October Hydrangeas (with Prisma filter)

When I took this picture a few weeks ago, I found myself thinking “I should save this to post it for Yom Kippur”. Wait, but why? I started thinking about it…

I didn’t know about hydrangeas until I moved to Massachusetts, where they are everywhere: big, spectacular blossoms  that change color with the seasons.  (Some varieties change from blue to pink over the summer and then turn purple in the fall; other kinds change from cream to pale pink in the summer, and then dusty rose the fall). In the winter, with leaves gone, they are discouraging collections of dry sticks poking up through the snow, perhaps with a faded blossom or two still hanging on.   

A few years ago, I finally planted some hydrangeas in my yard and here’s the what I learned: with hydrangeas, you have to think about the year ahead. What you do in the fall influences what will happen the rest of the year. Do you remove the fading blossoms? Should you prune and if so when? If you prune at the wrong  place or at the wrong time or even prune the wrong variety of hydrangeas, you may not have any blossoms at all the next year. And how you treat the soil may influence whether or not the blossoms change color like they are supposed to. (Some people put copper pennies in the ground nearby. Or coffee grounds. It’s a thing. There are Youtube videos.) And sometimes hydrangeas don’t bloom at all (which I found out) if there’s a late frost at the wrong time. Because you can’t control everything.

With hydrangeas, even more than with other plants, the decisions you make in the fall influence what happens the rest of the year. Which is kind of the point of Yom Kippur as well. So today I am sending out my October hydrangeas as a Yom Kippur greeting and to wish everyone a sweet year ahead.