By Davan 
This is one of my Dad’s amazing Hydrangea’s at the farm homestead of “Kinbrae”.
She is one Hydrangea- not a bunch planted together. I was a tiny little tacker apparently, when Dad planted her next to his farm work shop door. It’s a big old shed. Before I was born this old shed used to be the packing shed where Dad crafted apple cases and the apples packed and boxed, ready for the long journey by ship to England. This Hydrangea has stood guard at the door for over 50 years. A grand lady of her time.
She is voluptuous and blousy. She demands the stage and is no shrinking violet. Her flowery blooms are like basket balls. On the top of the bush are blooms in varying shades of baby blue, soft delicate pinks and mauve to lilac tones, while further underneath her volumes of skirts are vibrant solid periwinkle to cornflower blues. She is the daughter of the mother Hydrangea down at the house outside the dining room window originally planted facing the South by my Grandmother, and a grand-daughter of the grand old matriarch Hydrangea planted by my Grandfather at the “Magunya” property. All the Hydrangeas are enormous with blooms as round as dinner plates. Dad prunes her diligently each year down to the third or fourth bud and provides her with all the water and horse manure feed she requires for her spectacular display.
He advised the weather,- sun, rainfall, heat, cold, and soil type, plays a huge part in what shades of colour she produces each season. Last year she was all about mauves and deep solid blues. This year is different again. She loves morning sun and afternoon shade. Hydrangeas also absorb moisture though their leaves so a fine misting with the hose in the evening brightens her appearance. Every time I gaze at her she make me smile. My mum loved her too. The first photo here is my 92 year old Dad standing next to her, so you’re able to gauge her voluptuous girth and height. Dad struck some cuttings for my own property, so I’m able to carry on her amazing ancestry with our McIvor family ancestry
