Hydrangea, the stunning plant

Hydrangeas plants with the stunning big flowers flaunt an old-fashioned charm that is hard to resist. Many call them grandmother's flower because hydrangea is a classic flower we meet in the yards of houses in villages and islands.

Hydrangea, comes from the countries of East Asia and many say it originates from Japan. Hydrangea as a plant is an impressive shrub with large toothed leaves and spherical flowers. There are also varieties of climbing hydrangeas and indoor hydrangeas.

Its flowers vary according to its variety. You will find it in about 80 kinds and many colors, such as white, pink, purple, blue, red, intense fuchsia and yellow.

The color of its flowers depends on the variety of hydrangea but also on the pH of the soil.

If you want to give your garden a natural, luxurious, extravagant feel, why don’t you fill your borders and terraces with these beauties or if you would rather go for a playful kaleidoscope of color, try creating a combination of multicolored hydrangeas in your borders and containers.

Hydrangea has particular needs for its growth and care.

Location

You should plant it in a cool place, with shade or half-shade, and to the point where the midday summer sun and the wind do not hit. The best time to plant hydrangeas are early summer or fall.

Temperature

Your plant has a high resistance to low temperatures and can withstand up to -15οC. However, indoor varieties do not withstand the cold and are destroyed if exposed to it.

Soil

Other than location soil is the most important aspect of growing the plants that is naturally occurring. The ideal soil type for these plants is loam. In sandy soil, peat moss can help absorb moisture. Hydrangeas typically grow best with a higher level of organic material. Especially in clay soil, organic matter creates air pockets that greatly help with water drainage.

Planting

If you want to transplant a hydrangea, do so once the plant is dormant and has lost all leaves in late fall or winter. Most hydrangeas thrive in rich, porous, moist soils. Add organic material or nutrients to improve your soil before planting your hydrangea. Once you have prepared your soil dig a hole as deep as the root ball and 2 to 3 times as wide. Set the plant in the hole and fill it half full with soil. Fill the hole with water, let it drain and then fill the rest of the hole with soil. Water thoroughly. Space multiple hydrangeas about 1 to 3 meters apart.

If the roots are tightly packed, loosen them gently with your fingers before planting the hydrangea to encourage root growth and spread once in the ground. Make sure that the crown of the plant – where the base of the stems meets the soil – is even with the ground level. If the hydrangea is placed too high, it can easily dry out. If the crown is placed too low when planting, it can cause hydrangeas not to bloom and potentially rot.

Watering

Hydrangeas prefer well-drained, moist but not wet soil. Typically, you will be able to tell when the plant needs water by looking at the foliage. The leaves will start to wilt when the plant needs water. In the summer months, if you can water it daily, it will appreciate it and reward you with rich flowers.

Using mulch is another great way of conserving water and keeping the ground cool. Mulched plants can go longer periods of time between watering than non-mulched plants.

Fertilizer

Regardless of pH, your soil should be rich in organic matter. So do not forget to add a fertilizer to your plant, ideally a liquid fertilizer rich in potassium. This helps you have a richer flowering. Apart from the winter months, the rest of the time is good to repeat the fertilization process every 2 to 3 weeks.

Hydrangea loves iron. It is good to enrich your soil with iron, adding to the irrigation a special organic food with iron.

If your soil is rich, you may not need to fertilize hydrangeas. If your soil is light or sandy, it’s best to feed the plants once a year in late winter or spring. Too much fertilizer encourages leafy growth at the expense of blooms.

Change hydrangea color

The color of its flowers depends on the variety of hydrangea but also on the pH of the soil. For pink flowers you need more alkaline soil while for blue flowers soil more acidic. The neutral pH soil produces red flowers. In the garden, however, things are not so simple because you hardly turn the soil into acidic. However, if you want your hydrangea to get blue, then you can add some clay-containing solutions, such as clay sulphate solution, during the watering process. This process should not be done during the flowering period but during the vegetation period and repeated for 6-8 continuous watering. Also note that it’s easier to change blue flowers to pink than pink to blue.

Pruning

Pruning is confusing and all depends on the variety of hydrangea. Remember that hydrangea does not need many pruning, because its shape is spherical. We only prune it to remove old or dried branches. So, we create the conditions for better flowering next season. When pruning a hydrangea, it's best to take off no more than one-third of the plant at any one time.  If you are just doing some shaping of plants that are too tall, you want to take the top growth down a little. If you need to do a severe pruning or rejuvenate the plant, you may want to take the branches all the way down to near the ground. Require careful pruning so you are able to simply enjoy the beautiful plants. If you prune too much, you will be removing potential blooms.

Be sure not to over-prune or you will have less blooms next year.

The ideal time to plant it is spring and to prune it in the autumn.

Hydrangeas are the best plants for your own house or to celebrate any occasion. They’re gorgeous, long-lived plants work in containers or in the ground, tolerate both wind and sun, and make a great cutting flower. Find at anthemionflowers a great variety of flowering plants to give your loved recipient.