-08_June 2012 - Collective Harmony

Mother’s Garden in Georgia – June 2012

Collective Harmony

One of the stunning displays of early summer is the flowering of hydrangeas. To these Mother has given the name “Collective Harmony”, and Her comment is powerful, revealing and of great significance in these turbulent days.

“Collective harmony is the work undertaken by the Divine Consciousness; it alone has the power to realise it.”

There are four major types of hydrangea and they vary from immense shrubs to compact miniatures.

Most of the hydrangeas in Mother’s Garden are Hydrangea macrophylla, both mop heads and lace caps, but all four kinds are grown here.

We begin our pageantry of Collective Harmony with Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’, a fast growing species that blooms profusely for many weeks.

For all problems of existence are essentially problems of harmony.

Sri Aurobindo

Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’

Hydrangea quercifolia – ‘Snowflake’

Close-up of Hydrangea quercifolia – ‘Snowflake’

Collective Harmony

Hydrangea macrophylla (Mop Heads)

One can change the colour of hydrangeas very easily. If the soil is acid, that is with a pH below 7, hydrangeas will tend toward blue and purple. To change the colour of a blue hydrangea to pink broadcast a fair quantity of horticultural lime around the base of the plant out to the drip line (the edge of the leaves where the rain drips off the leaves) and a foot or so beyond. If the soil is above 7 (alkaline or sweet) then add a soil acidifier such as agricultural sulphur or fertilizers that are formulated to bring the pH down.

I learned this technique at a very young age when my mother would tell me to put rusty nails under a certain hydrangea as the iron would turn it blue since our soil was alkaline.