I tried an experiment with two blue hydrangea plants -- everyone says that they can't grow in the area we live in, but I planted them last summer, covered them up over the winter, and I can now see some little buds coming out. So it looks like they survived the winter and I'll have some blooms this summer :)
I'm looking for info on two things:
(1) I read somewhere that hydrangeas sprout new growth from the dead growth. Does this mean that I should leave all the dead branches from last year on the plant??
(2) How do I make sure the flowers are blue?? I buried rusty nails in the dirts around the plants -- the iron from the rust presumably helps with the colour. I think I read somewhere that aluminium something-or-other will also make the flowers blue. Does anyone know exactly what I need to use??
Sorry, I don't know much about gardening!!
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Smoodgie, as I recall you are from Ottawa? I planted blue hydrageas 2 years ago. I hope you have better luck than I did. Last year it did not flower at all. The foliage was fine though. It looks like it survived the winter again but I am not holding my breath for any blooms.
I've always loved the look of those gorgeous blue\pink hydrangeas but being zone challenged from the prairies there never was any opportunity to try them out. But, exciting news! There is a new hydrangea called Endless Summer that is hardy to zone 4 ; maybe us zone 3 gardeners finally have a chance !
Wow, that's so cool that the grapes made the hydrangeas purple!!
I'm really getting excited -- there are lots of buds coming up on both of my blue hydrangeas :) They all seem to be coming out of the ground, whereas my peegee hydrangea has buds coming off of the old dead growth.
Can't wait till the flowers bloom!!
WE have always had huge hydrangeas...on the westcoast. I have always just left them to winter and they come back bigger and better the next year. They always seem to stay blue. One year my Dad dumped his grapes...after he made some wine !! into my Mum's garden...It turned all her hydrangeas a wild purple color !! She was soo mad at first, but they looked beautiful and always stayed that color !
Kim
I planted one as well around my pond...was terribly disappointed...had a few small blooms and that was it....it was in afternoon sun and needed watering at least twice a day as the leaves wilted constantly...i see signs of some green and I didnt cut the branches back in the fall ...this is a new plant for me so it's trial and error...
If you know they can be blue, as when you planted them, then I would suggest not doing anything until you see what colour they become on their own. I have read somewhere that too much feeding can stunt blooming. I'd probably tend not to prune this year either, as it gets itself established.
I had a terrible time getting ANY blooms on a hydrangea I had planted in my townhouse garden some years ago. I had planted it in a corner where a north-facing fence met with a cedar hedge, basically the southwest corner of my small yard. As a young plant it got barely any sun, but the foliage filled the corner nicely and I forgot about it. After what must have been 5 years it finally reached it's maximum height of around 5-6', and then it took off. I figure it needed a bit of sun and finally got it once the tips of the plant could meet the sunshine shielded by the fence and hedge. At first though, I was a bit disappointed that it did not have the big balls of flowers, as it was not that variety. Instead, the blooms were presented in a more flat form, and only the "buds" around the outer edges opened into flowers. Well, after it finally was in full bloom I was thrilled with the vivid blue. I got tons of comments on it too. I think it was called Serrata Blue Bird, and I just bought a new one from the garden center to put in the back yard.
Good luck with your hydrangeas.
Hope they are, unless you'd prefer a different colour:D
Thanks for the info on hydrangeas. That web site has so many beautiful different hydrangea plants!!
I'm in zone 4, I think. But there are at least 4 houses in our neighbourhood that have blue and pink hydrangeas growing in their front yards, so I know they CAN grow here, even though most hydrangea plants seem to be for zones 5 and up.
The experiment continues.... will the flowers be blue?! Fingers crossed!!
found this website. http://www.hydrangeasplus.com/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/hints.html?E+scstore
I hope this helps!!
I keep a book of garden notes and I had written down "to brighten the colours of hydrangeas feed them a dilute solution of blood meal (not bonemeal). 1 oz. of bloodmeal to every five gallons of water.
I seem to remember when I wrote this down that the show I was watching was talking about blue hydranges. I hope this works!
are you in? I like the look of hydrangeas, maybe they'll work in my garden too! Sorry, but I've no info to give you on the subject. I participate in another gardening forum too, so I'll check and let you know if I find anything.