Heavenly hydrangeas
Country Life UK|August 24, 2022
EVERYTHING in the garden year is subject to the lengthening and shortening of the day. After the peak in late June, the early starters fade away into the background and we find ourselves thinking, well, that’s it for another year.
Steven Desmond
Heavenly hydrangeas

We know better, of course, but the human memory is short, so, as July becomes August, we welcome back our momentarily forgotten old friends, the hydrangeas, lilies and dahlias. We grumble a little at the dry lawn and the darkening trees, but, as long as there are hydrangeas, there will be pleasure in the late summer flower garden.

One of the best aspects of most hydrangeas is the sheer length of the flowering period. Other flowers bud, open, bloom and go over, but the hydrangea flower is blessed with a papery quality that renders it not only indestructible, but, like yourselves, becomes steadily more handsome and altogether nobler with age. Those big specimens of Hydrangea paniculata that started flowering as soon as the longest day was past keep going right on into autumn, gradually changing from creamy white to pinky brown, tuning in seamlessly to the advance of seasonal colour all around. On the garden island of Isola Bella on Lake Maggiore, Italy, late September is the ideal time to witness this spectacle, as the hydrangea heads become so big that they hang vertically downwards like lanterns. It is a magnificent sight.

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