WHEN I WAS a kid, a lone hy-drangea bush grew in thebackyard of my home inBridgeport, Conn. The gar-dens of my childhood were

sparse, but I can still see the bush. Thefunny thing is that I never knew it byits right name.

Even though the flowers were blue,we called them snowballs. We alsocalled hostas green and white leavesand I didn’t know a hydrangea was ahydrangea and not a snowball bushuntil I grew up. I don’t know if thisknowledge represents a loss of inno-cence but it was one of the signal dis-coveries of my adulthood.

Now I’ve come a long way along thegarden path. I have snowball bushes ofmy own. My yard is home to several va-rieties of the big-leaved shrub knownbotanically as Hydrangea macrophyl-la. I have hydrangeas with blue flow-ers and hydrangeas with rose-coloredflowers and hydrangeas with whiteflowers. I don’t even cut the blooms forbouquets because I love to watch themturn russet in autumn.

Along with thebushy beauties, Ihave a climbing hy-drangea thatmoved slowly thefirst two years andis now growing byleaps and boundsup a locust treenear my koi pond.It’s called H. peti-olaris and itsflat-topped clus-ters of creamywhite flowers areset off by glossygreen leaves. It’s

further enhanced by cinnamon-brownpeeling bark. According to what I’veread, it can reach as much as 80 feetbut the thought is a little unsettlingsince the tree certainly isn’t that big.

I also have H. paniculata Grandiflo-ra, commonly called peegee hydrangea.Its pyramid-shaped clusters of whiteflowers bloom in mid- to late summerand turn pinkish mauve as the seasonprogresses. They thrive in a patio bor-der along with hostas and cream androse-colored astilbes.

As you can tell, I love all my hydran-geas — they recall some of the yearn-ings of my childhood and they symbol-ize my satisfaction in where I am now.But there’s no question about the hy-drangea I love most of all.

Actually, the flowers of this paragondon’t look anything like snowballs.They look like lacy caps fit to be wornby the sort of princesses who appear instorybooks. My favorite hydrangea ofall is the lacecap hydrangea.

I know I’ve told you much of this be-fore, but I think it’s worth repeating be-cause the lacecap’s beauty makes mecatch my breath each summer. My lace-caps are H. macrophylla Blue Wave. Agraceful bed of these deciduous shrubsruns along the border outside our denwindows and mingles with tall whitephlox and lavender Russian sage and astand of willowy Japanese anemones.Lacecaps also border the frontyard gar-den in the company of purple clematisand hot pink mandevilla. Pink andblue snowballs blossom nearby, butthey seem to be handmaidens for my fa-vorite hydrangea.

Like most hydrangeas, the lacecapsflower in early summer and linger intoautumn, when they begin to fade.They’ll reach their full glory by the endof this month with a flat center of pur-ply-blue blossoms that look like tinyberries embraced by a lacy ring of four-petaled sky-blue flowers.

As it turns out, there are more than500 cultivars of hydrangeas. The bestknown are big-leaf hydrangeas, whichinclude both lacecaps and the ubiqut-ous mopheads — the snowballs of myyouth — found in most gardens. Actual-ly, the individual flowers are small butthis is often overlooked because theycome in clusters. As for color, well to alarge extent that’s up to you and your

soil. Especially when mopheads are in-volved. They change color according tothe soil pH. Basically, acidic soil en-courages blueness. Alkaline soilbrings out pink. Add aluminum sul-fate for blue blooms; go with lime forpink. But a word of caution — we’renot talking Lady Clairol here. Mess-ing with your soil’s pH could affect thehealth and happiness of neighboring

plants. Any soil adjustments should bemade gradually over time.

Another thing to keep in mind isthat big-leaf hydrangeas flower on theprevious year’s growth. So don’t do anypruning until later in summer, afterthe shrub blooms. If you prune in earlyspring, you’re cutting off potential flow-erbuds. The point is that you shouldn’tcut new shoots. And if you want to pro-vide a nice environment for your macro-phyllas, plant them in early fall orspring in well-drained soil. Lightshade is best, but I know from experi-ence that they can get along in fullsun.

As heavenly as hydrangeas are inthe garden and as much as I lovewatching them turn bronze in fall, Ithink I’ll bring my mopheads into thekitchen this season. I’ll hang them up-side down to dry so I can use them forflower arrangements.

After all, snowballs should be justthe thing for winter bouquets. n

NEWSDAY’S garden editoris the author of “Gardeningon Long Island With Irene

Virag.” The 200-page keepsakebook is available for $19.95,plus shipping, handling andtax. For more information,please call 800-400-4112. n

Newsday Garden Book

Newsday Photo / Irene Virag

Hydrangeas in full bloom:clockwise from top left,purply-blue lacecapblossoms, creamy-whiteoakleaf clusters, bluemopheads (formally knownas Hydrangea macrophylla)and pretty-in-pink lacecaps

The ‘Snowball’ BushesBlossom Into Hydrangeas

PROTECT your plantsfrom root rot and yourdeck from wood rot and

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— Virag

IreneVirag

A Draining Trainer’s Route to Stop Rot

H O M E & G A R D E N S

Newsday Photo / Tony Jerome Newsday Photo / Ken Spencer

Newsday Photo / Ken Spencer

The Pottery Trainer siphons excess water frompotted plants, among other places.

THE POTTING SHED

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