The hydrangeas that we planted in the front yard bloomed. And they are dandy indeed.

Look at that big beautiful head of blooms! And with such skinny little stems and an exotic flare, they are like the Eva Longoria of the flower world. I couldn’t wait to prune the ones that reached their peak to put in my kitchen.

Pruning apparently helps the soon-to-be-blooms flourish so hopefully there will be many more little Eva’s for my kitchen later. (Please Lord, make my garden grow…I know it sounds petty. Well, compared to natural disasters, plane crashes, PMS prayers and the occasional ‘please help me not kill my husband’ shoutout, yeah, some people might think it is unimportant. But my brown thumb really takes a toll on my self esteem and does a real number on the hope that one day I could possibly grow a human. Love you, thanks.)

So what I am really here to share with you is a quick tip on hydrangea cutting. You can prolong the life of your blooms by doing one simple step. Once you cut your hydrangeas to the desired length, dunk the end of the stems into boiling water for 30 seconds. This dunkage prevents the build up of a sticky substance that will clog the little sucker from, well, sucking. And after your flower take the boiled baptism, the blooms can be placed in your vase with room temperature water…just like normal!

So get ready to say goodbye to wilted hydrangeas, and HELLO to beautiful blooms for many days to follow. Happy pruning!