‘Hydrangea hysteria’ blooms in the Northeast

Horticulturists, gardening enthusiasts and tourists from far away have all taken note: This is a banner year for hydrangeas from New Hampshire all the way down to the mid-Atlantic states.

With their vibrant orbs of colorful clustered petals, hydrangeas are a quintessential attraction for many towns on the Eastern Seaboard. After a rainy fall and mild winter, this summer has seen an explosion of blooms.

“This might be the best year for hydrangeas that I’ve seen in at least the last decade,” said Greyson Keller, a gardener who owns a landscaping business called the Garden Group in Nantucket, Massachusetts.

Here’s what to know about the flowers before they’re gone.

The hydrangea originated in Japan.

The hydrangea was first cultivated in Japan but is native to both Asia and the Americas, according to the National Garden Bureau. The most common variety in North America is the big-leaf hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla), whose flowers are often a vivid blue, pink or purple.

Heavy rain and a mild winter set the stage for a hydrangea summer.

Heavy rainfall, a mild winter and some recent years of disappointment have led to “hydrangea hysteria,” as C.L. Fornari, founder of the Cape Cod Hydrangea Festival, described this summer.

Hydrangeas require a lot of water, and last year was one of the top 10 wettest years on record for many states in the Northeast where hydrangeas grow, including Maine, Connecticut, Vermont and Massachusetts, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information.

Hydrangeas also struggle in freezing temperatures. After a rainy summer and fall in 2023, a warm winter with El Niño conditions “caused very little damage to the dormant buds, leading to an explosion of blossoms now,” said Melissa Finley, the Thain Curator of Woody Plants at the New York Botanical Garden.

As a result, the petal clusters are bigger and more abundant this summer than in past years, according to experts. When it comes to a plant’s color, Keller said that was dependent on how carefully the gardener cares for it.

Keller also thinks this summer seems particularly exceptional because previous years have been disappointing.

“Two years ago, all the hydrangeas across the island died back to the ground,” he said of the flowers on Nantucket. “We are probably exaggerating how good it is now. I mean, it is phenomenal. But when you put it next to something that was so horrific, it seems even better.”

‘Everybody wants hydrangeas.’

In some cases, tourists are traveling hundreds of miles to get a glimpse of the hype.

More than in past years, tourists have traveled from Virginia, South Carolina and even Europe to Cape Cod for this year’s Hydrangea Festival, Fornari said.

Bethany M. Naccarato, a certified master gardener who has a large following on TikTok, posted a video of her hydrangeas in Connecticut that now has 1.5 million views. Another video, of a TikTok user walking down a street covered with hydrangeas in Maryland, has more than 5 million views.

Clients on Nantucket are constantly asking Keller to plant more hydrangeas, despite his warnings about how difficult they are to maintain.

“They are still getting planted everywhere, at all times,” he said. “Everybody wants hydrangeas.”

Greta Georgieva, who works at the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce, wrote in an email that “hydrangeas are definitely bringing more visitors to the Cape” this year.

And more tourists than ever are buying starter pots of hydrangeas for home, Fornari said.

How do I take care of my hydrangeas?

Cutting your flowers in the morning helps with longevity. For store-bought flowers, recut them at an angle, strip off the leaves and dip the stems in a flower food powder or hydration solution, Naccarato and Fornari advised. Replace the water weekly, recutting and redipping the stems each week.

When growing big-leaf hydrangeas in your garden, plant them in an area with morning sun and afternoon shade. Water the plants well and mulch around the base before winter.

How long will ‘hydrangea hysteria’ last?

It depends. Factors like the variety of the plant, freak weather events and the amount of daily shade can affect longevity.

Big-leaf hydrangeas planted in constant sun will become brown by August, Fornari said. But if your hydrangeas are planted in afternoon shade, they can last into October, albeit in a duller color than in summer.

And what if no one in your neighborhood has hydrangeas?

Well, Fornari invites you to come to the Cape — while you still can. The Cape Cod Hydrangea Festival goes until Sunday, and the town will be in bloom beyond that.

“Even the hydrangeas in front of the gas stations are amazing,” she said.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.