the november before last, the yard crew thought they were doing me a favor and butchered my six hydrangea plants. they cut them all the way down to the ground. in the spring, they came back small but ok, and then a late frost ruined the first batch of leaves. fresh leaves replaced those, and we did end up with gorgeous flowers all summer (the last blooms finally browned in the mid-december snowpocalype). but i knew they just weren't as good as they could have been.

last fall, i meticulously pruned them myself, got our yard on the "sensitive" list so that the crew wouldn't touch them, and guarded them like a mother bear. they are already three times as big as they started off last spring. and tomorrow we'll start the lime routine to make them pink (our soil is very acidic and although that makes for the usually preferred perfect blue flowers, i like them pink).

i know i sound crazy. but my hydrangeas make ours the best looking front yard on the street. and i get very serious about them!

i just liked this sun flare through my new leaves.