Herald and Review from Decatur, Illinois • D5

www.herald-review.com Sund 24, 20 14 tur, Ill I IS D5 Hydrangeas are one of those plants that both enamor and frustrate gardeners. As much as we love them, when they live up to either how they looked when we purchased them or look like the cat alog picture, we wonder what doing wrong. I planted my first hydrangea nine years ago, and for the first two, hoped no one noticed that the local horticulture educator figure out how to get her hydrangea to bloom. We tend to think of hydrangeas as one big group, but in actuality there is quite a bit of diversity among hydrangeas. Hydrangea is both the common and the genus name, and there ar 70 to 75 different individual species in the genus Hydrangea.

Hydrangeas are native to southern and eastern Asia as well as North and South Americ a. In discussing hydrangeas, most sources divide this genus into five major groups: climbing hydrangea, smooth hydrangea, oakleaf hydrangea, panicle hydrangea and big leaf hydrangea. Climbing hydrangea Hydrangea anomala is a deciduous vine that can reach heights of 60 to 80 feet at maturity. However, it is a relatively slow grower and will take several years to attain that height. As climbing hydrangea ages, it develops a very attractive exfoliating cinnamon colored bark.

It bears white flower clusters that are 6 to 10 inches in diameter in a attern described as lacecap large, sterile flowers surround the edge of the floral clust er, with small, fertile flowers in the center. I purchased my two plants as small starts that cost about $10 each. After seven years of growth, they are much bigger than when they were planted, but have yet to flower. The larger of the two is about four feet tall, and the other is a little over two feet tall. The shorter one was repeatedly snacked on by rabbits early on.

They are planted side by side along a blank wall on a trellis. Why the rabbits preferred one over the other is beyond me Smooth hydrangea Hydrangea arborescens is a deciduous shrub that grows to be about five feet tall. Large white clusters of flowers are borne on new wood (branches produced in the current year). Flower clusters up to a foot in diameter are typical of this hydrangea. I remember my mom calling these bushes growing up.

These shrubs are native to the understory of eastern North American forests. A popular cultivar, was developed by the late J.C. McDaniel from the University of Illinois. Panicle hydrangea, hydrangea paniculata is the largest of the major hydrangea groups, ranging in height from 10 to 25 feet. Some ources describe them as trees rather than shrubs.

Their flowers are borne on new wood and start out white, but age to pink. These are the most hardy of the hydrangeas, surviving all the way to Zone 3. I have the variety and it is loaded with blooms, year in year out. Oakleaf hydrangea Hydrangea quercifolia, is a deciduous shrub that grows to be about 5 to 6 feet tall. It grows slowly, and mature branches have exfoliating cinnamon colored bark much like the climbing hydrangea.

They get their name from their deepl lobed leaves that resemble that of the oak. They also have gorgeous fall color ranging from red to bronze and purple. White flowers are borne on old wood (branches produced the previous year), and they age to a soft pink. Bigleaf hydrangea, hydrangea macrophylla are divided into two groups: hortensias, that have big of flowers, and lacecap clusters. Depending on the cultivar, some bigleaf hydrangeas will flower only on old wood.

Some will flower on both new and old wood. Flowers are generally blue or pink, depending on the pH of the soil. Next week, take a look at come common growing issues with these plants. Jennifer Schultz Nelson is a unit educator in horticulture for the University of Illinois Extension How do your hydrangeas bloom? Jennifer Schul Plant Palette I have missed the point. For years, I have written about gracious living, and thought I knew what it meant.

Not that gracious living is an art I have mastered. Donkeys will fly first. But it is the nirvana toward which I clumsily travel, in halting steps, like the last-place contestant in a three- legged race. In my wrongheaded pursuit of gracious living I hav for years doggedly chased the vision of a pristine, tranquil home, well-appointed and orderly, always ready to host guests with spotless stemware and pressed linens, a home that would entertain and feed effortlessly, and where the niceties of daily living fresh flowers, towels sets tied in blue satin ribbons were ever present and universally shared by all who lived there, even the dogs, who would never think of licking themselves in public. I am wrong.

Gracious living is not about trying to get the perfect luster; about living with grace. Now, worry. not going to go all Biblical, here. But earlier this month, this connection hit me like a champagne cork in the forehead. Since both children went off to college, my youngest just last fall, been living alone and much more neatly, a way of life that rather suits the Miss Picky Pants in me.

But last week, my older daughter came home to visit for a week with her boyfriend. This was kind of like having one of those Chinese lantern fireworks, the kind that spin unpredictably and whistle and throw colored sparks and raise general chaos, go off in the house. However, and now going to think started taking calm-down medication, which I ha I actually liked it. Finding the peanut butter smears on the counter, the shoes strewn under the table, the counter stools willy-nilly not straightened up in military fashion, the disheveled towels, the beds made callywompus, the dishes in the sink, and the empty milk carton in the frig gave me a smarmy, warm feeling. I liked these signs of life because it meant not only that the kids were home, but also that they were at home.

And it made me rethink the definition of a gracious home, which I now realize is a place where people want to be. The aim beautiful, though nice, the aim is welcoming. See, I lower my bar. I got a different bar. While I used to focus on the surface qualities of a gracious home, now, I care more about the inner qualities.

(I hope this just mean getting old.) At the he art of the word gracious is the word grace. Both wor ds come from the same Latin root, gratia, unexpected or unmerited favor. Grace is kindness when the opposite could be warranted. To experience grace is to receive kindness we deserve. ve all seen more common opposite: The gonzo mom who screams at her kids in the store, the customer who is rude to the waiter or sales clerk, the motorist impatient with the slow person in the crosswalk, the red-faced soccer dad chewing out the referee.

The world needs less of that. Grace starts at home. You have a gracious home without grace. I grew up in a home that, while not fancy, was full of grace. This past week made me think back on all the times I received unmerited kindness.

Here is a small sampling, and a start: Flower power. Once, as a teen, I left a cone of incense burning on the Formica counter in my athroom. It left a permanent brown scar. Though harsh ords were called for, they come. My mother smoothed it all over with a flower sticker.

Budding beauty. My dad, an early riser, loved his rose garden. Many mornings I would wak up to a single fresh cut rosebud on my dresser. Double trouble. Another time when attempting to sew a bathing suit, I cut out the pattern on my cotton eyelet bedspread.

I notice that the scissor tip had gotten caught in an eyelet hole, causing me to cut out a second pair of bikini bottoms from the bedspread. Mom spread a comforter strategically over the mishap. Missed cue. As a younger girl, I went with my family to have dinner at my house, where I played billiards for the first time. I made a quick turn while holding the pool cue and snapped it in two.

Without missing a beat, my boss said, cue always made the worst shots. glad to be done with And he squired it ceremoniously to the trash. That is grace, my friends. You can have the most beautiful home in the world, but if you bristle hen someone spills a drink, the dog soils the rug, the kids make bike tracks on the lawn or get popcorn grease on the sofa, you, too, have missed the point. So the next time the neighbor baseball goes through your windo the dog waters the Christmas tree, you find cat barf in your shoe, your kids trail beach sand across the floor or do a chin-ups on the towel bar, please, remember grace.

www.marnijameson.com Putting the grace in gracious living Photo courtesy of Grace is the essence of gracious living. You can have the most beautiful home in the world, but if you bristle when someone spills a drink, the dog soils the rug, the kids make bike tracks on the lawn or get popcorn grease on the sofa, you have missed the point. MA JAM Jason Robert Gulick, Mac on; Sadee Rae Armour, Macon Richard Glen Little, Tuscola; Lisa Sue Damery, Argenta Kenneth Leo Bucheg er, Butternut, Carole Anne Acuna, Macon Andre Banks, Decatur; Dora Jean Fox, Decatur Marcus Gl ynn Meriweather, Decatur; Tall- aunah Marie Woodard, Decatur Cod Vernon Marshall Kelly, Springfield; April Fakiesha Fuller, Decatur Justin Andr ew Skelton, Decatur; Jaime Lee Musgrave, Decatur Eric Ezelle obinson, Decatur; Marjorie Ann Richardson, Springfield William Allen Marquis Niantic; Crystal Maria Upt on, Niantic Deej ay Pinca Acedera, Decatur; Genolia Ashley Ann Ridley, Decatur Ke aon Johnell Davis, Decatur; Cassandra Renee Hall, Decatur Jac ob Kyle Dalton, White Heath; Erin Rae Livasy, White Heath Paul Ar chie Mariman, Dubuque, Iowa; Susan Louise Hurst, Decatur Jac ob Aron Wright, Decatur; Mariah Jasmin Highsmith, Decatur MA AG NEW YORK Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder and Garth Brooks are among a list of perf ormers set to receive ASCAP Centennial Awards. Jo an Baez and Stephen Sondheim will also receive the top honor Nov. 17 at the Waldorf Astoria gala in New York, the American ociety of Composers, Authors and Publishers announced Thur sday.

The event will celebrate 100th anniversary. also the first fundraiser benefiting the ASCAP Foundation. The fiv honorees will attend the gala, where other artists will perform in tribute. ASCAP President and Chairman Paul Williams, who recently won Grammy Awards for co-writing Daft Access will host the event. Williams says in a statement the honorees have created songs have touched the liv es of people across the Joel, Wonder, Brooks to receive honors SYLVIA HUI Associated Press LONDON Calling all London tourists: Peter Pan, Sherlock Holmes and Queen Victoria want to have a word with you.

A new interactive arts project is giving a voice to dozens of statues of historical and fictional characters in London, allo wing them to tell their stories and entertain curious visitors and weary commuters as they pass by. city everywhere has statues that go Colette Hiller, creative director of arts producers Sing London, said Tuesday at the launch. we thought about how we could work with the writers, the actors, the comedians from that city to bring them to To get an instant from one of the statues, say from one depicting Isaac Newton at the British Library, people can swipe their smart phones on a plaque to scan a digital ode, or type in a web address. They can then listen to a monologue from the character, played by actors including Patrick Stewart and Hugh Bonneville, famous from the British TV series Stewart voices the Unknown Soldier at Paddington station, while Bonneville speak for Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the engineer best known for building many of most important railways and tunnels. In total, 35 statues in London and Manchester are featured.

The choices are eclectic: Along with Holmes, who laments the ab sence of Dr. Watson by his side at Baker Street station, author Samuel cat Hodge and an unnamed couple on a bench. Some educate with a bit of history, but most come with a healthy dose of humor. Queen starts: you for calling me on this strange machine. I have become very bored sitting here all day holding an extremely heavy scepter and The statues will talk for a year, and organizers hope to bring them to other cities.

Ring, ring: London statues want to talk to you Associated Press photos Timothy West looks at a cardboard statue at the launch of Talking Statues in central London. Statues of some three dozen historical and fictional characters in London and Manchester are coming to life thanks to a new interactive project that gives them a voice to tell their stories. ONLINE: www.talkingstatues. co.uk Brooks SUMMERHANDBAGSREDUCED 19- 29 90 to 59.90/Men’s 59to 79 ServingDecaturandCentralIllinoisfor105years. Mon-Fri9-5 Sat.8:30-3:30 139N.Water DOWNTOWN 2 Car Garage startingat 1395N.22ndStreet,Decatur,IL62521 $8,495 Rememberlast 428-8322 Send CountryNutritionInc KnowledgeyouNeed.CareyouDeserve.

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