[pandoraou812]

Very interesting.

[thecodont]

[rintense]

I love mine. I got the Nikko Blue variety but the color is determined by the acidity of the soil. Mine faded and then turned the most gorgeous dark red/purple. It looked like a glass of merlot. Can’t wait to see how they bloom this year.

[MamaDearest]

Fascinating news, and all the better to make me feel good about the five hydrangea plants I bought this past week. I already have six others that are just about ready to bloom any day now. They are utterly gorgeous (and grew phenomenally in the past three years).

[IM2MAD]

What’s the source for this article. I’d like to pass it along but hesitate to do so without a source.

[Royal Wulff]

What’s humble about a hydrangea?

[nutmeg]

The most gorgeous hydrangeas I've ever seen were in Normandy, France. They were all over the area. Some of them were literally the size of basketballs! Must be the perfect soil/sun/rain whatever combination there for hydrangeas...

[BuffaloJack]

Read Later

[IamConservative]

There are many different varieties, so you have to read the label when you buy to know how to care for yours.

We have many of the “Endless Summer” variety. They get cut back to the ground each year. In neutral soil, the bloom are pink. If you use an acidic fertilizer, the bloom will turn blue. If you use different fertilizer on each side of the plant, you will have both colors. Pretty amazing and easy to grow plant. Great for patios where you sit and can enjoy the blossoms.

[ladyjane]

Source, please.

[PGalt]

Interesting. Links? (thanks for posting)

[kalee]

One of my favorite flowers. I have about 20 in my garden.

[Squantos]

Bookmarked !!! Thanks.

[metmom]

It never ceases to amaze me how much the natural medicine people have contributed to modern medicine and how much modern medicine has blown them off as quacks.

[trisham]

Very interesting article. Thanks!

[tajgirvan]

Thank you for a most interesting Thread. I will sent it to my Conservative, Christian and Republican Mom in California. She spends a small for fortune on natural medicine every month. It must be working, she is 78 going on 79 and still smokes like a chimney with diabetes and all! She keeps me on my knees to God, I tell ya! Dear Pandoraou812, You have given me an idea for my Mother's Birthday! Thank you! You will have FReep mail in about 5 minutes!

[editor-surveyor]

"Crucially, the drug does not seem to affect other kinds of cell vital to the body's defences - meaning it does not otherwise inhibit the immune system."

Note how they like to call the natural substance a "drug."

[Joya]

Thanks for the article and the ping.

[Joya]

Reference,

‘Now it appears that a medicine derived from the hydrangea’s root could offer an alternative.

‘Experiments found that it blocked the formation of a type of white blood cell involved in autoimmune disease.

‘Crucially, the drug does not seem to affect other kinds of cell vital to the body’s defences - meaning it does not otherwise inhibit the immune system.

‘Mice with a multiple sclerosis-like disease were far less severely affected when given low doses of the hydrangea-based drug, which is called halofuginone, the journal Science reported.

‘Halofuginone is already used to treat a rare autoimmune disease which affects the skin and internal organs.’