What does hydrangea mean?
Word: Hydrangea
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Hydrangea means a bush with large round heads of small pink, blue or white flowers.
How do you spell hydrangea?
Syllables: hy - dran - gea
Tricky part: The name ends in gea. Pupils hear a j sound and often write hydranjea or hydrangia.
Watch out for: hydranjea, hydrangia
Memory tip: The tiny blooms look like peas packed in a pod: finish the word with the same two letters as pea.
Hydrangea in a sentence
Example 1: My aunt grows a pink hydrangea by the gate of her house in Shillong.
Example 2: We cut one hydrangea stem and put it in a tall glass of water.
Example 3: A hydrangea needs plenty of water in the hot months.
Fun Fact
The name was built from Greek words for water and vessel, after the small cup shape of the plant's seed pods.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
Insert the correct pair of letters to form a word:
h_dr_ngea
a) i, a
b) y, e
c) y, a
d) i, e
Show answer
c) y, a. The word opens as hyphen does, and the stressed beat is spelt with a plain a, as in range.
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
During our school trip to the hills, the guide stopped beside a huge hydrrangea and explained why gardeners in the cool valley water their plants so often.
a) hydrrangea
b) explained
c) gardeners
d) valley
Show answer
a) hydrrangea. A single r follows the d.
Mingle-Mangle
The sentence contains a jumbled word. Choose the word it hides:
Blue aryegnadh bushes lined the path to the tea garden in Ooty.
a) hydrangea
b) hyacinth
c) hydrogen
d) hydraulic
Show answer
a) hydrangea. Nine letters with a g, two a's and no o, l or t give one answer.
Spell-o-Spell
Only one word in the list is spelt correctly. Choose its meaning:
1. rhododendran 2. chrysanthamum 3. hydrangea 4. bougainvilia
a) a climbing plant with bright papery leaves
b) a garden plant with many thin petals
c) a garden shrub with big clusters of tiny blooms
d) a large evergreen bush that likes the hills
Show answer
c) a garden shrub with big clusters of tiny blooms. Chrysanthemum has em, rhododendron ends in on, and bougainvillea has a double l and ends in ea.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. A gardener in Ooty feeds the soil round her hydrangea and its flowers turn from pink to blue. What has changed?
a) how acidic the soil is
b) how wide the pot is
c) how tall the fence is
d) how old the plant is
Show answer
a) how acidic the soil is
2. Which place would suit this plant best?
a) a dry bed of desert sand
b) a bare rock in full sun
c) a moist, lightly shaded garden bed
d) a dark and airless cupboard
Show answer
c) a moist, lightly shaded garden bed
