You can’t tend it all the same way

I’ve been standing among the hydrangeas a lot this week, and they’ve been giving me a lot to think about.

Here’s what I keep coming back to: you can’t care for every hydrangea the same way. Some bloom from what they grew last year — old wood, deep roots, time already invested. You protect that. You don’t cut it back just because someone told you spring is for pruning. Others bloom on brand new growth, and holding onto last year’s stems is exactly what’s keeping them from flourishing.

Neither is wrong. But you have to know which one you have.

I think about that with us — with the lives we’re designing. Some of us are in an old-wood season. The blooms are coming, they’re just forming slowly from everything you’ve already poured in. Don’t you dare cut that back. Others are in a new-wood season, and the thing standing between you and something beautiful is the old growth you haven’t been willing to release yet.

And then there’s the bloom worth preserving. You’ll know it when you see it — but there’s a small window. Catch it at the right moment and you keep it for years. Miss it and it’s gone.

Pay attention to what’s blooming around you right now. And be honest about what kind of season you’re in.

Jules & Lane

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This letter first went out to our readers in the Country Living Connoisseur on August 20, 2026. The full issue has the garden and farm kitchen sections too. Want the next one? Pull up a chair and join us here.