Hydrangeas in the Dandenong Ranges: A Garden Full of Colour
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Somewhere in the Dandenong Ranges, tucked among the cool, damp gullies and towering trees, I stumbled onto a garden absolutely full of hydrangeas. I couldn't tell you the exact name of the spot — one of those happy accidents where you follow a path and suddenly find yourself surrounded by colour — but I've never forgotten just how many varieties were packed into that one garden.
A Different Colour at Every Turn
What makes hydrangeas such a rewarding subject is the sheer range of colour a single species can produce. Walking through that garden, I moved from deep blues to soft pinks, from pure whites to a purple so rich it looked almost artificial. Some blooms even shifted colour gradually across a single flower head, blending two or three shades at once.
The Dandenong Ranges' cool climate and dappled forest light suit hydrangeas perfectly — the kind of soft, filtered light you get under a tree canopy is exactly what brings out the depth of colour in the petals without the harsh, washed-out look you'd get in direct sun.
A Fun Fact: The Colour Is in the Soil
Here's the bit that surprises most people: for many hydrangea varieties, the flower colour isn't fixed by genetics alone — it's determined by the acidity of the soil they're grown in. Acidic soil, which allows the plant to absorb more aluminium, tends to produce blue flowers. Alkaline soil does the opposite, producing pink flowers. This is actually why you can sometimes find a single hydrangea bush with both blue and pink blooms on it — different roots reaching into slightly different soil chemistry.
It's a genuinely rare case in the plant world where you can (within limits) change a flower's colour just by adjusting the soil it's planted in.
The Hydrangeas Wall Calendar
That one afternoon in the Dandenongs produced enough variety and colour to build an entire calendar around — twelve months, twelve different hydrangea moments, from the palest blush pink to the deepest indigo blue.
You can find the Hydrangeas Wall Calendar here, personalised to order and available in multiple sizes.
