Hydrangeas

Apparently they root very easily and all I need to do is take cuttings and poke them in the ground. And keep them moist.

Moist we can do. Here in smallwettown we specialise in keeping plants moist. Without any effort at all.

Hyadrangeas, for a very long time like almost all my life until three weeks ago, were uncool elderly not at all charming kind of plants. But three weeks or so ago I happened across a comment that hydrangeas grow well when they are kept constantly moist. I think (but could be imagining) that it also said that they will grow in partial shade. So then I opened my eyes to hydrangeas and noticed that they are all over smallwettown, including growing up the hillsides and on the roadsides indicating where there was once a keen gardener and now no dwelling exists. They look glorious. They suit living in smallwettown. Then I noticed how they blended in well with native trees like pungas and cabbage trees. I noticed how they have thick bush characteristics and probably block out weeds underneath them once established. I thought about how they must be easy to propagate if they are growing up hills and on roadsides.

I started to plan. The helpful person at the garden nursery told me to stick cuttings in the ground, keep them wet and they will grow. I found a lifestyle farmer magazine when cleaning up yesterday which profiled a commercial hydrangea grower up north who commented that wherever he throws prunings, hydrangea plants pop up. Today I am taking loppers and secateurs and Favourte Handyman's pocketknife (I should get one of my own) and grabbing 20 cuttings from roadside plants. All along the back fence where nothing edible will grow because it is too wet and shady, I am going to create a hydrangea grove. Along the back of Brighid's forest where I have pungas and cabbage trees I am planting hydrangeas. If I get enough, I might even interplant hydranges with the flaxes out the front.

Two years into our garden project at smallwettown, I have conceded that some spots in our garden will not successfully grow food. Those spots are going to natives and hydrangea.

On the native front, has anyone raised rata trees from seed themselves?