Hydrangeas are popular for their beautiful low-maintenance shrubs that bloom stunning flowers. Their flowers grace our gardens all summer long, making our yards look like a dream!
Whether you are a new hydrangea grower or a seasoned veteran, it is all too easy to look up some gardening tricks on the internet. While the internet is a wonderful place to gain information, you need to take it with a grain of salt sometimes and keep in mind your specific plant and its growing conditions.
It is easy to get caught up in wanting to take the best care of your hydrangeas. I get it. However, I encourage you to tread lightly when you are trying out new tips and tricks. Let’s bust some of these pesky internet myths and get back to basics when it comes to caring for our beautiful shrubs!
Utilizing can help, but too much can also hinder bloom production.
If you want bigger blooms, try to fertilize your hydrangeas! However, adding more fertilizer can be detrimental if it is not truly needed. Hydrangeas do not necessarily need a lot of extra fertilizer if they are planted in good soil. In fact, too much fertilizer can lessen the number of blooms.
Specific garden fertilizer can promote vigorous growth, which is great! Nevertheless, if it is overused, the plant will not have the nutrients it needs to produce beautiful flowers.
If you want to enhance your bloom size, you can use a high-phosphorus fertilizer. This will not make your flowers bigger in size, but you may see more blooms throughout your shrub.
The best way to have beautiful, healthy blooms is by making sure your hydrangea is in good overall health. Remove dead, damaged, or diseased plant material. Keep the plant watered, but do not drown the roots.
Ensure the plant is getting enough sunlight, which is crucial to the production of flowers. Alternatively, some species of hydrangeas thrive in partial sun with about 4 hours of morning sunlight.
Despite popular belief, you don’t always need to deadhead your blooms.
If you want your hydrangeas to bloom all summer, you should deadhead faded flowers. However, deadheading your hydrangeas will not prevent more blooms. Most hydrangea shrubs only produce one large bloom per season.
Nevertheless, there are some reblooming varieties. These varieties bloom on both old wood and new wood, which lengthens the bloom period.
If you deadhead your flowers, your hydrangea will not produce new ones that season. There are some benefits to deadheading your shrubs, however. It can help minimize your fall cleanup work.
Remember, removing your spent flowers is not necessary. The dried blossoms provide pretty winter interest in your garden when everything else has gone dormant.
Caning flowers or needlepoint hydrangeas are easy to care for in fresh or dried arrangements. Deadheading throughout the season will help maintain your garden when nothing else is blooming.
Maintaining flower color is as easy as maintaining the pH of the soil.
It can be challenging to determine the color of your hydrangeas and should not be attempted at home. However, there are many products available at your garden center that will help you easily alter the pH of your soil, hence altering your flower color.
None of these products should be applied until you have done a soil test, though. This will help you determine how much of a product you need to use, if any at all!
Once you have your soil test results, you can decide if you need to make your soil more acidic for blue flowers or more alkaline for pink flowers. Anything less than a pH of 6.5 is considered to be acidic soil while anything above 7.5 is considered to be alkaline.
Household items can cause more damage than benefits to your plants.
You can easily change the color of your flowers by using coffee grounds, rusty nails, or pennies. However, the truth is that these remedies were not proven to be effective as they are just myths. In fact, using these objects can cause harm to your plants. Coffee grounds, if used too heavily, can damage your soil structure. Rusty nails, if used too much, can damage your soil structure and cause harm to your plants. The hardened coffee grounds make it very difficult for water to permeate through the soil, hence making it nearly impossible for your hydrangeas to take up any water.
If you are looking to turn your flowers blue, your best bet is to use a soil acidifier that can be purchased from your local garden center. Not all species can change their bloom colors.
Don’t worry about the color of your hydra, as it can alter its color! However, it is untrue that all species of hydra can change their color. The only specific hydra that can change its outer color is Hydra magnipapillata or big-footed hydra.
The cells within this species can range from red, blue, purple, orange or white. Many of these colors can be altered from red to blue, purple to pink, orange to yellow, or any shade in between. Many of the species can also be altered by light, blood, purple, or white. Although, if you start with a white hydra, it will always be white.
Not all species require pruning every year.
Myth: Hydrangeas need to be pruned every year to produce flowers and healthy foliage.
Fact: Not only do they not need to be pruned every year, but they also may never need to be pruned at all! Pruning is not necessary to improve the performance of any species.
Pruning can help to strengthen your hydrangeas stems, which can come in handy in heavy winds or varieties with larger blooms, such as smooth hydrangeas. Varieties such as ‘Annabelle’ have sturdy stems that allow their storms to become weighed down and droop toward the ground.
When it comes to planting, the best practice is to choose a location in your garden that is suited for the full size of the plant. This will help prevent any unnecessary pruning while also allowing the shrub to grow to its true shape.
Sometimes you can do everything right and still experience a deadwood. You can find the dead stems easily when the leaves have dropped.
These storms are woody and that are resistant to rot and hollowing. You can cut them right back to the ground. In some instances, you can just pull them out with your hands.
Some species can be pruned in spring, while others can be pruned year-round.
When is the best time of the year to prune? It’s in the springtime, before you notice any leaves growing. However, if you are growing a hardwood that blooms on old wood, you are free to prune whenever you want. Nonetheless, if you are growing a species that blooms on new wood, pruning in the spring will remove your blossoms immediately.
Old wood-blooming hydrangeas typically do not require any pruning at all. They have a nice size and shape. If you have planted them in a space that can maintain their full size, you will only need to prune away the dead wood, and damaged branches. Or for aesthetic purposes, if you want the perfect shape.
Regardless of why you choose to prune your old wood hydrangeas, this should only be done lightly at the end of summer or early fall.
Shrubs that bloom on new wood can be pruned in the fall or in the spring. You can take branches down to about a foot in height in the fall. Leave a few buds on each stem, and wait until next spring to prune back any regrowth. Or you can leave them all intact!
Using specific ratios of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium in your fertilizer are essential.
Hydrangeas are plants that require low maintenance and can benefit from basic fertilizers. However, it is a fact that not all hydrangeas can thrive with any fertilizer. Using compost is a great way to give them a nutrient boost. If you want to use a chemical fertilizer, there are plenty of great options. One of the best products out there is 10-10-10 fertilizer, which can be used to improve most of your garden’s conditions, including hydrangeas. You must run internal testing to troubleshoot their blooms if you overuse this fertilizer, though. The numbers 10-10-10 represent the ratio of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium in the fertilizer. Phosphorus, the middle number, is the element that they need to produce beautiful blooms. If a hydrangea gets too much nitrogen, it will produce abundant green foliage but lack in flower development. If they are planted near your lawn, the roots may soak up nutrients from your lawn fertilizer. Before choosing a fertilizer product, always get your soil tested to see if you need to supplement any nutrients. More often than not, compost will do the trick.
Hey! Did you know that hydrangeas are lovers, and not a moment of what they could be too much for these shrubs? Their name starts with hydrangea – which means water!
Yes, hydrangeas indeed love water. But just like anything, they have their limits. The amount of water that your hydrangeas require will differ from species to species, depending on where it’s planted. On average, most species require one inch of water each week. This can be monitored by using a rain gauge.
Hydrangeas hate having wet feet. If their roots sit in soil that is not well-draining, your plant could be in trouble. Root rot sets in quickly when roots sit in soggy soil. Root rot sets in more quickly when roots sit in soggy soil.
Fungus is also much more prevalent in shady and wet areas, opening hydrangeas up to fungal diseases which can cause harm to your plant.
Other issues can arise with your plant aside from disease. You may notice that your flower production is low and growth stunted. Too much water in the soil can cause the yellowing of leaves due to lack of oxygen. Too much water in the soil can cause the yellowing of leaves due to lack of oxygen.
While some varieties grow well in shade, others prefer a sunnier environment.
If you love hydrangeas, it’s important to note that they are deep shade and grow best in those conditions. Planting them in the sun will scorch the leaves. However, some hydrangeas do love shade, and others love to grow in full sun. Nonetheless, no hydrangeas thrive in full shade. They need sunlight for photosynthesis. They also need the sunlight to produce strong stems, as well as larger and plentiful flowers.
If you are not sure how much sunlight a specific part of your garden gets, you can use a sunlight monitor or you can go out and check the spot every hour for a day or two. Hydrangeas are susceptible to fungal diseases which are prevalent in the shade. Without adequate time for the plant to dry out in the sun, the fungus will have an easier time spreading.
Hydrangea paniculta thrive in full sun and will grow best with 6-8 hours of sunlight. Hydrangea macrophylla, animata, serrata, arborescence, and quercifolia do best in partial shade, which is around 4 hours of sunlight. These shrubs should get their sunlight in the morning to help prevent too much heat when temperatures rise in the afternoon hours.
Despite popular belief, hydrangeas make wonderful container plants. They can be grown in pots on patios, decks, and balconies, as long as they receive the appropriate amount of water and sunlight.
Growing plants in pots can be challenging when it comes to their size, as well as their overall growth. It also depends on the kind of soil used and how well it can retain moisture. However, hydrangeas are best suited for potted plants, and planting them in larger containers can allow for many potential opportunities to grow them beautifully. From different varieties to different growing conditions, you can customize your gardening approach to suit your needs.
To start, choose a larger container. If you plan to eventually move the plant outdoors, make sure the pot is at least twice the size of the root ball. This will give the hydrangea enough room to grow. Use a mix of garden soil and potting soil to fill the container. This will help ensure the container has enough nutrients and water retention.
Different hydrangea varieties will have different requirements for growth, so it’s important to research which variety you have. Additionally, take note of the location where you will place your potted hydrangea. They prefer full sun, but they should be protected from excessive heat or cold.
While hydrangeas require less maintenance than other flowering plants, it’s still important to regularly check on them. Be mindful of the soil moisture levels and adjust watering as necessary. With proper attention, you can grow beautiful hydrangeas in pots that will add color and character to your space.