Hydrangeas.

A resident photographer of Nantucket Island once wrote, Nantucket people have an intimate relationship to the land, water, weather, and seasons. The physical beauty draws people out, and being outdoors on Nantucket is an important part of life ... The light is clear, clean, and soft, conditions that every photographer seeks.

Being on Nantucket Island is truly like being in a different world. My parents first bought a home to restore there in 1992. They have restored two additional, amazingly beautiful pieces of property since then, and I have been fortunate enough to have visited several times.

One of my favorite things to do while I am there is to take long walks to photograph the beauty that only exists there. The first picture above is of a boat in the harbor ... and all along that side of the harbor are bushes of hydrangea.

Because of the damp sea mist that permeates the air, hydrangeas grow in abundance all over the island. I know hydrangeas are certainly not indigenous to Nantucket, but they do seem to thrive in the humid climate as opposed to ... well ... where I live.

I had heard from a few different people that I wouldn't have much luck trying to grow a hydrangea bush in Utah, where our soil can tend to be mostly clay, and our summers extremely hot. One of my neighbors down the street was an avid flower gardener. She had tried to grow hydrangea before but told me that she rarely had any blooms before her bushes had just given up and died.

I did get a tip however, that the best place to try and grow one would be the north east side of my house ... so that is where I planted my hydrangea bush, almost 10 years ago.

The first few years after it was planted, Karen (the down the street neighbor), would ask how many blooms I had. I would count them and report - one year, I proudly announced that I had 21 blossoms on my thriving little plant. And I say little because it has yet to reach anywhere near the size of the Nantucket bushes, which I strived to have it "grow up" to be.

The pink blossom above is from my own hydrangea bush ... nestled sweetly in the north east corner below my deck. It has been a faithful little bloom producer every year for a long time now. I will sometimes still count the blooms and give that bush a small silent cheer for keeping up the good work in less than ideal conditions.