The mother hen (capable bachelorette?) of floral design

When it comes to floral design, few flowers offer as much literal – as well as figurative – support as hydrangea. Large and in charge, not unlike a roosting hen, it commands attention. Though the flower means serious business, it is also soft and yielding, allowing other flowers to take center stage with the help of hydrangea’s excellent knack for creating colorful base-layer backdrops. Because let’s be honest, unless you’re designing in that natural, couture, here’s-my-garden-but-in-a-vase style that relies on gobs and gobs of flowers overlapping and getting in each other’s personal vase space, there are few, if any, flowers that don’t mind a rose or a ranunculus putting a big, fat blem…blush of color on her face. What we’re trying to say is, hydrangea doesn’t mind sharing. If hydrangea were a pass in basketball, it would be a game-winning assist.

Photo by Brown Williams Phototgraphy

That being said, in terms of bang for your buck, few flowers will get you as far without the use of the carpool lane. Translation: Three stems of hydrangea in a vase = a classically stylish mid-sized centerpiece. Three stems of virtually any other flower trying to pass off as a mid-sized centerpiece may equal a serious shrinky-dink problem. But don’t take our word for it! Go ahead, try to find a more winningly versatile flower, we promise to leave a few hydrangea in the bucket for you.

Photo by Amy Deputy

Photo by Sandi Foraci

Hot tip: Though hydrangea boasts those thick, strong stems, every once in a while the flower may behave like a shrinking violet at the mere thought of being separated from its namesake, good old H2O. Don’t fret, however, as a remedy of a quick cut and dunk in the wet stuff is almost always a surefire way to “violet” revival. Simply remove the wilting hydrangea from your vase, oasis, or conditioning bucket, cut one to two inches from the stem, and dunk the entire flower, bloom and all, into cold water for up to an hour for almost guaranteed revival. At that point, if the bloom isn’t better than new, it just wasn’t meant to be.

Hydrangea Facts:

Season: Available year-round

Colors: Whites, greens, pinks, antique reds, purples and blues.

When to Use: For texture, for simplicity, for team player-ship, or for stylish self-sufficiency

For more hydrangea hullabaloo, see this hydrangea-filled wedding at the National Press Club and check out our Pinterest board!