Flower of the Month: Hydrangea

Welcome to another installment of Flower of the Month! For this month, let's highlight the beautiful summer/early fall flower, hydrangeas! These days, they are blooming everywhere in the neighborhood. I think most florists have a love/hate relationship with them. They wilt easily and need additional prep work to last. But with their large, round blooms, hydrangeas are gorgeous as a base flower in arrangements. They provide a cushion for other flowers in place.

Below are some hydrangea-specific conditioning tips I've learned in the past:

1. As with other flowers, cut stems in an angle. But I also cut up the center for the stems for additional water absorption. Hydrangeas LOVE water (in fact, hydrangea translates to "water barrel" in Greek). 
2. Revive wilted hydrangeas by submerging them in water for a few hours. Fill a tub or deep bucket with tepid water and then place the flowers lying down in the water. As mentioned above, they love water and need to drink from the top, too.  
3. Believe it or not, alum, the spice, is a hydrangea's best friend. Sometimes when you cut hydrangeas, they form a sticky substance over the cut that prevents the flower from drinking water.  Alum prevents that sticky substance. After cutting the stem, immediately place the bottom 1/2″ of the stem in the alum and then arrange as usual. This spice does turn the water dark, so it's best to use an opaque vase when making an arrangement.

at the flower market

at the High Line

a large scale arrangement with lace cap hydrangeas I made at FlowerSchool NY