Hydrangeas in the Pope's Summer Garden!

As our Study Abroad to Italy comes to an end, I look back on all the trips we took to different gardens and I thoroughly enjoyed each and every one of them. My favorite garden tour by far though was the one to the Pope’s summer garden. There was a lot of different horticulture related aspects that stood out to me, but the number one thing that stood out was the beautiful Hydrangeas! They were the more common Big leaf Hydrangea. These Hydrangeas are some of the easiest plants to cultivate because of their tolerance to almost any soil. They tend to bloom all throughout the summer and can come in a variety of colors ranging from white, pink, red, blue and a few more colors. The color of the hydrangea generally depends on the pH of the soil! For example if a soil has a pH of less than 5.5 than the Hydrangea will turn out blue and if it has a pH of more than 5.5 than it’ll turn out pink. There is a number of different types of Hydrangeas but my favorite Hydrangea by far and the ones that stood out to me the most on this entire trip were the ones from the Pope’s summer garden! I recommend people going to the Pope’s summer garden if they ever have a chance. You will see a number of fascinating Horticulture aspects ranging from the Hydrangeas I love all the way to some of the best pruned shrubs I’ve seen in my entire life!

-Bailey McDonald