The continuing saga of the "high desert" hydrangea

In 2009 for Mother's Day, my daughter and her family gave me a hydrangea plant. It was delivered from a florist in Santa Fe, after my daughter requested a plant that would do well in our dry high desert climate.

What I got was a hydrangea - a plant that needs cool weather and a LOT of moisture. (Definitely not xeric!)

It was lovely:




...but as time went on the challenge became just keeping it alive. It became a mission. All the leaves fell off, but in the early spring I noticed new little leaves. Could it be saved? I put it in a "cool" place on our front portal, and I watered the thing every single day. It got more leaves - definitely not florist-shop quality, but the darn thing was alive:



This week I noticed this:


We have FLOWERS! Kind of anemic and scant, but FLOWERS! The hydrangea lives!

(Stop laughing, Raymona!)