I have been lucky enough to get away for a few days by the sea in St Mawes. High Summer and school holidays means of course that the roads are jammed, and the weather offers the full English, sunshine and rain. Yet somehow St Mawes takes the onslaught of people and weather in its stride and remains charming in a rather old fashioned, Ladybird book, kind of way.
The garden of the place I stayed in was groaning with rain full mop head hydrangeas.
To ease access to the door and to enjoy them in a vase , I brought a few in the house.
Hydrangea are everywhere you look in Cornwall and they thrive. It is not uncommon to see them in wonderful shades of blue, thanks to the soil but these are the softest shades of creamy green opening to pink. Placed in a blue pitcher with a wooden bouy to demonstrate the seaside location.
</They may be rather old fashioned for some yet they offer abundant flowers which stay on the plant in skeleton form until early Spring. They are tough and enjoy a temperate climate putting up with the salt air of the coast.
If you have the space I think Hydrangeas have a great deal to offer. Each head is formed of multiple flowers, each one doing it’s own thing, a bit of green here, a smudge of cream there, freckled pink over here.
Cathy will have a vase to share with you as well. Take a look at her blog https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2015/i08/10/in-a-vase-on-monday–ain’t-no-mountain
Well Dorris,they do hydrangeas well in St Mawes! They are amazing!!
Well Brownie I think you are right, they grow brilliantly in St Mawes.
I love hydrangeas – in a vase or on the plant, fresh or dried! You can never have too many for me!
Thanks Susan, me too, they are a recent addition to my list of must haves. I prefer the more refined H ‘Annabelle’ but the Cornish light deals with these beautifully.
Oh I agree they are perfect for a vase and I love the buoy!
Thanks Donna, the owners are keen sailors and the buoy is one from New England that they keep as a souvenir from a good holiday.
Hydrangeas equal high summer – lovely. (Could you sneak some home and dry them for winter decoration?)
Cheeky idea….hmm I could spray them for Christmas. You have me thinking now!
Hydrangeas are always so lovely, and I like the sumptuous mopheads with their complexity of tiny flowers. That delicate pink is romantic and looks great with the blue vase, and making a nice round display.
Thanks Hannah, they are rather romantic colours aren’t they. I just love the way they are multi coloured in complimentary shades.
They’re beautiful blooms – nothing measures up to a Hydrangea in terms of the sheer volume of a single stem. They need quite a bit of water and so are currently banned from my drought-afflicted Southern California garden but I do miss them.
Hi Kris, i agree they are great value in terms of number of flowers per head, what a shame that they are banned in your area. Is that a recent thing or have they been banned for a while, and what happens if you already have some, do you have to take them out? I’ll try sending you some of our rain.
Lovely to be in St Mawes. The hydrangeas are such pretty colours. I never used to like them but I am really coming round to them now, specially the subtle shades like these.
Hi Chloris, me too, I never used to like them but now find myself admiring them and planning to find a home in my garden for some. They do not have any scent though which is a pity.
My knowledge of Cornwall is limited to watching reruns of Doc Martin. However, those are lovely Hydrangeas – nice color and so abundantly fluffy. I do grow some substantial Hydrangeas at home but the flowers are white only.
I bet they are still wonderful, I love to see white flowers, perhaps you could have them in a vase on Monday?
By now they are dried to a sort of tan color, but still nice.
I have really enjoyed your Cornish hydrangeas tonight – they are one of my current favourite flowers! I am sure they are much happier in Cornwall than here in dry East Anglia, but it dosen’t stop me trying. Hope you are enjoying your break!
Apologies for such a tardy response to your lovely comment. (a number of responses were sent to unapproved?)no idea how that works! I was surprised that the hydrangeas do so well given that they are subjected to such salty air .The temperate weather is probably easier than your dry climate but I bet they are still looking good .
These hydrangeas are lovely – I planted mophead ones in my garden earlier in year and they’re thriving though are a different colour than I was expecting (they appeared in my vase a few weeks ago). I’ve got oranges, yellows and reds in my vase this week cos it been wet in Manchester.
St Mawes is lovely – I love Cornwall and I expect we’ll be back again next year.
have a lovely week
love bec xx
Hi Bec, I have no idea how i missed your comment, I took a look and your hydrangeas look beautiful. Cornwall is fantastic especially if the sun shines (isnt everywhere) My drive took 6 hours so I am guessing from Manchester you must have a similar slog.
I wasn’t sure if Cornish mophead was a local name for something else, but of course when you then you said you were in Cornwall it fell into place! Hope you have a lovely few days to enjoy more than just the ubiquitous but pretty hydrangeas! Thanks for posting a vase even when you are away 🙂
What a lovely post, St Mawes is one of favourite places, what a wonderful way to describe it! We usually visit out of season, but I can imagine the Roseland Pennisula must be stunning at this time of year especially with the glorious hydrangeas at their peak.
Hi Kate, out of season is no doubt a better way to enjoy the Pennisula, (there really were too many people) That said it was rather lovely to see the agapanthas, fushias and hydrangeas looking splendid, on some of the days the sea was even blue! We went to Heligan and St Ives and I will drop a note about those soon.