Hydrangeas Planting & Care

Hydrangeas are the fastcinating flower because their flower color is so wonderful. That can make your garden more gorogeous. Besides you can change if you know how to do it.

Hydrangeas have 5 common varieites:

1. Hydrangea arborescens 'Grandiflora' -- Hills-of-Snow Hydrangea

Prune hills-of-snow hydrangea to the ground line each winter or early spring because it flowers abundantly on new growth, and is frequently killed back during winter. If a larger shrub is desired (3+ feet) and/or it is not killed back over the winter, prune less severely.

2. Hydrangea paniculata 'Grandiflora' -- Pee Gee Hydrangea


This is the most commonly planted hydrangea. They gradually turn to pink and remain on the plant in a semi-dried condition long after the leaves have fallen.

Pruning involves the removal of dead flowers, if unattractive, and an annual corrective pruning of vigorous shoots. Thin and/or cut back the previous season's growth in late winter or early spring, since flower clusters occur on newly developing branches.


3. Hydrangea macrophylla -- Hortensia or Florist Hydrangea

This is a commonly grown hydrangea with large globe-shaped flowers. Once moved outdoors, however, color is dependent upon the pH of the soil in which it is grown: blue if acid; pink if alkaline. There are also several white-flowered cultivars. Prune as soon as the flowers have faded and strong shoots are developing from the lower parts of the stems and crown.

Remove at the base some of the weaker shoots that are both old and new. Always try to keep several stems of old productive wood, with a sufficient number of stout new stems that will flower the following season. Early spring pruning (March), although acceptable, will result in the sacrificing of bloom for that growing season.

Winter protection of the plant should be initiated in December to preserve buds for next year's flowering. Tie the shoots together and wrap with burlap. If left unprotected, delay any spring pruning until the buds swell in order to determine which wood needs to be removed, and then cut back to below the point of injury.

4. Hydrangea quercifolia --Oakleaf Hydrangea

This plant is grown primarily for its handsome oak leaf-shaped foliage, excellent fall color, attractive flowers and interesting winter bark. It is ideally suited to a lightly shaded or protected location. Prune back in early spring to remove dead wood. Cut back to below the point of injury and remove old wood to the base.



5. Hydrangea anomala petiolaris -- Climbing Hydrangea

Climbing hydrangea is a desirable mid-summer flowering woody vine that attaches itself by aerial roots to brick, masonry or wood. It requires little or no pruning. If certain shoots have grown out of bounds, reduce their length in summer.

Hydrangea color

The other big question with feeding hydrangeas is flower color. Acid soils give us blues and baser soils cause pink flowers. The key is aluminum ions in the soil, so aluminum sulfate is a good quick fix, but prolonged use year after year may cause a fatal build up in the soil. Iron sulfate is a safer fix, or try alternating. If pink is what you want, top dress with dolomite or drench with a quick lime solution.

Lighting

Hydrangeas needs the full sun. The ideal place for Hydranges to bloom well is the place which the full sun in morning and the sun shade in afternoon.

Fertilizing

Fertilize hydrangeas in early spring with a complete granular fertilizer at the rate of 2 pounds per one hundred square feet. Apply fertilizer as broadcast top dressing. During long periods of drought, water thoroughly each week.

Soil

Plant in well-drained soil! If soil is heavy, add roughage such as pine bark mulch (Make sure it's ground BARK not ground WOOD .

Watering

Water regularly; do not overwater. Hydrangeas requires consistently moist soil; do not let dry out between waterings

Ways to Keep Your Garden In Color All Season

Trying to manipulate a sequence of bloom in the garden is part art, part science and a good part luck. Weather, grazing animals, and flowers that don't follow the calender can create lulls where no plants seem to be in peak performance. There are a few tricks to keeping pockets of color going throughout the summer. They take a little effort, but that's the fun of gardening, right? Implementing any one of these tips will increase the blooms in your garden and spur you on to do more.

1. Deadheading

Deadheading, or removing spent blossoms, is the easiest way to keep plants blooming. Annuals especially will benefit from a periodic deadheading. Flowers are just there to produce seed. Once the plant sets seed, it has no more reason to produce flowers.
Many perennial flowers will also rebloom if deadheaded. Exceptions are perennials that bloom on a single tall flower stalk, like astilbe or iris and perennial flowers that need a chilling period to set their flower buds.

2. Shering

Plants that produce multiple flower buds on their flower stalks can be a nightmare to deadhead. Rather than trying to deadhead every flower, wait until the bulk of the buds have faded and shear the plants by about 1/3. This serves to rejuvenate the plant. It will send out new fresh foliage and lots of new flower buds.
Newer gardeners have a hard time with this drastic approach, but give it a try. The plants recover quickly. Early bloomers start to look bedraggled by mid-season anyway. In fact, if you have plants like geraniums and Brunnera, whose foliage fades after flowering, shear the whole plant back to the new grow at the base and watch how quickly and how well they recover.

3. Step Pruning

A clever way to prolong the perennial blooms is to prune the plants in steps. Visually divide a clump of 1 type of plant into 3 sections: front, center and back. Once the plants get about 6-8" tall, prune the front and center sections of plants by 1/3 to 1/2. Let the whole clump grow another 6-8 inches and then prune just the front section by 1/3 to 1/2.
This type of pruning will result in your clump of plants turning into 3 levels or steps that will bloom in succession. Instead of one flash of bloom, the rear section bloom firsts. As it fades, the center section starts to bloom and hides the fading plants in the rear. Last to bloom is the front section, which will grow taller and hide all the fading plants behind it.

4. Re-Seeding

Annuals are touted as a great way to keep your garden blooming all summer. Given the right care, annuals will work their hearts out for you. But some annuals, like the cleome and tall verbena shown here, don't respond to deadheading. They bloom and run out of time before they can set more buds. To prolong their bloom, re-seed quick growing annuals about 4 weeks after the initial seeding. If you started your garden with seedlings, you can direct seed at the same time you plant the seedlings. The plants started from seed will grow and peak after the plants started from seedlings begin to fade.

5. Feeding

Plants expend a lot of energy flowering. The more they flower, the more food they need. Even if you added a controlled release fertilizer at the beginning of the season, your flowering plants will need a boost every 3-5 weeks.
A balanced all-purpose fertilizer will suffice, but if you really want to kick things into gear, try a dose of super or triple phosphate. Phosphate is especially good for root development early in the season and for boosting bud set. Follow the label directions. More isn't better. And Phosphate isn't a substitute for a balanced fertilizer, it's a supplement.

6. Cheat a Bit and Mix in Colorful Foliage

Flowers come and go, but foliage just keeps getting bigger. It just keeps getting easier and easier to have a riot of color in the garden without a flower in sight. Shrubs like 'Black Beauty' Sambucus, chartreuse and bronze sweet potato vines, screaming orange cannas and the pale pinks and cream of Weigela 'My Monet' can either complement, augment or even replace the flowers in your garden. And we haven't even mentioned the rainbow available in coleus. Sprinkle your garden beds with a few hardy shrubs and sprinting annuals and you'll never be without a spot of color.