Hydrangeas: A Users Guide
Garden know how is important when trying to get the most abundant bloom from your hydrangeas. Lot’s of flowers on your hydrangea can be a slippery pruning challenge. Hydrangea bloom color is effected by soil pH and fertilizer. These plants can be so picky about the light conditions that they prefer.The following notes are meant to help guide you with your different hydrangea plants so you will get the most out of them.
Hydrangea plants come in many different varieties. One type is called hydrangea arborescence which usually have big white snow balls on them-these hydrangeas bloom on “new” wood. Because hydrangea arborescence varieties bloom on “new” wood they can be pruned in the fall. They will produce new stalks in the spring which will bloom. The tree form hydrangeas you see which are also usually white are called paniculata hydrangeas and they too should be pruned in the late fall. Follow this simple rule: bloom white, prune in autumn.
It gets more complicated when you realize that there are other kinds of hydrangeas called hydrangea macrophyllas-these are the kind of hydrangeas that have lovely magenta to bright blue flowers Hydrangea macrophyllas bloom on “old” wood and can ONLY be pruned before Mid-July the year before. Nothing like a challenge to inspire one to greater more abundant blooms?Let’s not forget oakleaf hydrangeas which are “old” wood growth bloomers. When would be the best time to prune?? That’s right-summer before-so confusing.
So now that you are totally afraid to touch your hydrangeas it’s time to tell you about what you can do to help your macrophyllas bloom in the color you like. If you want blue you need to acidify the soil and add aluminum to the soil. Throw some pennies around the bottom of your hydrangea and add some pine needle mulch to improve the acidity. Changing the pH of your soil from alkaline to acid is a lot of hard work and does not usually go so well. If you want pink hydrangeas then a little more clay in the soil and a little less aluminum should work in your favor. Incidentally if you can’t get them to bloom in exactly the right color you were hoping for you can always put a few glass gazing balls on metal stands in the hydrangea bushes in blue or pink to get the color that way. It looks nice and gives you the color accent you are looking for without all the hard labor of transforming your soil pH.
Hydrangeas have very special light requirements and can look unhealthy if they are not in the right location. Hydrangeas need part shade. Hydrangeas can survive in the sun, but they will not will not bloom abundantly. They can survive in full shade but will be virtually bloomless. They do best when they are plante in a spot that gets morning sun and PM shade. And as the name suggests they do not do well in drought(dry) conditions so remember to water them regularly and they should grow so abundantly you can use them as a hedge to hide an unsightly air conditioning unit, or plant them around the base of a bird feeder to hide all the spent seeds.
These [helpfull] hints should help increase the abundance of flowers on your plants. Clearly it is of utmost importance to be armed with some information about what kind of hydrangea plant you are dealing with before you even touch your plant or the soil around it. Once you are armed with this insider knowledge you won’t be afraid to incorporate these lovely flowering shrubs into your garden because they are indeed glorious.
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