Hydrangea help

Hi all, i am a new gardener and working my way to making my garden beautiful. I have ordered a hydrangea bush and im wondering where would be a good spot to plant it? Any help welcome. And thank you all in advance xx ps, any other hydrangea bush tips welcome, never planted one before, already have one in my garden thats been here since i moved in and i absolutely love it xx

 

Welcome to Gardeners Corner Laura. There are plenty of members here willing to help you with your garden questions and that includes me, but sorry not with this one. I know absolutely nothing about Hydrangeas.

 

I used to have hydrangeas that never flowered planted up in tubs.......

Problem solved now. 2 were planted in soil in dappled shade and are flowering great this year.

The rest in tubs are thriving and flowering because i put them under a weeping birch tree that protects them from severe frosts.

The new flower tips in spring can get frost damaged thus resulting in no or few summer flowers so protect them if severe cold is forecast with a bit of flleece or sheltered.

They also like a good drink but well drained.

 

hi sheal thank you for the warm welcome. Wee tam thank you for ur advice, so can i just dig a hole in the correct spot and plant it into the ground then? Nearly everyone in my street has beautiful ones and mine is too (the old one) but it doesnt flower near as much as the neighbours but i think i need to cut it back every year to encourage growth, is that correct? I love this site, i can get all the help in one place x

 

My grandad taught me that if you drive a few 6 inch nails into the soil around the roots you will change a pink flowering plant into a blue one. A modern slant I guess would be to use a feed high in iron.

Never had the space to put an Hydrangea in but will be able to now we are moving. Will try the iron trick to eventually!

 

Hi there,

Hydrangeas are very easy to care for. Every year, in late winter/early spring, just prune back each stem down to one shoot past "old wood". Putting it simply, find where it was cut to last year (it will feel woodier than new growth) and then move up the stem to the next bud. Cut it just beyond that, leaving those buds to grow next year. Leave the dead flowers on over winter to help prevent disease.

Hint 1: These plants hoover up any passing debris. Stuff like leaves, twigs, wrappers etc get stuck in the center of the plant, at ground level. When tidying it up WATCH YOUR EYES! A plant 3ft tall is longer than your arms and all the stems point outwards... it's so easy to get a stem in your eye... or your ears for that matter

Hint 2: You will want to plant it so that you are able to get all the way around the plant when pruning. Take into account that they can grow pretty big as well, although they are happy to be pruned back heavily.

Hint 3: When pruning the old flowers in early spring, note that they are very light. You can't throw them very far. Moreover, don't drop them... they act like tumbleweed and fly across the garden if there's a slight breeze

Ultimately, the pH of the soil determines the colour of the flowers. Pink flowers come from alkaline soil and blue flowers come from acidic soil.

To make the soil more acidic (to get the blue flowers) you tend to add alluminium. I'm interested to see if your 6inch nail idea works. It seems plausible that iron could increase the pH in the same way that alluminium does I'm tempted to try that out

Conversely, to make the soil more alkaline (to get pink flowers) you tend to add lime.

In either case, note that adding more will change the pH and make the flowers more pink/blue. But remember that pushing the pH too far will harm the plant.

 

What type of Hydrangea is it (eg macrophylla, paniculata, etc)?

Have a look at the RHS website for advice

Alternatively, have a look at this website.

 

Thanks all for the advice! Im not sure merleworld, its a glam rock one, thats all i know ) im learning all as i go. Thank you for the links, i will have a look at them now xx

 

You're welcome. Glam Rock is a macrophylla variety

 

Knew I had seen this somewhere - it has pictures of how to prune