be a bit fussy about climate. The lace caps are often considered to be the hardier. Severe frost can cut back the buds and stems on many mop heads making them reluctant performers on the colder gardens. Apart from that, these shrubs like good soil and reasonable moisture. In the driest places they will enjoy some shelter under trees or the shade of a wall. In general, they are easy and happily they are ideal in coastal areas, not minding salt laden winter winds one little bit. The very best hydrangeas are to be seen near the coast, the lack of hard winter frost being the great incentive to their generosity and voluptuousness.

When the freshness of early summer is past and many shrubs have done their thing and reverted to greenery, we welcome the hydrangeas. In the right place, they will go on for months and months providing flowers in white, pink, crimson, blue, violet, and many shades in between. The lace caps and the mop heads have the peculiarity of changing colour according to the acidity of the soil. On and acid soil they can turn violet. Much fun can be had where soil is close to neutral and the full colour range can be enjoyed. Those of us on distinctly alkaline soil can content ourselves with flowers in white or shades of pink. However, not all are satisfied to settle with the conditions that nature has given them. True, in such cases persistent applications of aluminium sulphate over several years can turn pink to blue; it is a laborious business all about increasing the concentration of aluminium ions in the soil water and not one that interests me in the least. Life can be so much more enjoyable when we can accept and come to terms with our own particular situation. In my case, that means putting up with an erratic performance from the pink mop heads who do not relish winter in a frost pocket - their scarcity in the garden has nothing to do with fear of censure from the committee of taste. How annoying it is to see these blowsy beauties disport themselves freely with the neighbours while I seem unable to please them.

IF the white mop head Soeur Therese, a delicate beauty who instantly banishes all thoughts of silly snobbery, will not be content with me every year then I fall back on the delectable lace cap White Wave, which makes a wide mound about three feet high and is happy in sun or part shade.

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These garden varieties are all easy to propagate from cuttings so there is no excuse for being mean with them and if a few cuttings can be begged from elsewhere, we can experiment and increase the range. They are a very particular pleasure for a second half of summer and will carry us happily into autumn.