Pruning the Hydrangea

I have two hydrangea bushes that were in the yard when we moved to our present house.  They are just beautiful and I truly don’t want to do anything to keep them from blooming.  So far, so good, but you never know.

Every year I have to read up on when I am supposed to cut them back because I can’t remember what I did the previous year.  Recently I went to my “source” book and was reminded that my particular variety of hydrangea should be pruned in early spring because this type will “bloom on OLD WOOD.”  It goes on to say that “Old Wood” are stems that have been on the hydrangea since the summer before the current season.  So with that bit of knowledge, I took my clippers and proceeded to do my pruning. 

As I was cutting off those blooms from last year, I started thinking about how this plant that is several years old now, is going to bloom on old wood in just a few weeks.  That’s an interesting, especially at my age.  I certainly have been around for several years and my stems in many ways may have bloomed last summer or perhaps even several summers ago.  And yet, just like my hydrangea bush, I want to bloom on “old wood.”

As I was reading about this, the article said that some hydrangea varieties bloom on new wood.  The author of this article said, “It is a joy to grow these type hydrangeas because they are determined to bloom every single year, no matter how they are treated.”   Now how about that!  Wouldn’t it be even better if we bloomed like that, “every single year (or day), no matter how we are treated or what life brings our way.”

I have several friends who are doing just that – some who are “blooming on old wood” and others who are “blooming on new wood.”  Life may not be going exactly like they would have hoped, yet they continue to bloom.  Giving a smile, a word of encouragement, living out their faith in the midst of difficulty, death of a loved one, an illness, or just having a gloomy day.

Lord, I thank you for my friends and how they are continuing to “bloom.”  They not only are blooming on old and/or new wood, they are blooming where you have planted them.  What a testimony and encouragement to me.  My prayer today would be that I can do the same.