Potted hydrangeas usually appear, along with the lilies, around Easter time, but they come into their own as Mother's Day approaches. Outside of the grocery store, a crowd of hydrangeas sat on ascending shelves, set up like bleachers at a ball game. Swaddled in purple paper, they were an arresting sight. Shoppers stopped for a moment, in spite of the chill and drizzle, to enjoy the colors. Every shade that could possibly be mixed from the blue-to-violet end of the spectrum was represented. Can you ever go wrong with an analogous color combination, those hues that are friends living next to each other on the color wheel? I don't think so.