It was on a lot of hydrangeas I saw around town this year – yellowing leaves, with the classic green veins that signal chlorosis or lack of chlorophyll. Unsure why this happened more often in 2014, but when it did on my own Hydrangea ‘Quickfire’ I had to look it up.

And apparently hydrangeas are one of numerous plants susceptible to chlorosis due to lack of iron. That link takes you to the Missouri Botanical Garden website and includes info about treatment, as does the excellent website HydrangeasHydrangeas.com. This year, I just watched. If the problem persists next year, I’ll take steps to fix it. Likely, my first step will be a soil test to check pH.

‘Quickfire’ did a lot of good things this year, though. More flowers than ever, looking fine with a pale ‘Janet’ hosta.

The flowers, in the foreground here, were also a great colour match for Sedum ‘Black Jack’ back by the shed (except Jack doesn’t produce black foliage in the shade, unfortunately.). These pictures were taken back in September.

And the red fall foliage a few weeks later prove that my show-stopping experience last fall wasn’t a complete fluke.