If you thought Cape Cod was a monochromatic world with blue waters stretching to the horizon, the 10th Annual Cape Cod Hydrangea Festival, taking place July 5-14, will bring a summer explosion of color with beautiful garden scenes and spectacular blooms from Falmouth to the Outer Cape.
It's as if a mad painter has smeared colour all over the garden landscape, spilling over fences, over paths and down by-paths. It's hydrangea season, with cascading crimson, purple, royal blue, lavender and fuchsia flowers.
The annual Garden Festival is packed with everything a hydrangea fan could want, including hydrangea-related talks, classes, art events and workshops, promotions at area nurseries, book signings, parties and soirees, and a popular walking tour that offers a one-time chance to step through the garden gates and explore the gardens of many private homes throughout Cape Cod.
Explore a hidden garden filled with blooming hydrangeas
Discovering the charms of hidden gardens across the Cape is a highlight of the annual festival. This year, a record 100 incredible private gardens will open their doors to visitors on designated days, with details explained on the festival website at CapeCodHydrangeaFest.com. Each location is partnered with a nonprofit organization that will receive 100% of the admission fee ($5 per visitor per garden). This year, several local food pantries are among the 30 organizations benefiting from the tours.
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The garden tour takes you through a variety of landscapes, including:
A 40-year-old home in Barnstable is bursting with color, featuring a variety of flowers along with traditional hydrangeas.
Terraced plantings, rock gardens and breathtaking views of Pilgrim Lake make a stroll through this 1790 farmhouse in Orleans even more wonderful.
In Yarmouth Port, hydrangea experts Mal and Mary Kay Condon show off new varieties of hydrangea growing next to their raised vegetable beds and rhubarb patches.
Edible and native plants will make the most of the space on a half-acre plot of land in East Falmouth and provide an opportunity to watch the new garden landscape grow.
During a garden tour of her West Yarmouth condominium complex, hydrangea expert Linda Corben will give talks (11 a.m. and 2 p.m.) on how to create a hydrangea-focused “pot-in-pot” container garden.
Advice from gardening expert CL Fornari
C.L. Fornari, a noted Cape Cod gardening expert who runs the local radio show Garden Line, which reaches a wide Cape Cod audience, encourages visitors to interact with gardeners and owners during the tours and ask lots of questions about plants the visitor may not know. The tours are “great for generating ideas about what you can do in your own backyard,” Fornari says.
The festival draws fans from all over the world, and Fornari said his Sandwich Gardens has welcomed visitors from Australia, Britain, Ireland, Japan, Beijing, China and across the United States.
Cape Cod Hydrangea Society Exhibition Garden (Heritage Museum & Gardens)
An abundance of blooms greets flower lovers at two lush hydrangea gardens at the 100-acre Heritage Museum & Gardens in Sandwich, the Cape Cod Hydrangea Society Exhibition Garden features a collection of more than 155 different varieties, many of which are grown nowhere else, and the North American Test Garden showcases 240 of the latest hydrangea cultivars that have been tested and evaluated under the strict watchful eye of Heritage's hydrangea curator, Mal Condon.
Nature's colorful spectacle inspires art
Hands-on art offers an opportunity to see nature in a new way. Festival-goers can learn tips for capturing hydrangeas up close on a photowalk with fine art photographer Dave Mullen (July 8) or transform traditional images into art with photographer Bob Wheaton (July 10). There will also be painting workshops with Karen Shortsleeve (July 9) or Sissy Snave Schulze (July 13), all in partnership with the Cape Cod Art Center in Barnstable.
Sandwich Arts Alliance will offer two classes on making terra cotta flower pots (July 8, 12) and a mixed media hydrangea workshop with Jackie Hawk (July 13).
Artist Jenny Pho will host a floral-themed freestyle watercolor workshop (July 6) at her home in the Cape Cod National Seashore at Little Creek Farm in Eastham.
Those who want to take a stroll can enjoy a flower-filled stroll through the Cape Cod Museum of Art's Jasna Deny Sculpture Garden (July 12th), or for more fun, attend the Cape Cod Art Center's Hydrangea Art Soiree on July 13th, which will feature entertainment, refreshments and painting demos.
The weather is nice and the flowers are beautiful
Festival planners were all smiles at the festival's weather forecast, which differs from the 2023 season, when frigid January temperatures caused widespread damage to flowering plants. “This will be a great year for hydrangeas to bloom!” Fornari declared. Last year's wet summer and recent mild winter meant “even flowers whose buds aren't very hardy will bloom this year.”
What you need to know about the Hydrangea Festival
The 10th annual Cape Cod Hydrangea Festival will be held at venues across Cape Cod from July 5 to 14. Details of all events and garden tours, including dates and times, can be found at CapeCodHydrangeaFest.com/.
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