Wednesday 24 August 2016

Hydrangea Inspiration

Every summer I fall in love with hydrangeas. I love their papery, multi-flowered blooms.


 I seem to forget about them a bit during the rest of the year and then, when we get to mid-summer, I start to notice their huge pom poms blooming everywhere and am smitten again. 


They come in such a range of colours too. Pale vintagey shades,




soft pinks,




violet purples



and those intense blues that I see when we go on holiday to Cornwall.


Gillian Clarke's description in her poem 'Blue Hydrangeas' really captures them, I think: 

'You bring them in, a trug of thundercloud, neglected in long grass and the sulk of a wet summer ... a load of night-inks ...their lapis lazuli, their indigoes tide-marked and freckled'.




They can be delicate and lacy.



Or have cupped petals.


Planted en masse they are a glorious sight.





For a while I've been thinking about make something yarny and hydrangeaey (think I just invented a word).



Last year I started to make some little hydrangea flowers. Do you remember me crocheting with my feet in the cool, crystal-clear river at Watersmeet?


Lots of little four-petalled flowers.



But I just couldn't decide what to do with them .. a purse or bag, maybe a hat? I put them away for the winter and forgot about them. I got them out again recently and decided that I must make something with them. No more shilly-shallying. Sitting in my shed last week I got some more hydrangea-coloured cotton yarn out, matched it to my photos and decided on a hydrangea wreath, rather like the autumn one I made and the Easter one too.


I found some deep green yarn too and a polystyrene half-ring that had been hanging around. I crocheted a long rectangle in green cotton yarn to match the size of the ring and wrapped it around it, sewing it into place. It's on the left of the photo below.


I hadn't written down my flower pattern last year and couldn't quite remember it, so improvised a new one to make little squarish four-petalled flowers.


Then I sewed tiny glass beads into their centres.


Before long I had 22 little hydrangea flowers. 


I carefully arranged them in groups of colours and sewed them all into place. Here it is, my hydrangea wreath - ta dah! I am very pleased with it, and have included all my favourite hydrangea colours in it: bright blues, intense purples and mauves, warm pinks and those pale lilac shades.


I've hung it on the door of my shed and am very happy with it.


See you soon x

14 comments:

  1. I've never really been that keen on hydrangeas however your pictures capture them beautifully as does your crocheted versions x

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  2. I love hydrangeas too. Would love to grow the intense blues ones, but I don't have the right soil. Your wreath is lovely, so pretty and inspiring. B x

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  3. I love Hydrangeas, I have always wanted one, I spotted some at the carboot really cheap because they were pot bound, after planting in the garden it seemed to kill it off, but I am pleased to say over the last few weeks new growth is appearing, I love your creation, beautiful colours x

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  4. What a lovely project, I love it when organic things come together.... and your is very pretty.

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  5. Wreaths are such fun aren't they, I like all your pretty flowers. Our hydrangeas are doing well this year although a lot of them are looking over the fence at my neighbour! x

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    1. That's very annoying for you. We've been on the receiving end of that with next door's lovely sunflowers which look over into our garden. I can't help but feel guilty!
      Cathy x

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  6. I'm a hydrangea fan too but the one in our garden doesn't seem to be thriving! I think they look so beautiful dried. Your wreath is gorgeous - is that on the outside of your shed door, and, if so, is it rainproof?! xx

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    1. Yes it's on the outside but only temporarily for the purposes of photographing it, as I like the blue background. I suppose it could be left outside; I leave my bunting out all summer and if it gets rained on it just dries when the sun comes out, but does fade dreadfully. I don't think I'd risk it with the wreath, though!
      Cathy x

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  7. Amazing flowers with different colors.

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  8. Lovely pictures and a lovely wreath too! I always think of hydrangeas as "old lady flowers" for some reason - perhaps they always used to be an elderly relative's garden when I was little - but we've got a blue one in our garden that some years chooses to be pink, so I must like them more than I think! ;-) xx

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  9. I like them but never get around to having them in the garden, the best ones I ever saw, and so many colours and frilly edges was at East Rushton Garden in Norfolk. A hydrangea wreath, now that is a thing, it's lovely :)

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  10. I love your hydrangea photos and your crochet wreath inspired by them. Just my kind of colours. I have enjoyed reading back through some of your previous posts that I missed when I lost my blogging mojo. Will do my very best to make amends and comment from now on. xx

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    1. Thank you Jan, good to see you back. No worries - it's difficult to keep up with everything, especially in the summer.
      Cathy x

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  11. So pretty and wonderful to have a permanent reminder of those lovely blooms. Sarah x

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