Hydrangea Care
Hydrangea 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…
Read MoreReport on 2020 Winter Impact on Hydrangeas
It’s time to report on 2020 winter impact on my hydrangeas, a little later than I would have liked. I test both new and old introductions to the big leaf (macrophylla) and mountain (serrata) hydrangea families. Invariably, some plants produce few or no flowers. Then I examine why that happened. You can read previous reports…
Read MoreHYDRANGEA CARE in JULY: Make your plants thrive
You should be having a fabulous hydrangea year. The relatively mild winter and forgiving spring is giving gardeners in the Northeast a fantastic show. Just about every big leaf hydrangea (macrophylla) is flowering. If your plants aren’t performing, take a minute to read a post I just did for the National Garden Bureau. In July it’s…
Read MoreHydrangea Arborescens and Stuck Leaves
Are the leaves on your ‘Annabelle’ hydrangea arborescens stuck to each other? Inspect them and any other hydrangea arborescens you may have like Incrediball® or Invincibelle® Spirit. You may notice some leaves cupped together. It looks like the leaves above from my Invincibelle® Spirit. Interesting, huh? Don’t panic!
Read MoreHydrangeas as Cut Flowers
Hydrangeas as cut flowers are perfect if you are feeling hydrangea-starved. That describes me a week or two ago. Then we had two consecutive days of temps in the 60s. That gave me a terminal case of spring fever! But I knew enough not to rush out and start playing with my hydrangeas. Living in…
Read MoreDeer Damage on Hydrangeas in Winter
This is the time of year to be alert to deer damage on hydrangeas. The winter weather pattern of deep cold, snow, and ice storms has made it increasingly difficult for them to get around and find food sources to sustain life. Deer tracks are the obvious tip off so here’s what to look for.
Read MorePreparing Hydrangeas for Winter
We have had a few nights where the temps have dropped into the high 30s, a sobering reminder that it’s time for preparing hydrangeas for winter. Specifically, time to wrap some of my bigleaf (macrophyllas) and mountain (serratas) hydrangeas. Those that aren’t planted in protected locations as I described in my other blog posts, HERE and…
Read MoreHydrangea Leaf Spots
On my recent garden visits, I’ve noted an abundance of unsightly foliage and hydrangea leaf spots. They can be bacterial leaf spot from an infection by Xanthomonas campestris, or Cercospora which grows from the pathogen Cercospora hydrangeae. I’m also seeing powdery mildew on many plants. You can thank Erysiphe friesii var. friesii (formerly Microsphaera friesii).…
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