Hydrangea Blues Paper Coaster

I watched these azure-blue hydrangeas deepen from early summer to mid-summer. Their blues were a bit shy at first, dappled with white, sky blue, or pink and then suddenly I noticed how deep their colors had become. I think of cornflower blue or deep summer skies when I see these colors, and I love the button-like stamens in the center. They remind me of a button in an upholstered pillow. Hydrangeas also remind me of my Dad, who used to enjoy experimenting with the alkalinity of the soil from one row of hydrangeas to another, so we'd have some that were pinker and some that were bluer. These hydrangeas, though, were unabashedly blue.