As we count down the days to the end of 2020, let’s talk about some flowers! Believe it or not, not all arrangements leaving our shop right now are red & green! This arrangement in a footed compote caught my eye yesterday because of the gorgeous Dutch Antique Hydrangea bloom! The bloom is so large and voluptuous that it takes up about a third of the entire arrangement! If you have taken one of our design classes, you know that using a giant bloom like this requires some balancing with other elements in the design.
To me, Antique Hydrangea blooms are a fantastic example of the perfection in nature’s imperfections! Every bloom is different and every shipment arrives with lots of variations. With knobby and crooked stems and giant heads, the color varies from creamy greens to blues, reds & purples. Sometimes, all of these vintage colors are in a single bloom! The complex colors make Antique Hydrangea look equally comfortable in an arrangement with peach and pink roses and ranunculus as it does in a holiday mix of deep red roses, anemone and tulips! In fact, you don’t even need to be that complicated! A bunch of Antique Hydrangea head to head in a vase is simply perfect too!
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When hydrangea blooms arrive at Andrew’s Garden, they are often wilted and tired from their traveling time on the road. I’m not a road trip person, so I completely get it. Here’s the tip you can use to impress your friends-unlike most flowers, hydrangea blooms love HOT water! If you have a hydrangea bloom in an arrangement and it’s looking a little droopy, try giving it a fresh cut and putting it in a vase with hot water-not boiling, but more like a nice hot bath. They really appreciate deep water too, so sink that stem as low as you can go into the water. Try not to get the petals wet though, we don’t want them to start to mold. That’s what we do when hydrangeas arrive at our shop-give them a fresh cut and drop the stems deep in hot water. They perk up quickly and the flower heads become firm and ready to go! With proper care for your arrangement when you get it home, Antique Hydrangea blooms should last a good 5-7 days at a minimum, sometimes much longer. Unlike other varieties of hydrangea that may collapse as they get older, Antique Hydrangea blooms are more likely to start to dry. In fact, dried Antique Hydrangea blooms are gorgeous! When you’re ready, stop adding water and let the blooms dry on their own. It can help to hang them upside down, but it’s not absolutely necessary. You may eventually want to replace the dried blooms if they get dusty and brittle, but you can enjoy dried Antique Hydrangea for a good long while first!
We love using hydrangeas in our designs at Andrew’s Garden! Next time you are in the shop, take a look around and see how many varieties we have on hand that day! Our supply is different every day!
Be Well, Friends – and Flower On!
