Hydrangea Care
AUGUST: TAKE A BREAK FROM MOST HYDRANGEA WORK
TAKE A BREAK FROM HYDRANGEA WORK If you are in the northern hemisphere and in zone 6 and colder, the beginning of August is the time to take a break from working on hydrangeas that flower on old wood. That translates into big leaf (macrophylla), mountain (serrata), oak leaf (quercifolia), and climbing (petiolaris) varieties.
Read MoreFERTILIZING HYDRANGEAS
Now that it is July, it’s time to fertilize your hydrangeas, especially for next year. You should be having a fabulous hydrangea year. The relatively mild winter and forgiving spring is giving all of us a fantastic show. Just about every big leaf hydrangea (macrophylla) is flowering. But don’t be lulled into thinking you can…
Read MoreHYDRANGEA SCALE
I was horrified this past weekend to spot an extensive case of hydrangea scale on my climbing hydrangea (hydrangea ssp. petiolaris). It was an accidental discovery as my original mission was to prune it back. As covered in my book, Success with Hydrangeas, climbing hydrangeas flower on old wood so I knew it had to…
Read MoreHYDRANGEA PRUNING: BIG LEAF AND MOUNTAIN
It’s finally time to prune your big leaf and mountain hydrangeas. This is in addition to what I wrote in January about hydrangea pruning. At that time I wrote that it was safe to go out and prune your woodland/smooth hydrangeas and your panicle hydrangeas. If you haven’t already done that, get going unless you live…
Read MoreFree Hydrangea Zoom Webinar
Yet another free hydrangea zoom webinar. YIPPEE!!!
Read MoreTRANSPLANTING HYDRANGEAS
I am getting lots of questions about transplanting hydrangeas. This post should help answer most of them. Transplanting hydrangeas follows the general rule for transplanting anything: do it in the season opposite of the one in which it performs, i.e., its “off season.” So if something blooms in the fall, transplant and divide it in…
Read MoreHydrangea Pruning
I am delighted to tell you that I have just confirmed a free virtual upcoming hydrangea pruning talk, Pruning Big Leaf Hydrangeas.
Read MoreHydrangea Care Late Winter
Are you as anxious to get outside as I am? Especially to engage in some late winter hydrangea care? Despite my itchy fingers, I know I am in the HYDRANGEA DANGER ZONE™ (HDZ). Doing the wrong thing at the wrong time can rob me of my flowers for the season if I’m not careful. So…
Read MoreHYDRANGEA PRUNING
My apologies for being absent for so long. I have been working on a new hydrangea book about pruning to the exclusion of just about everything else. But I am seeing lots of questions in a variety of formats asking about hydrangea pruning. Clearly, it’s time to open the hydrangea pruning discussion for 2021.
Read MoreTime to Prepare Hydrangeas for Winter
It happened again – sudden freezing temps hit before my hydrangeas had a chance to harden off. Not a frost, but a solid freeze at 27 F that turned the birdbath turned into a skating rink. So sad to go outside and see what those temps did to my big leaf and mountain hydrangeas. Time…
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