Chris Hogg wrote in
news
On Mon, 22 Sep 2003 22:08:19 +0100, "Earnest Trawler"
wrote:

I saw some hydrangeas in western Cornwall that were turquoise and a
few pale green ones, could that be due to the copper / tin in the
area? I have never seen them those colours before.


Possible I suppose, but I think unlikely. Although as you say, copper
and tin were extensively mined in Cornwall in the past, the deposits
were quite localised and large areas of the county are nowhere near
mining. I'd be more inclined to think it was the variety. A topic for
some interesting experiments though, although bear in mind that I
believe copper tends to be toxic to plants above a pretty low
concentration. Most of the waste tips on the copper mines are still
barren after 100 years or more, although they do contain a cocktail of
poisons.

We have one down the road from us: it's an eery sort of place - all red
sand with straggling birch trees and occasional heather. Nothing grows
in the stream running through it. Quite different from the dense oak
woodland along the rest of the valley, all of it grown up since the
mining stopped.

I only have one hydrangea: was pink, now blue though judicious
application of rusty nails. Turns a weird sort of purple, then greenish
as the flowers age. Don't think there is much copper in the soil
directly here though: the mine under us was for arsenic, and a long,
long way down.

They used to mine round here for gold long ago, then later copper, then
arsenic. Now our only local mine is a gravel quarry - and apparently
they are running out of gravel!

Surely, we must be at the end of the mining, when the gravel runs out!

Victoria