Do your hydrangeas look great this year? Here's why this is a great year for blooms

The hydrangeas are in full bloom and gardeners across New England are rejoicing.

You've almost certainly heard the name before, especially if you live remotely in the vicinity of a garden. Hydrangeas are the colorful round flowers that are often the mainstay of many gardeners' floral arsenal.

Coming in a variety of colors including blue, green, pink, purple, red and white, the popular perennials are particularly vivid this summer.

"This year is going to be a fantastic hydrangea year," said C.L. Fornari, a Cape Cod gardening expert.

Wet summers and warm winters make for good hydrangeas

Plants form flower buds for the next year in mid to late summer, so rain throughout the year is essential. Regular rain throughout last summer and fall, followed by a mild winter "has produced an astounding amount of hydrangeas because the buds made it all through the year," said Fornari, founder of the Cape Cod Hydrangea Festival, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year.

As perennials, hydrangeas go dormant in the winter to avoid cold weather, but this doesn't mean they're safe from a deep freeze. "If they get zapped by below 10-degree temperatures they don’t bloom," Fornari explained.

This doesn't mean a winter needs to be unseasonably warm. Just consistent temperatures with more gradual change as opposed to flash freezes, in which temperatures may suddenly drop from a relatively warm winter to a deep freeze.

The Clemson University College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences describes the effect this way: "Freezing temperatures can damage plants by rupturing plant cells as ice crystals form and rapid changes in temperatures occur."

For hydrangeas, this means their buds get killed off. This was the case last year across New England due to the polar vortex, said Fornari.

So what can gardeners do to help?

"Prayer works as well as anything," said Fornari, as what makes hydrangeas bloom is largely out of human hands. "Might as well sit back and relax and hope for the best," she said.

Not all hydrangeas are so delicate, but the blue mophead that are so popular relies heavily on this specific combination of factors that vary from year to year.

"When people worry about whether it’s going to be a good hydrangea year, they’re talking about the mophead or lacecap hydrangeas," said Fornari.

This is also the variety that has become the signature plant of New England's coastal communities. The naturally acidic soil keeps them blue and the warmer winter temperatures and cooler summer temperatures of coastal areas mean they're more likely to bloom.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Gardeners, do your hydrangeas look great this year? Here's why.