I just returned home from my friends house, Lady A, to take care of her flowers while she’s away. It’s an honor to be asked to care for someone else’s domain.

It makes my heart happy to purchase a plant and watch it thrive, while knowing full well, I had purchased the same plant a few years ago and it died under my care. When the plant does well, so do we. A colleague mentioned recently she was done gardening until fall, but I knew she had spent Spring through June clearing beds and planting flowers. I didn’t have the heart to tell her the gardening part had just begun. It’s not in the planting….gardening is in the care for what’s planted.

Around Mother’s Day this year, a local grocery store received a big order of Hydrangea’s in hopes of selling them for the occasion. I looked at them wrapped in decorative foil with a bow attached and they were beautiful, but they were priced at $30 each. This caused pause because I’ve never been able to keep a Hydrangea alive, much less watch it bloom, so I stepped away from the display while thinking, “I’ll return after Mother’s Day to see if any were overwatered and sitting on the sad shelf.”

You know the shelf…it’s where plants that are more dead than alive are sold cheap. Shortly after Mother’s Day had passed, I went to look at that shelf to find two Hydrangea’s, half dead from overwatering and marked down to $5.00. There was an older man standing beside me taking in the sad shelf of plants and he helped me choose the best one between the two. He told me, “It’ll be fine. Take it home, repot it and cut it way back to get rid of the dead.” So, my lovelies, that’s what I did.

I began this adventure by placing it in good soil where it would be in the shade most of the day and after cutting it back I tried my best to ignore it. This is where I’ve gotten in trouble with Hydrangeas before is by giving them too much attention.

Every time I’d see new growth, I’d pinch more of the dead leaves off until it became covered in new growth. I want to pause here and mention that this experiment was inspired largely by Mags, at Little Things Matter. She has a Hydrangea planted in her yard that got hit hard during the winter months, but she noticed it coming back in the Spring. Mags paid attention to it, but didn’t shower it with attention and it thrived under her care. You can click here to see what it looks like today, just a few months later.

Mags says, “So far it has made it through the unexpected freeze, high wind, heavy rain unseasonable heat and hail.” These plants are much tougher than I thought! Recently, the Hydrangea earned it’s own pot, but I was mindful not to sit it in full sun and will introduce it to more gradually, but it’s been over a month and it’s still alive and growing!

There’s a lesson attached to every plant that’s died in my care and I think the only way to fail is when we stop trying. I’ve had a longtime battle with this plant, but am encouraged by the new growth. I have no idea what color it will bloom and it will be miraculous to see it bloom, but thanks to the sad shelf at the grocery store and by following Mags journey… I was willing to try again.