The old-fashioned hydrangea is a wonderful perennial shrub for its foliage and bouquet-like flowers. Because of their size, the mophead and lace cap varieties typically penetrate our consciousness as children because they are so gaudy and big. If we grow up with a gardening parent, we learn about the hydrangea's ability to change color, like litmus paper, depending on the acidity or limey-ness of the soil in which it's planted. What we probably don't discover for years is the number of varieties available or its value as a shrub.
Hydrangeas come in an assortment of colors and shapes. The following list briefly describes the more common varieties.
Hydrangeas can be grown in zones 2 through 8, though success depends on the variety and the local climate.
Partial shade is ideal, but they can take full sun as long as they have some protection from hot afternoon sun that can toast leaf edges. By the same token, too much shade can result in poor flowering.
An Eastern exposure next to a building or fence provides early morning sun that is vital to flower production, but allows afternoon shade that prevents stressing the plant and frying the foliage.
Water often. If your hydrangea is looking wilted, it's very thirsty. If it doesn't get enough water in the spring when flower heads are forming, you'll have fewer and smaller blooms later.
Install a drip irrigation system for your hydrangeas. With regular watering they will reward you with lush growth and beautiful flowers.
One of the coolest aspects of hydrangea is the way soil affects the blooms. In acid soil the blooms are blue. When it's more limey, the flowers are pink. You can literally change the color by adding lime to make blue flowers turn pink or aluminum sulfate to make them turn blue.
Because hydrangeas thrive in rich, moist soils, adequate water and composting are a must. With good soil, annual additions of compost, and a good water retaining mulch, little more needs to be added to have healthy attractive plants.
However, if your climate or soil poses challenges, then it may be necessary to more aggressively amend your soil, and feed them, especially in the spring, with a high quality all-purpose (10-10-10) plant food. Use a single application of time-release fertilizer.
Drainage is important. As with most other plants, moist doesn't mean wet. Poor drainage can lead to sickly plants and eventual death.
Plant new plants in the spring after the last frost. Work the soil well and enrich with enriched with plenty of compost. Water thoroughly after planting.
Winter protection is important in all but the most temperate climates. Check with your local nursery for methods that are most successful in your area.
As long as they get enough water, hydrangeas are pretty hardy plants and tolerate a fair amount of neglect and untimely pruning. As such, it's a wonderful plant for the novice gardener. Be forewarned though: If you prune incorrectly at the wrong time or take the wrong cuts, you may easily end up with few flowers next year.
Hydrangeas, especially the macrophyllas, don't require pruning unless they get really big. Remove dead wood and spent blooms any time to maintain a tidy plant. Different varieties bloom on old wood (last year's growth) or new wood from the current season. It's important to check the plant tag or identify your variety before you start whacking away. If, for example, yours blooms on the tips of spring growth, do your pruning in the summer after blooming has occurred.
Prune or cut back spent blooms to force development of next year's buds. Thin canes on your plant to develop larger flower heads.
Hydrangeas are easy to root from stem or tip cuttings in late spring or early summer (May – June). Just take a 6-inch cutting of the plant, remove the leaves on the lower 3 inches and put it in a glass of water on a bright window sill. You can also dip the cut end into a rooting hormone. Place your cutting in damp vermiculite in a bright spot (like an Eastern exposure) to allow root formation. Once the cutting is rooted, you can keep it in a pot until ready to transplant outside.
When you plant your hydrangea starts depends on where you live. In areas where winters are temperate and the ground never really freezes you can plant your hydrangeas anytime, though fall and winter are best for fostering a strong root system to support the next seasons flowering. If your climate is colder, you'll need to plant in the spring ... for obvious reasons. Keep your young plant in out of the wind. Mulch it well to protect it through the winter.
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