I Had 'Hydrangea Envy' This Year: Best in 20 Years Says Queen Of Hydrangeas

I've always admired hydrangea flowers but this year I was obsessed!

I was slamming on my brakes and jumping out of my car just to take pictures of 'other people's hydrangeas'!

It's not like I'd never seen hydrangeas before. It's just that this year for some reason they just seemed more beautiful than I ever remember.

I wanted to share in the hydrangea joy, so I went and bought a pretty blue hydrangea plant at Home Depot. I think it died in the car on the way home. I planted other pretty flowers that actually lived, but sadly not that one. I was bummed.

Apparently my dead hydrangea sparked my very severe case of "hydrangea envy'.

Every time I'd spot a house with gorgeous hydrangeas I'd somehow on foot or by car, get up close or back up close, and whip out my phone to take a picture.

I now have a ridiuculous number of 'other people's hydrangeas' photos in my phone.

I thought it was just me until I had lunch with a business pal and mentioned my 'Hydrangea Envy Problem' and he whipped out his phone with the same number of Hydrangea photos! That was a really good belly laugh.

We both really wanted to know 'why' suddenly, this year, were these plants so much more amazing?

We decided we needed to find a 'hydrangea expert'! So, I went and found 'the best' and invited her to join my radio show. Her name is Lorraine Ballato, and she's truly 'The Queen of Hydrangeas'.

Lorraine is an award-winning writer, speaker, horticulturist, photographer and confirmed plantaholic. She's written a book called "Success with Hydrangeas' A Gardeners Guide.

She has tips for knowledgeable and novice gardeners alike on how to grow this favorite garden shrub.

Success with Hydrangeas in an international best seller. It's packed with valuable information like; when and how to prune; when and how to fertilize; when to transplant; how to propagate; and when to water -- or not.

I knew Lorraine would have the answer to 'WHY' the Hydrangeas were so extra gorgeous this year. Was it all the wild weather?

Lorraine said,

"Well, not this year. Wild weather from one year to the next could be the culprit, but we didn't have any wild weather. The temperatures were fairly even over the course of the spring. We had a nice, kind of mild winter. We had good rain both in the fall and the winter and the spring, and that's a trifecta to create exactly what we're all enjoying."

"I can tell you from a very weakened memory bank that this is the best year I've ever seen in over 20."

"Even if you get mild winters and even if you get a decent amount of rain, we invariably have those crazy spring temperature swings, you know? And we get those freezes in May or we get a freak late season snowstorm. And so even if you make it through with all the other factors, one of those, all you need is a couple days like that and your buds are gone, absolutely gone."

"So to have all three happen in the same growing year is rare to say the least."

Enjoy learning more about the 'Diva' hydrangeas and enjoy meeting Lorraine Ballato in this podcast of our live conversation on The Debbie Nigro Show.

Meanwhile, there's no need for you to zone out and become envious of 'other peoples plants' like I did. You can have your own fabulous plants if you just look into what plant hardiness zone you're in. Just type your zip code into the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map.