Tuesday, November 16, 2021

A Late Hydrangea


I think this is the last hydrangea flower in our garden -- all the others have dried up and turned brown. I wonder why this one is hanging on? Dave always complains about this plant because he says the flowers are supposed to turn from white to pink as they age, and he doesn't believe they do. But I see a subtle pinkish tinge to this one, don't you?

For some reason this morning I woke up with a song stuck in my head and it WILL NOT GO AWAY. It's "The Girl That I Knew Somewhere" by The Monkees. Why am I singing it at 6:30 in the morning when I haven't heard it in ages? Your guess is as good as mine.

53 comments:

Anonymous said...

Pretty late for hydie bloom. Yes, I see the pink tinge.
My partner woke this morning thinking about curried mince and potatoes. That's not a bad thing and that is our dinner about to be served.

Frances said...

Luckily I don't know that song, so it hasn't got into my head from your mention !!

Yorkshire Pudding said...

Yes indeed I can see the pinkish tinge in the late flowering hydrangea. Perhaps you were thinking about the Monkees song because you have a deep longing to ride around a launderette on a motorcycle (see the YouTube video).

Debby said...

I do not know that song, but I know earworms. I'm a believer, not a trace of doubt in my mind...I'm a believer...I couldn't leave her if I tried....

Yeah. Thanks for that, Steve.

Hydrangea colors are based on soil acidity. You can have a bright pink color if that's what you want. https://www.hgtv.com/outdoors/flowers-and-plants/trees-and-shrubs/how-to-change-hydrangea-color

Moving with Mitchell said...

I regularly wake up with songs in my head with no idea where they came from. But never “The Girl That I Knew Somewhere.” I had to look it up. Even after listening to it, I don’t remember it.

And, yes, I see pink.

Steve Reed said...

LOL -- I watched that video this morning after posting. I was happy to see Julie Newmar turn up in it! In fact I've linked to it now.

Steve Reed said...

Aren't you lucky?!

Steve Reed said...

Well, that's an interesting thing to be thinking about! LOL

Steve Reed said...

Dave has tried adjusting the flower color through chemistry with some of our hydrangeas, but it's not always successful. I think a lot depends on the underlying soil chemistry and how easily (or not) it can be changed...? I tell him to just be happy with whatever color we get!

Steve Reed said...

Maybe you weren't a Monkees addict as a kid, like I was. I watched their TV show every summer in reruns, up to about 1982!

Marty said...

Any ear worm from the Monkees would be hellish.

Steve Reed said...

They are very catchy songs, that's for sure.

Pixie said...

It's beautiful, regardless of the color. You want an ear worm? Listen to baby shark by pinkfong.

Bob said...

I see pinkISH.

I wake up every morning with a song in my head. Sometimes it's something I've heard in the last few days, weeks, months, and sometimes it's something I haven't heard forever. It's like my brain is on Random Play.

Steve Reed said...

I've heard ABOUT Baby Shark, but I don't think I've ever actually heard it. (Which is maybe a good thing?)

Steve Reed said...

I'm glad to know this happens to other people too!

Vivian Swift said...

The Girl That I Knew Somewhere: That wins the prize for the deepest track ever. I was a Monkees fan from the get-go (I'm old enough to have watched the show when it first came out) but I could not remember this song at all. I love that the music video in the fake launderette looks as if it was shot in one afternoon. That look, LoFi, is so nostalgic for me. Thank you for introducing this odd bit of randomness into my day!

Ms. Moon said...

There are absolutely white varieties of hydrangea. In fact, there are tips online about how to keep them pure white. So...
I don't know that Monkees song and I'm not looking it up!

The Bug said...

The hydrangea is lovely! And I definitely do see the pink tinge. My earworms are USUALLY religious songs, which is extra annoying because I don't really consider myself to be that religious of a person anymore (although I love to sing in church). I'm off to check out the video!

Sharon said...

That bloom is beautiful but I don't see any pink in it. That's funny about the song in your head. I've had some strange dreams lately. Our brains do strange things when we sleep.

Marcia LaRue said...

If you enlarge the pic, you can see a slight tinge of color! It's beautiful regardless the color!

Anonymous said...

I didn't know that white hydrangeas are supposed turn pinkish as they age. Interesting.
I am glad to report that I don't know that Monkees' song.

Edna B said...

That's a beautiful hydrangea. Mine don't always turn pink. I don't remember the song. Hum it for a while. Maybe it an old memory will come to you. Enjoy your day, hugs, Edna B.

Ed said...

I have never seen a video of that song but really enjoyed the simplicity of it.

Many years ago, a fellow and I seemed to always be humming the same song at work and after much discussion, we finally figured out why. We both woke up with radio alarm clocks at the same time, tuned to the same channel and were merely humming the song we woke up too.

crafty cat corner said...

I had Charles Aznavour's song 'what makes a man a man' stuck on repeat all night the other night, I love the song but am afraid to listen to it again in case he bothers me again. lol

Briony
x

ellen abbott said...

The color of hydrangeas depends on the chemicals in the soil. Although, Ms Moon says there are white varieties though I don't think I've ever seen one. And I'm glad I don't remember that song. I have enough trouble with ear worms as it is.

Ellen D. said...

I don't remember that Monkees song at all. Gosh, Julie Newmar was pretty. I suppose she still is! :)

The bike shed said...

Earworms - I think that's what we call songs which play in our heads.
We have hydrangeas here - the colours have something to do with the soil I believe. Ours are blue.

Allison said...

Earworms are a thing, mine is 7x24, 365 days a year, year in year out. I don't know the song you referenced, and I'm happy about that. However, one of the commenters just stuck "I'm a Believer" in my head, so I guess I'll be leaving this page before I get something worse. I don't really see the pink, could be the light.

Margaret said...

I've never seen a white hydrangea in my area, so our soil must be different. You can add things to the soil to change its color if you want! Ours are mostly purple and pink, sometimes blue.

Kelly said...

It just looks white to me, but it also looks like the little stems are pink which might make it have a tinge to it?

I ALWAYS have an ear worm. I wasn't familiar with that Monkees song, so it won't be replacing my current ear worm (No Time by the Guess Who).

gluten Free A_Z Blog said...

Exquisite! I love hydrangeas.. My white cone shaped hydrangeas held on the longest, but the blue and pink varieties are long gone.

Janie Junebug said...

I see a little pink. It's beautiful. I'll never understand why certain songs show up in my brain and I MUST sing them. Franklin and Penelope probably get sick of it.

Love,
Janie

Steve Reed said...

Actually, I think the deepest Monkees track is "I'll Be Back Up On My Feet," which as far as I know was only used in one Monkees TV show episode. (I can't remember French conjugations or how to do algebra, but I remember crap like this.)

Steve Reed said...

For some reason, trying to engineer the color of a flower just seems way too complicated to me. I'm all for letting them do whatever they want to do.

Steve Reed said...

Interesting! When you say religious songs, do you mean hymns? Those come back to me sometimes too, even though it's been a while since I've darkened the door of a church.

Steve Reed said...

They really do -- all those neurons reconnecting, I guess!

Steve Reed said...

I agree -- I think it's very pretty no matter what!

Steve Reed said...

We have a couple of white varieties and all of them purport to change color.

Steve Reed said...

Not all of them DO change. I think it depends on the variety.

Steve Reed said...

It is simplistic, and I guess that's why it makes a good "ear worm." That's funny about the radio! I don't wake up to music (at least not externally produced music!) so that's not it for me.

Steve Reed said...

Oh, lord, that's an oldie. We never heard Charles Aznavour in the states.

Steve Reed said...

We have three white varieties, and at least two of them supposedly turn pink over time. Dave said the catalog showed this one as a deep pink, which it obviously is not, but maybe we could adjust that if we toyed with the soil chemistry.

Steve Reed said...

Wasn't she? Statuesque is the word! She's still with us -- she's 88 years old now!

Steve Reed said...

We have some blue ones but most of ours are pink. I've heard that about the soil chemistry. I'm not an expert on hydrangeas but Dave experiments with them a lot, trying to get the colors to change and adjust.

Steve Reed said...

Yeah, I usually have a song going in my head too. I call it my internal radio!

Steve Reed said...

I think the white varieties are much less common. This one is called "Black Steel," I think, because of the black stems.

Steve Reed said...

I love that song! Haven't heard it in ages. Maybe I'll play it on my iTunes before work this morning. (And then I'll be singing it all day!)

Steve Reed said...

Most of ours are dry flower heads by now -- brown or pink-brown clumps. Very autumnal looking and pretty in their own way!

Steve Reed said...

Ha! What did people do before popular music? Did they walk around humming folk songs or sea shanties or church hymns?

Debby said...

Blogs send me off to look up such a wide variety of things. There are varieties of hydrangeas which bloom white and stay white, with only the slightest tinge of pink. (Annabelle is one). I never knew that before.

The Bug said...

Yes - mostly hymns, although sometimes it's a snippet from a cantata or a musical from church camp. Those are EXTRA annoying because of how generally chipper the ones I remember are. Here is the one I'm especially thinking about - ha!

Moving with Mitchell said...

I watched the show, although not religiously, and never in reruns. But I thought I knew all their songs. Shows how much I know.