Hydrandgeas!

I love, love, love hydrangeas! I look forward all year to their prolific blooms and being able to fill up pitchers with these wonderful blue flowers. Usually they are done by the first week in July for us, but due to a cooler Spring and very wet Summer, I am still getting these wonderful beauties for my home.  They make great cut flowers and last for at least a week as long as you add cool water when needed, as they are very thirsty flowers. I try to cut them in the morning so they haven't wilted from the sun.

These are great long stems for my large pitchers.  You can use scissors to cut the stems or you can just break them off with your hands.  Breaking them off is the preferred way as the stems of the hydrangeas need to be crushed in order to absorb the most water.  If you did use the scissors, as I did here, you can crush them with the handle of the scissors, or the interior handles of the scissors as I am showing. 

     

 

Make sure your containers are clean before adding your flowers.  I add new flowers weekly, so I add some bleach to clean my vases and rinse them well before adding new hydrangeas. This will kill any bacteria that may grow.  Also, I like to use the bisque pitchers or vases to hold my flowers.  I find that the clear vases show when the flower water becomes murky, not very pretty on my kitchen counter.  Make sure you remove all the leaves so they won't be taking the water away from the blooms.  I leave one or two leaves on a few stems for effect. Add lots of cool water.

Aren't they gorgeous, I love having these blooms all around. I think they look like an over frosted cupcake. I really fill these vases with a bunch of stems to get the full look. They really do pop in the white pitchers!

Since I can't stand to throw away any beautiful flowers, I add the shorter stems and the blooms that broke off in these smaller vases.  You can never have too many hydrangeas!

Enjoy them while they're in season!