When we lived in another state many years ago, we had two hydrangeas, one flanking each side of the patio steps. I loved those plants. They took little care and for that meager effort produced huge balls of blue blooms all summer. So I decided a few years ago to plant a couple here.
I understand that there are white hydrangeas that are supposed to be that way. They are often used in weddings, which seems appropriate and lovely. But most hydrangeas are not supposed to be white. Instead, the color of their blooms depends upon the pH of the soil. If there is plenty of aluminum in the soil, you get blue blooms. If aluminum is lacking, you usually get pink.
If you do not get the color you want, you can change it yourself. Mix one tablespoon of aluminum sulfate per gallon of water and use it during the growing season. (Be sure the plant is well-watered beforehand or you could burn your plants.) If you prefer pink blooms, use dolomite. I really don’t care if I get pink instead of blue, but I did not want white. White is what I got.
Some people can’t seem to make up their minds about serving God. They show up on Sunday morning, but you would never know it if you saw them the rest of the week. Their dress, language, recreation, and opinions match the world around them. Like God’s people of old, they “fear the Lord, but serve other gods,” 2 Kings 17:21. Instead of being either pink or blue, they try to be neutral, thinking it will help them get along with both sides.
Jesus addressed their descendants in Matt 6:24—“You cannot serve two masters,” something we often try to do ourselves, giving our time and energy to the material and only the leftovers, if there are any, to the spiritual. That is why our prayers are often useless. We know we aren’t pink or blue, so we pray with “doubt,” like the “double-minded man, unstable in all his ways,” James 1:6-8.
That wasn’t the end of passages I could find. “How long will you go limping between two sides?” Elijah asked in 1 Kgs 18:12. “Choose this day whom you will serve,” Joshua demanded, 24:15. The Lord doesn’t want white hydrangeas any more than I do. He wants people who can make a decision and stand by it, people who care enough to go all out, not just dabble. We cannot be wishy-washy. “If you aren’t with me you are against me,” he told the disciples, Luke 11:23.
One of my hydrangeas has finally developed a light blue tint. Then I got my acid and alkaline colors mixed up and had Keith put hydrated lime on it. So tomorrow it may turn pink. But it really doesn’t matter—one or the other, pink or blue, just not white. I didn’t plant it to get some neutral color, and that isn’t why God put us where he did either.
I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spew you out of my mouth. Rev 3:15-16
Dene Ward
I understand that there are white hydrangeas that are supposed to be that way. They are often used in weddings, which seems appropriate and lovely. But most hydrangeas are not supposed to be white. Instead, the color of their blooms depends upon the pH of the soil. If there is plenty of aluminum in the soil, you get blue blooms. If aluminum is lacking, you usually get pink.
If you do not get the color you want, you can change it yourself. Mix one tablespoon of aluminum sulfate per gallon of water and use it during the growing season. (Be sure the plant is well-watered beforehand or you could burn your plants.) If you prefer pink blooms, use dolomite. I really don’t care if I get pink instead of blue, but I did not want white. White is what I got.
Some people can’t seem to make up their minds about serving God. They show up on Sunday morning, but you would never know it if you saw them the rest of the week. Their dress, language, recreation, and opinions match the world around them. Like God’s people of old, they “fear the Lord, but serve other gods,” 2 Kings 17:21. Instead of being either pink or blue, they try to be neutral, thinking it will help them get along with both sides.
Jesus addressed their descendants in Matt 6:24—“You cannot serve two masters,” something we often try to do ourselves, giving our time and energy to the material and only the leftovers, if there are any, to the spiritual. That is why our prayers are often useless. We know we aren’t pink or blue, so we pray with “doubt,” like the “double-minded man, unstable in all his ways,” James 1:6-8.
That wasn’t the end of passages I could find. “How long will you go limping between two sides?” Elijah asked in 1 Kgs 18:12. “Choose this day whom you will serve,” Joshua demanded, 24:15. The Lord doesn’t want white hydrangeas any more than I do. He wants people who can make a decision and stand by it, people who care enough to go all out, not just dabble. We cannot be wishy-washy. “If you aren’t with me you are against me,” he told the disciples, Luke 11:23.
One of my hydrangeas has finally developed a light blue tint. Then I got my acid and alkaline colors mixed up and had Keith put hydrated lime on it. So tomorrow it may turn pink. But it really doesn’t matter—one or the other, pink or blue, just not white. I didn’t plant it to get some neutral color, and that isn’t why God put us where he did either.
I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spew you out of my mouth. Rev 3:15-16
Dene Ward
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