Hydrangea macrophylla (Bigleaf)
HYDRANGEAS: WHAT KIND DO YOU HAVE
I am often asked to help someone identify what kind of hydrangea they have. Many people have plants that they inherited when they bought their home, or someone gave it to them, or they lost the tag, etc. You may wonder why this matters. It matters ‘cause in hydrangea-land you treat different kinds of hydrangeas…
Read MoreDEADHEADING HYDRANGEAS: THE DETAILS
This is the time of year when many gardeners wonder about deadheading their hydrangeas. Like everything else about this shrub, what you do depends on the type of hydrangea you have and what you want to achieve. Let’s dig down into the details.
Read MoreHydrangea Pruning Mid Season
Now that we are in mid-season, it’s time to prune your big leaf and mountain hydrangeas for the last time this season. IMPROVE YOUR PLANTS’ LOOK Does your plant look like this where the new growth from this season is hiding the flowers? If you want to reveal those flowers, now is the time…
Read MoreFERTILIZING HYDRANGEAS IN EARLY SUMMER
I have spent the past 2 days fertilizing my hydrangeas. Which ones, you ask. Well, read on about Fertilizing Hydrangeas In Early Summer.
Read MoreHYDRANGEA STATUS LATE SPRING
Finally, it’s here. The hydrangeas in USDA Zones 5 and 6 are not only showing buds, but flowers have begun to emerge on some varieties. So it’s time for a status check for this season’s hydrangeas.
Read MoreTIME TO PRUNE OLD WOOD HYDRANGEAS
It’s finally time to prune your old wood hydrangeas. This is in addition to what I wrote in February of this year about hydrangea pruning. At that time I wrote it was safe to prune your panicle and woodland hydrangeas in late winter. If you haven’t already done that, get going unless you live in…
Read MoreNEW HYDRANGEAS, PART 3
My last two posts covered several new hydrangeas you are likely to meet this year. Here is part 3 with details on a few more. I also provide some links: one is for a new study on woodland/smooth hydrangeas that you may find useful. The second link will take you to an excellent article on…
Read MoreNEW HYDRANGEAS COMING THIS YEAR
As I promised in my last post of 2021, here is the second installment about new hydrangeas that are coming to local garden centers in 2022. Some are newer than others, but since it takes a while to build up stock, it also takes time to get them out into gardeners’ hands.
Read MoreHYDRANGEA WINTER PROTECTION
I woke up to a very dark 44 degrees F this morning, a stark reminder that I need to get organized to do some hydrangea winter protection. Those that aren’t planted in protected locations as I described in an earlier blog post need a little help if I want to give them their best chance…
Read MoreCHANGING THE COLOR OF YOUR HYDRANGEAS
If your ground isn’t frozen yet (in the Northern hemisphere) or you haven’t wrapped your hydrangeas for winter (maybe you’re not doing that anyway), now is the best time to work on changing the color of your hydrangeas. Many big leaf (Hydrangea macrophylla) and mountain (H. serrata) flowers can be changed to either blue or…
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