Last modified: Sunday, July 16, 2006 1:12 AM EDT A Nikko Blue hydrangea is just beginning to bloom beneath an old American flag at the North Attleboro home of Kerry Vigorito. (Staff photo by Keith Nordstrom) Popularity of hydrangeas blooming anew BY SUSAN LaHOUD/SUN CHRONICLE STAFF Every summer for the past 20 years, Kerry Vigorito has got ten the blues. And once he got into the rhythm, he added the pinks, whites, reds and even lime greens. Like many people, Vigorito is hooked on hydrangeas. Ever since he took a couple of snips of the lush blue-blossomed bushes in his mother-in-law's Cape Cod yard two decades ago, the North Attleboro gar dener has been branching out in vari eties of hydrangeas. Vigorito's yard is now full of bloom ing bushes of the tried and true Nikko Blue and the Blue Bird large cap, as well as a ruffled edge, pink-blossoming Forever & Ever and frilly Amethyst. There's also Variegate lacecap hydrangea and varieties of oakleaf hydrangea, so named for the shape of their leaves and whose foliage can turn brilliant colors of red, orange, yellow and burgundy in the fall after the blos soms have been spent. And then there is a newer variety of Endless Summer, including the Blush ing Bride, with a white blossom that turns pink; climbing hydrangea in creamy white; the large-clustered white Tokyo Delight; and the redstemmed `` Lady in Red,'' which opens apple blossom-white and matures to deep rose, giving way to fall foliage of rich reddish-purple. Last season, Vigorito added Limelight, a variety of hydrangea that he says has large lilac-shaped which bloom `` almost neon green'' late July through the fall. He estimates he has about 11 varieties in all translating to more than 100 hydrangea bushes, about 60 percent of which he has self-propagated over the years. `` I just love playing around with them,'' he said. Vigorito changes or intensifies the color of his hydrangeas by altering the pH levels of the soil. But he doesn't mess around with his blues; his favorite remains the Nikko because of `` unusual'' shade of blue. And there are just too few true blue flowers, he said. Vigorito, a local real estate agent and former North Attleboro downtown manager, is hardly the only one high on hydrangeas. Passion for the plants gave birth to the American Hydrangea Society in 1994 in Atlanta, Ga. It has sprouted hydrangea societies in other parts of the United States as well as Web sites by hydrangea enthusiasts, including All About Hydrangeas (hydrangeashydrangeas.com), which has advice about caring for the plants. Long considered an old-fashioned species that recalls summer days of childhood, hydrangeas have grown in popularity over the past decade, more so in recent years as heartier varieties have been introduced in harsher winter climates such as New England's. The new varieties, like the Limelight indicate, however, that these aren't your grandmother's hydrangeas. What's great about the newer varieties, such as Endless Summer, is that they are able to withstand the cold, said Kathi Gariepy, an Attleboro resident who is president of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society's Master Gardeners and the Attleboro Garden Club. While the favored older variety of the big blue mopheads produce flowers on old wood, varieties such as Endless Summer bloom on both old and new wood, Gariepy said. So, unlike the older variety where the buds risk winter kill or being clipped off with pruning in the fall -- meaning there would be no blooms the following season -- some newer kinds provide buds on new spring growth as well as the old wood from the season before. `` So you can't really mess it up,'' Gariepy said. Oakleaf hydrangea, some varieties of which have conical blossoms instead of round ones, in particular have caught gardeners' eyes. And sometimes hydrangeas don't necessarily look like hydrangeas, as with the Annabella, which has a white blossom and is usually seen in front of older homes trained into the shape of trees. Gariepy said that being able to adjust the colors is part of the attraction of hydrangeas. Adding aluminum sulfate to the soil around the shrub will ensure the blue-blossomed hydrangeas stay intensely blue. Working lime into the soil will change the color toward pink. And as far as the popularity of the hydrangea, every fellow master gardener Gariepy talks to has them. Indeed, she has four herself. Vigorito says it's `` a labor of love'' to weed, water and check on his hydrangea-filled gardens for a half-hour before heading into work and dealing with the world. His mailbox is stenciled with blue hydrangeas and the front door to his Colonial house is painted hydrangea blue, a Martha Stewart paint color. Asked whether he will try yet another variety next season, Vigorito said, `` Oh, yah. If I see a new variety, I have to go after it.'' The expanding varieties and colors with longer blooming times, after all, will just help him to stretch his summertime blues. SUSAN LaHOUD can be reached at 508-236-0398 or at slahoud(at)(at)thesunchronicle.com.