President’s Letter – Winter 2026
Happy New Year! I hope you all are experiencing rest and renewal after the holiday season. Maybe you’ve been making resolutions, both personal and garden-related. Things you want to change in the new year or habits and practices that you want to continue. I’ll share one of mine, I am resolving to be a more water-wise gardener in 2026. I am going to stop planting thirsty plants in dry areas and telling myself that I’ll just water more. I will add more organic matter to these areas to build up their moisture levels over time and will relocate my water-loving plants (let’s face it, my hydrangeas) to more hospitable locations in the meantime. I’ve already set my sights on a new bag of Soil3 to help with the organic matter part of the equation. They are running an early bird sale right now, and AHS members can stack an additional $5.00 discount on top of the sale price. Soil3 donates back to AHS $15 of every bag sold using our discount code, AHS2026. Win-win!
Maybe one of your resolutions is to attend more American Hydrangea Society meetings? If so, we have a treat for you as we welcome Mark Weathington from the JC Raulston Arboretum back to Atlanta for our February AHS General Meeting. Get there early for the raffle because Mark is infamous for sharing rare and unusual plants from his many international travels. The meeting will be on Monday, February 23, 2026, at the Atlanta History Center’s Woodruff Auditorium in McElreath Hall at 7:30 p.m., social at 7:00 p.m. The focus of Mark’s talk will be on some of the more unusual species and selections of hydrangeas that we should be considering for our gardens. It promises to be an enlightening and, no doubt, humorous evening.
AHS is announcing a major change to our garden tour. Due to the earlier and warmer springs we’ve been experiencing, hydrangeas in the Atlanta metro area have been achieving peak bloom sooner. Going forward, the AHS Annual Garden Tour will be held on the first Saturday in June. This year’s tour will be held on June 6, 2026. Mark your calendars now. This year’s tour is sure to be a standout; our tour chair, Dörte, has been very busy scouting gardens and talking with prospective garden owners. She has not only 2026 all planned out but has also made major progress on the 2027 tour. I’m so grateful for her hard work and for the very generous gardeners who offer up their beautiful gardens for our tour.
If one of your goals for 2026 is to get more involved in your community, may I humbly suggest that the American Hydrangea Society is a great place to start? There are so many ways for members to become more involved, from volunteering as tour helpers, to participating in our workdays at the Atlanta History Center, as newsletter committee members, hospitality committee members, or as AHS board members. There are several areas where AHS could use your time and talents. We would like to extend a warm invitation to anyone considering getting more involved. Please email me at president@americanhydrangeasociety.org, and I’ll be happy to get you started. To those of you who have volunteered with us in 2025 or in past years, the entire American Hydrangea Society thanks you. We really couldn’t exist without you!
With dirty hands and a full heart,
Jennifer Petritz
AHS President
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