READING, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — The popularity of hydrangeas has risen significantly in the past few years, and a local farm stand has some thoughts on why.
JJ Calareso of Calareso’s Farm Stand and Garden Center in Reading talked about how he felt the flower's popularity rose drastically during the pandemic.
“It’s because of the times in COVID when everyone was at home and wanted to pretty up the yards a little bit and everyone planted them then and everyone's just popped like crazy for the entire summer,” Calareso said.
He also mentioned how their longevity has come from how they continue to grow more beautiful every year as the season comes around.
“The new growth is when every year your plant grows a little bit bigger because that's how plants work,” Calareso said. “Like your trees, they get a little bit taller your hydrangeas get a little bit bigger and from that you have new growth you have new leaves, and you have new blooms.”
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Hydrangeas come in many different types, and Calareso recommended the Endless Summer variety most highly.
“It blooms like an endless summer; you have blooms early on. It’s May and we have some that are popping with color already and they're going to bloom well into the fall,” he said. “It also blooms from the old growth, so not only do you get the new stems, the new leaves, the new buds, but you also get the growth from last year’s and the years before.”
Calareso also mentioned how to best take care of your hydrangeas once you decide to plant them.
“You want nice sandy, drainage soil. It doesn’t have to be sand obviously, but you just want some good runoff that doesn't sit in water all the time,” he said. “They're not huge sun lovers personally, I have them sitting behind a wall they get a little bit of afternoon sun and that helps them out a lot.”
WBZ NewsRadio’s Shari Small (@ShariSmallNews) reports.