Here's an ethical dilemma for you ...

In a front garden of a house on my walk to the station every morning is a gorgeous, duck egg blue blue flowered hydrangea. I don't know the person who lives there but from my daily observations I suspect it's an elderly lady living on her own.

I'd love to grow this plant myself: the question is, do I just snip a trimming off one of the boughs that's wafting over the hedge at me, without troubling said little old lady, or do I potentially scare her to death by knocking on her door and asking permission first?

Either way, I've found a great guide to hydrangea propagation - including some very handy step by step pictures - over at Nantucket Hydrangeas.

Comments

[louise]

did you learn nothing as a child jane?

[annette]

you could drop a note through her door warning her that you would be calling to ask her for a cutting the next day - then if she was very scared of you, she could choose not to answer the door when you call.

But if her garden looks like she's a plant lover, my guess is that once you explain what you are interested in, she'll be perfectly happy to give you a cutting.

Either way, be prepared for it to turn a murky pink once you've got your hydrangea!

[Jane Perrone]

I know - I definitely want it to retain the gorgeous shade of blue it has. I've been reading up here (http://www.hydrangeashydrangeas.com/colorchange.html) and hope I can turn it back if it starts to go pink - all other advice gratefully received.

[BlueThumb]

Link doesn't work.
Correct to
http://www.hydrangeashydrangeas.com/colorchange.html

And think about paper patterns
on those broad leaves to create
messages.
F on one, A on another, U on
the third..... using big
square letters, taking them off
when you want to display the
whitened field underneath.

Are you going to cut off the last
season heads of the hydrangeas? I leave
them on for a puffy gray look
in winter (bush tits like them)
and a mix from the all-blue
summer crop.

[mtp]

Oh you should definitely ask her - in any case she may be a prize-winning Hydrangea grower and have a life-time's worth of tips and tricks to pass on to you. You never know!

[Helen Chisholm]

Ohooooooo! Nothing like an ethical dilemma to raise a few comments! Now my mother would sneak back under the cover of darkness and whip bits off stick them in the ground she calls them Irish cuttings! And they will always grow. Whilst I on the other hand take weeks to pluck up the courage to ask for cuttings, then often I struggle to be successful one neighbour often comments how well her lilac grows in my garden I don't have the heart to tell her that her cutting died and this one came from my father in law!

[Vivienne]

I think you should. She probably has a lot to offer and if she's elderly and living on her own she might be glad of a chat with a young face, not to mention flattered that you've admired it so. At best you'll have a new gardening friend. At worst, well, you might have to change your route to the station in the mornings.

[daniel b]

What did you decide to do?

[Jane Perrone]

I haven't got around to it yet but I plan to knock on the lady's door and ask. As many of you has pointed out, she might welcome the chat...