Success With Hydrangeas Blog

My hydrangea book is on sale at Amazon. As of this morning, Success With Hydrangeas, A Gardener’s Guide is being discounted by 28% (off their normal  price) by Amazon. I don’t know how long this will last but if you want a hard copy version of this award-winning book, get it now.  Amazon normally sells…

New hydrangeas for 2026? Say it ain’t so! Don’t we have enough of them already?? Apparently not. So let’s dive in.   Happy New Year! As we head into a new gardening year, I thought you might want to know about the new hydrangeas you might see at your local garden center. Some of them…

Pruning and fertilizing hydrangeas mid-season is something you should consider. In my part of the U.S. this is my final seasonal opportunity to give my hydrangeas their last cuts and food for this year. Maybe for you too. PRUNING YOUR HYDRANGEA TO IMPROVE YOUR PLANTS’ LOOK If you were lucky enough to get flowers on…

Hydrangeas are here finally! Worry and anticipation are over now that I can see flowers and buds. Like you, I have been holding my breath to see what the hydrangea show will be this year. GROWING CONDITIONS WEREN’T GREAT I am delighted to tell you the flower show is excellent. BUT, don’t think you will…

It is now late spring and your hydrangeas are calling you. The clock is ticking and hydrangeas are waking up. Those that flower on new wood like ‘Annabelle’ and ‘Limelight’ have begun their growth cycle. If you haven’t already pruned them back, now is the time to get busy. Here’s a post I did in…

The recent warm spring temps seem to be waking up the garden and gardeners. When it comes to hydrangea spring chores, however, there are things you should do. Most importantly, there are things you should NOT do. TOOLS Clean up your tools, especially anything you use for cutting (loppers, pruning shears, snips, handsaws, etc.). Wash…

Despite the warmer temps we are having, my Connecticut garden is still snow- and ice-covered: way too early to start any spring chores. But it’s not too early to dream about what’s to come. And the breeders and growers are obliging us with many new hydrangeas for 2025 to drool over. BIG LEAF (MACROPHYLLA) HYDRANGEAS…

January 2025 was the warmest January on record globally despite having the coldest January in New England since 2014. Our string of consecutive days and nights in the single digits spells doom for big leaf hydrangeas (macrophylla) that flower only on old wood. It will even be a challenge for mountain hydrangeas (serrata) and their…

It seems January is for cleaning out, cleaning up, and organizing. Far be it from me to buck the trend. So…I thought I would join the crowd and clean up the subscriber list for my award-winning blog.   HISTORY OF THIS BLOG I have been writing this blog since April of 2018 and hopefully, you…

THE MOST IMPORTANT ACTION YOU CAN TAKE RIGHT NOW The most important thing you can do right now to prepare your hydrangea for winter is to be sure your plant is well hydrated as it goes into its winter dormancy. You might be tempted to do a little pruning and maybe some fertilizing, but I…