What is it about hydrangeas?
For several years, I have been running my multi-pronged business under the name Blue Hydrangea Productions. Why?

Hydrangeas and I have a history. They’re blooming profusely in front of my house right now. My parents had a huge hydrangea in front of their house in San Jose, and Grandpa Fagalde had one at his house in Seacliff, California. My maternal ancestors came from the Azores Islands in Portugal, where hydrangeas grow everywhere. People use them as fences and hedges. The roads are lined with them the way our Oregon Coast roads are lined with pine trees.

I'd like to share a few fascinating facts about my signature plant.

What makes them blue, purple, pink or red? It’s chemistry.The more acidic the soil, the more likely the flowers will be blue. How blue is influenced by the amount of aluminum in the soil. In alkaline or neutral soil where aluminum is not actively absorbed, the blooms will lean toward pink. You can affect the color by changing the Ph and aluminum in the soil. Unless your plants are white. White hydrangeas refuse to change.

I currently have two hydrangea plants. One is blue, and one is purple. They’re about six feet apart. If I planted another one six feet farther east, would it be pink?

Hydrangeas come in different forms. The most familiar, the ones I have, are “mopheads.” But you can also plant "lacecaps," which have tiny flowers in the center and big four-petal flowers around the edges, sometimes in two different colors at once.

Do we need to prune them? If they’re taking over your yard like mine are, you may have to, but it is not necessary. Hydrangea flowers grow on old wood. If you prune too much or too late, you may stop the blooming process. I did that two years ago. Not a bloom. The good news is that the flowers came back more profusely than ever. If you must prune, do it in early spring or in fall right after the big bloom finishes, and go gently, no more than 10 to 20 percent.

Where can I grow hydrangeas? Well, they love the cool coastal climate here in Oregon. They’re not fond of snow, but can survive with some protection, and they’d rather not be in harsh sunlight for too long, but keep them watered and they may be okay. Lacecaps are a little hardier than the mopheads. One of my neighbors here in South Beach has both.

Want to get married surrounded by hydrangeas? Visit the Hydrangea Wedding Ranch in Tillamook, www.flowersbulbs.com/hydrangeaweddingranch.aspx. They’ve got all kinds of hydrangeas. They also sell hydrangeas and other flowers if you want to make a bouquet or carry them down the aisle.

Blue Hydrangea for cancer? There’s a national campaign called Blue Hydrangea Tea Party to encourage greater awareness of ovarian cancer. On the Saturday before Mothers Day, women gather to have tea and learn about the disease. The founders named it Blue Hydrangea because their late daughter and sister, Ann Camp McCune, loved blue hydrangeas. For information, visit http://bluehydrangeateaparty.org.

More hydrangea Links:
A blue hydrangea blog that’s not mine: www.mybluehydrangea.blogspot.com. The content is eclectic and fun. It’s not about hydrangeas, but it’s delightful. Most recent posts: wrist belts, lighthearted preparations for Hurricane Irene, and the work of a very young camera thief.

Blue Hydrangea poem by Rainer Maria Rilke, www.thebeckoning.com/poetry/rilke/rilke6.html

Hydrangea plants for sale, lots of pictures and info: http://hydrangeaplus.com and http://www.hydrangeashydrangeas.com.

Google “hydrangeas photos Azores” and prepared to be dazzled.

More info: American Hydrangea Society, P.O. Box 11645, Atlanta, GA 30355, www.americanhydrangeasociety.org. Membership is $15.

There’s so much more, but this is getting too long and
“hydrangea” is hard to type. I should have written about roses. :-)

Sue’s News
Shoes Full of Sand is selling well, tied by its older sister Stories Grandma Never Told. Once in a while someone also picks up Freelancing for Newspapers, my how-to book. In August, I had a successful booksigning at Sea Towne Books and weathered monsoon winds for the Northwest Authors Fair outside Bob’s Beach Books in Lincoln City.

This month, I’m starting out with a music marathon at Art Walk in Toledo Sept. 3, 4, and 5. I’ll be hanging around the Yaquina River Museum of Art with my guitars. Mid-month, I’m taking a class from one of my favorite Portland authors, Brian Doyle, at the Sitka Center. October 15 and 16, I’ll be at Write Away in Rockaway up the Oregon Coast.

I have a new freelance gig, writing features for Oregon Coast Today. In between, I’m still doing church music, writing and marketing my books, and trying to keep house, dog and myself going. Busy, busy as usual.

Writer activities
On Sept. 17, Writers on the Edge welcomes Lauren Kessler to the Nye Beach Writer Series. A wonderful practitioner of narrative nonfiction, the most recent of which is My Teenage Werewolf, she will read from her work and answer questions. An open mic will follow. The festivities begin at 7 p.m. at the Newport Visual Arts Center, admission $6 at the door.

Willamette Writers will host a fiction workshop with Jennie Shortridge, author of When She Flew, Sept. 20 at 7 p.m. at the Newport Library. Admission is free. Y’all come.

A new event, the Florence Festival of Books, takes place Oct. 1 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Florence Events Center. Admission is free to meet lots of authors and publishers.


Sue Fagalde Lick
Blue Hydrangea Productions
Newsletter
09/11
In the Blogs
Unleashed in Oregon
*The Writing Life: Author Fair
*The Writing Life: Sheer Glamor
*Skygazing
*The Ring Finger is Bare
*A Little Too Much Nature

Childless by Marriage
*Update on the Childless by Marriage book
*The Last Two Eggs
*Dogs & Kids Don't Always Mix
*Savvy Auntie Offers Comfort
*The Man's Perspective

Writer Aid
*Your Query: Take Another Look
*Writer's Market's Here
*Make a To-Do List
*Try These Nifty Tricks

Book Report
I’m Taking My Eggs and Going Home by Lisa Manterfield, Steel Rose Press, 2010. This memoir includes all phases of childlessness. Manterfield writes about being childless by marriage, childless due to infertility, and finally childless by choice. First husband Mark didn’t want to have children. Second husband Jose was older, already had children and had had a vasectomy, but he was willing to do whatever it took to have a baby with Lisa. Unfortunately, nothing seemed to work. This book is well-written, well-researched and suspenseful enough to hold the reader from beginning to end. It’s a welcome addition to the literature of childlessness. Manterfield blogs at LifeWithoutBaby.wordpress.com. She has a wonderful video on her childless experience at http://www.lisamanterfield.com.  

Angels Fall by Nora Roberts, Putnam, 2006. When she arrives in Angels Fist, Wyoming, Reece Gilmore is already pretty messed up from something that happened to her in Boston. Broke, alone and full of phobias and fears, she hopes to start fresh in this beautiful little town at the base of the Tetons. But that is not to be. If I say anymore, I’ll give away the plot. This is one suspenseful book, over 400 pages of wondering who-done-it and will the lovebirds get together. It is absolutely delicious, the kind of book I skipped work and sleep to finish. Roberts has published over 100 other books. I could spend the rest of my life reading them. Yes, she changes point of view willy-nilly, but so what? For more, see www.noraroberts.com.

Modern Love: 50 True and Extraordinary Tales of Desire, Deceit and Devotion, Daniel Jones, editor, Three Rivers Press, 2007. This is a collection of essays that originally appeared in the New York Times’ weekly Modern Love column. A delightful assortment of mini-memoirs, they cover dating, parenting, divorce, death and everything in-between. Each piece is well-crafted, thoughtful and fascinating. My favorite is the one where the divorced woman is tempted to hand out a list of FAQ’s--frequently asked questions--to the many folks who ask the same things over and over, i.e., what happened, will you get back together, etc. I read it on my Kindle e-reader. With no headers, page numbers, or table of contents, I found it hard to keep track of whose work I was reading. Buy the book.

A whole world of literary journals exists that most people don’t even know about. They are full of poetry, short stories and essays, the kinds of things you don’t find in commercial magazines or newspapers. Some are published only online, but many still offer print versions that are works of art, beautifully published, sometimes with paintings or photography. I’d like to share some of my favorites here occasionally.

Creative Nonfiction—This is a journal I can’t live without. As per its title, it is all nonfiction—true stories told with the elements of fiction, such as setting, dialogue, scenes, characters and plot. They’re damned good stories beautifully written. Lately Creative Nonfiction has been working with themes. The most recent issue is about food. Now who doesn’t like food? But these stories are not just tales of a favorite dish as we read about pomegranates in Pakistan, pig processing in Oregon, the comfort of casseroles during hard times, and more. The next issue, coming soon, is about True Crime. Creative Nonfiction has a web site, www.creativenonfiction.org, and a baby brother, Brevity, www.reativenonfiction.org/brevity, short creative nonfiction published only online. Don’t be afraid. Try a little.

End Notes
It’s September! Autumn leaves, back to school, and all that stuff. Happy birthday, Aunt Suzanne and everyone else notching up another year this month. Here on the Oregon coast, we expect to enjoy some of our best weather of the year, along with thousands of tourists. Good for the economy, we tell each other. When the rain returns, they’ll go home. Meanwhile, have fun, whatever you’re up to.
Hugs,
Sue

All contents copyright Sue Fagalde Lick 2011

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