It looks as if this will be a great year for hydrangea blooms! All my plants are loaded with buds with a few of them showing their early color. Yay! The Cape Cod Hydrangea Festival is coming up soon, running from July 7 to July 16, a wonderful opportunity to see private gardens featuring hydrangeas all over Cape Cod. Our hydrangea society is holding our second Hydrangea University at Heritage Museums and Gardens on Friday, July 7, 2017. I will be speaking about a topic I always get lots of questions about: the color of hydrangea blooms. To see the full schedule of speakers go to www.thecapecodhydrangeasociety.org. 

This past winter was really hard on our beloved hydrangeas on Cape Cod. I'm hearing reports from everyone about seeing nothing but sticks on shrubs which are by now are usually covered with lush foliage and lots of buds. A group of us are trying to assess the damage Cape-wide to find out if there are any varieties that did well despite the awful weather, and which varieties were killed off completely. Most of us see growth only down at the base. These hydrangeas will recover, but we expect no flowers this summer. I'd be interested to learn what happened in your garden. What made it and what didn't? If you know the name of your hydrangea (e.g., 'Endless Summer', 'Merritt's Supreme', 'Ayesha'), please let me know if you have flowers this summer and what town you live in. Thanks! 

Last weekend I spoke at the Boston Flower Show on the topic "Heavenly Hydrangeas for the Home Garden". The audience of about 150 people was terrific with many good questions asked after the presentation. As always I loved being at a flower show especially being inside with colorful flowers on a very cold day in March.