This is a very simple vase, and is again ‘found flowers’. They had to be cut as the hydrangea was smothering a small Nikau Palm, one which got eaten by cows last year around this time. And I don’t think these ones are attractive to bees. Having read that one bee hive visits about 225,000 flowers per day I am being careful to leave all I can for the bees.
I love the amazing colours and patterns on the bracts where they have been exposed to more or less light.
Thanks to Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for hosting this meme each week.
Absent Gardener 
Ah, so you do change your clocks in NZ. The hydrangeas are lovely, I should grow some in a pot under the shade of the wisteria this year to see if it is too shady for them to flower.
We do, I thought I would answer your question on the day. I like hydrangeas better in shade, the colour seems to last better.
That’s an amazing statistic about the bees! One of our blogging friends showed us that if you leave hydrangea heads in water and let tem dry out naturally in the water they keep their colour – worth a try?
Yes I will try that, thanks for telling me how. I will just leave them to dry and see how it goes.
There is nothing lovelier than fading hydrangeas…I did what Cathy mentioned above and it worked….a lovely color remained as they dried this past winter.
Oh that’s great. I hope it will work and retain some of those turquoise colours.
Fading hydrangeas offer such a beautiful range of subtle color! I’ve been surprised to learn via this meme what a range there is in the start of daylight savings time – the US switched over on March 13th; the UK switched around Easter; and now you’re on the schedule too. Meanwhile, my internal clock is still stuck in standard time!
Yes, me too. It seems to take a while to adapt. Still it’s better than waking up in the dark. 🙂
Fading Hydrangeas are almost more interesting than fresh!
I think they are, really. Fresh are lovely too though.
The hydrangeas look lovely, such a refined flower.
They are lovely, and it’s fascinating the way their colour changes as they fade.
I like the difference in color of the various florets, Cath. You mentioned my anemones, they are adapted to our rainy season and dry season, turning into little underground stick-like tubers in the dry season. I don’t know about seasons in NZ but if similar, this would be the time to dig them and spread them around.
I just bought some tubers, and I’m waiting for the soil to cool off a bit to plant. It’s been relatively cool this week so possibly next weekend. I don’t know if I will need to dig them up and put them in the fridge each year as I do the tulips.
I really like your faded blooms, in fact I think I prefer the muted tones more than when fresh.
I think I do too. The colours look quite good in my kitchen, so I hope they will dry nicely and retain them.