We had a visit from a cousin of mine (actually, a first cousin, once removed) who is a Professor of Sociology in Minnesota. She came down to pack up my Dad’s paintings that were in a storage locker on the North side of Milwaukee, which I had been unable to sell to any useful degree, to make a sizable dent in the total number. The locker was costing me a bunch of money every month, so her offer to empty it out was a welcome relief. When she arrived, she had two plants with her, as a gift to my wife, who had expressed a desire for more houseplants. They were a very nice philodendron in a large pot, and a hydrangea, in a smaller pot. “A hydrangea”, I thought, “that’s a BUSH, and grows outdoors!” And indeed, I have never seen them growing indoors. “Oh, well,” I thought, “we’ll do what we can; maybe it’ll do OK.” So I stripped the fancy plastic foil wrapper off it, found a big dish to set it in, watered it and set it on the window shelf.
After about a week, I was able to observe that it has a marked sensitivity to going dry, in that the leaves curl up most alarmingly. Watering restores it quite quickly. And, as I watered it the other day, I found that it was blooming … not a big deal, by the standards of an outdoor plant, but definitely blooming … a fine, pink flower, showing signs of developing further!
So, having no better plan, I photographed it … here it is:
… And that’s about it … maybe you’re as astonished as I am. In any case, enjoy!
Cheers, all!
der Wandersmann 