George,
What a wonderful invitation. Perhaps we'll get a MA contingent or three to visit. It would be nice to see you again.
Marie

Please count me in, I'd love to see George's garden. Thanks, ego!

Ladies, make your plans and let me know, so I could arrange my working schedule around your visit.
The only two dates which definitely would not be good for me are Mondays 6/30 and 7/7.
I framed it 6/30-7/13 only because all lacecaps still should be in prime at that time, but you are welcome to chose and pick dates before or after, except any Mondays.
On Mondays you are welcome to have a self-guided tour :-))

See ya,
G.

Ohhh,
hope I can make it too, I would love to see all of Georges Hydrangeas in bloom. kt

Well George,
I must say, your knowledge and kind way of informing others about care of,history,beauty, and experience of hydrangeas absolutely floors me.
I would definetly love to visit your garden. I have been reading for years now and seeing occasional pictures of your garden.
My wife loves the beauty of hydrangeas and whenever I can I plant a few for her. But my knowledge of hydrangeas is small, and I learn from you frequently. So, maybe if I can put it together, I might bring my wife down for the day. I mapped your town and it seems you are about 2.5 hours from me (central mass).
May I ask a request? Would you please use this thread to post a few pix of your garden and some of your favorite hydrangeas in your yard? I may be able to entice my wife for the long drive with some of your yards beauty. Thanks in advance, Greg
Pic of some unknown hydrangea I planted a few years back.

Greg, for your wife's eye only :-)
Sister Teresa

Claudie

Angel Robe

King George

Ayesha

Does she need more convictions? :-))

Thanks George,
Your pix are awesome. Ill show my wife and then arrange for a sitter. Are you around on thursdays or fridays?
Greg

Hot damn! Nothing better than seeing other's gardens. . .
I'm headed north to Vermont on Wednesday, July 2nd - could
I make a detour over your way around mid-morning? While I
have nowhere near as many hydrangeas as you, I certainly
agree that they are a valuable backbone component of any
garden.

Carl (The Yankee-in-Exile)

Greg, here are the Thursdays and Fridays when I could see you:
6/26-27 and 7/3-4 firm, Fr 7/11 and Th 7/17 tentatively and again Fr 7/18 firm.

Carl, 7/2 is a date!
Contact me lotkinct@optonline.net for directions.
How is kirengeshoma doing?

Hey, if you Mass. folks head down here maybe I will try to join you! I missed meeting you at your last swap.

George, you are so generous to make this offer.

we're coming, we're coming. A few of us will offer a date or two, hoping others will join us. Still in conversation....

Dear George
I am new to New England also hydrangea. I am making friends with member of Japan nusery association members who are specializing hydrangea. Mr kawaharada who wrote many garden books send me his a new hydrangea book recenty.

I don't think you can read Japanese but you may enjoy this official web site of Japan nuserymen association which have many photos.
www.open-nursery.jp
If you need help to read Japanese, Please let's me to know.
japanesegardener1@yahoo.com
There are many hydrangea books in Japan also many parks and temples collecting hydrangea. Some park( kobe city) has over 50,000 hydrangea. Most of hydrangea in USA came from Japan and some from china as well.
Thank you for invitation. Some day, I visit your garden.

yama

George, do you happen to know when the sale at Oliver Nurseries in Fairfield will be held this year? I'm thinking that it would be a great field trip for some of us who are far away from you if we could combine a visit to Olivers with a tour of your garden. Of course, you might not be available then, but I thought I'd ask - can't seen to find it on line anywhere.

I'm still coveting an Ayesha - do you keep that one in a pot and bring it indoors somewhere in winter?

Yama, thank you very much for the link.
Though I don't understand Japanese, pictures worth a thousands words :-)

Nan, sale was this weekend and it's over now. This year they did 25% off across the board plus some special 'bargain' pricing on selected items.
However, I have a 'frequent flyer', LOL, discount of 15% on everything (except garden ornaments and pottery) all year around and if I'll be able to accompany you to Oliver I could buy for you on my account with discount.
I didn't bought anything super-duper interesting on this sale except maybe rarely seen rh. 'Hawaii', dwarf pieris 'Prelude' and Chelonopsis yagiharana, which I'm particularly thrilled about :-))

Re: Ayesha. No, it's my 'in-ground' hydrangea. Right now it has about 8-10 buds on it, but they are still in a colorless stage, so I guess they need another 7 to 10 days to show.
The same thing is with Nachtigale and King George.
All three are protected by evergreens and thus become more shaded in a spring, so they are late than others.
All other tender hydrangeas that were potted are already or about to be in full force.

Hi George,
I will definately be there. I have 8 hydrangeas in my yard most of which are nearing maturity. It is looking really nice in the backyard. Five of the plants started as cuttings from EGO45! Blue, purple, light pink what I think may be a limelight and a kerria (doing great) Annabelle which you gave me this year is still in the pot rooting and getting bushy. Should I plant her early fall? /Abi

George, good news about Olivers sale - that was a temptation I should really avoid. I'm heading out to sea (for work) in about 10 days so it's looking unlikely that I'll be able to get over to CT this year; still working on it though! I'd really love to see your gardens and to see you again.

Abi, Annabelle is so tough that you can plant it out any time. You're going to LOVE that plant - and you'll probably be able to give away a few divisions soon too. When I planted mine a few years ago it was a little division from my sister's plant, and she didn't know its name. We called it Dolly Parton, for reasons that will be evident to anyone who has seen one in bloom.

George,
I'm in Westport and would love to see your hydrangeas. I could pop over almost anytime it's convenient for you. Any chance tomorrow (sunday, July 6) would work for you? If that's not good, maybe we can arrange a mutually convenient time during the week.

Kitty Graves

Kitty,
You got an e-mail.
G.

I wanted to say thanks to George and all the other contributors to the hydrangea forum & all the people in this forum. i finally had blooms this year!
Little Geisha
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Thanks
Tina

Beautiful, congratulations! What's this one?
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I love the colors on several - this one is really something, though.

Tina, congratulation!
This is the hydrangea I never saw in my own eyes, want to have and still don't because I don't buy mail-orders. :-(
It's one of the few truly distinct hydrangeas and due to its statue could be easily grown in a pot if desired or necessary due to the zonal constrains.

Could you tell me little bid more about it?
If you grow it in open ground does it change its initial white color to baby blue or baby pink later in a season?
Could you measure size of the flowerhead?
And last question.
Tina, are you the Tina who bought for me a Little Honey at Broken Arrow two years ago?

Thanks diggingthedirt and George. The lacecap is one of the teller series. I have only containers as I live in an apartment. Next year I would like to have the lacecap in blue. It bloomed from last year fall cuttings from a generous gardener. The flower started off light pink and later darkened. The little geisha also from last year's cutting bloomed on a stem not more than 3 inches long. i almost lost it. The original plant was about 3' and no the flower remains white, only the centre of each floret is blue or pink. In the ground here it is blue but after seeing the pink...I definitely think this shade suits it more.

And lastly,no George I am not the person u are referring to.

Tina, thanks.
Since you are the owner of such rarely seen hydrangea I think you are entitled to know story behind the name :-)
If you'll google Hydrangea serrata 'Maiko' and Hydrangea serrata 'Little Geisha' you'll find exactly the same description and exactly the same pictures of the same plant while in reality they are completely different, though both being a H.serrata.
'Real' Maiko is a full size traditional lacecup, not a miniature mophead which LG is.
Original Japanese name of hydrangea known in Europe and USA as a 'Little Geisha' was a 'Shiro Maiko'.
Loosely translated Shiro could means 'white' or 'very pale' while Maiko means 'dancing child, apprentice of Geisha'. That is how Shiro Maiko become a Little Geisha with no respect to the word Shiro and then in a back translation 'shiro' was completely lost thus Maiko become a synonymus of the LG in commerce.
I hope you find it entertaining :-)

P.S. If yours is grown in a pot, change soil (regular potting medium with neutral pH) every two-three years and it will stay white with a pink center, though by the end of the season it will have some pink overtones in it irregardless of your soil pH.

Hi George-

Your Claudie is beautiful. Is it similar to Blue Billow? I love lacecaps. Which would be more apt to bloom in Newtown, CT? This is a banner year for my Nikko Blues. I always try to cover them w/burlap but the winter winds sometimes opens it up. I also never saw Ayesha and now I am in love. Mind you my hydrangeas don't hold a candle to yours but since I just learned how to post pics this morning I wanted to share.

suebot in CT

P.S. How can I make them bluer? With what, when, and how much should I amend the soil? Is it aluminum sulfate?

Aluminum sulfate is used to make the soil more acidic, which, in alkaline soils, turns hydrangea flowers from pink to blue. Since yours are not at all pink, I suspect that your soil is already plenty acidic for them, and I don't think it will do anything (except possibly, if you add enough, make the soil so acidic that even the hydrangeas won't like it.)

Some of mine are sort of a turquoise blue, and I've considered adding lime to get some pinkish tones, which I think would be more interesting than the "blue tarp" color of some of mine.

Aluminum sulfate doesn't make them darker, which I think is what you're looking for. The depth of color is mostly determined by the variety - Nikko is a fairly light blue. The old timers on the Cape claim that adding some iron to the soil, preferably in the form of old gardening implements (!) can deepen the color.

I'm not sure I believe it, but if I have old iron at hand - nails, tools, or other junk - I admit I always toss it under the hydrangeas. No idea if it makes a difference.

I agree with Nan, not much you could do to your Nikko.
There are several clones of it on a market, some lighter and some darker, but by using alluminum sulfate you may make them darker just by a very unnoticeable notch.
Also, sun exposure makes them look lighter or darker to your eyes. The more sun the lighter it looks.
I do have one of those 'dark Nikko' and you are welcome to come and get cuttings of it. As well as from Claudia :-)

Here is the close up of its color in comparison to 'regular' Nikko. No Photoshop involved :-)

No, Claudie doesn't have even distant similarity to Blue Billow.

Nan, re old iron.
One thing is for sure, old iron is the best remedy against iron deficiency aka chlorosis :-)