A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 Hydrangeas

cool I will have to try some out...I found some really pretty blue ones @ michiganbulb.com ... I love the life time guarentee

I want to try those to spring - I heard that they might grow well as houseplants... They are soooo pretttty ...

I just planted a baby hydrangea about 3 weeks ago forever pink and it's coming up!!! am I supposed to pinch out the center??(A lady at work told me to) But I put that on hold untill I could get input from here!!

The two hydengeas I've got were already in the ground when I bought my place and I lived there for six yrs. Last September, we moved down the street and heard that my old place was going to be demolished so we quickly went back and dug up Everything including the two hydrengeas.

From what I remember, they didn't have much of a root system. At least it wasn't deep. They were each put in a pot. They've always gone semi-dormant, hanging on to a few leaves and almost budding right away. They stay that way until spring.

I've always cut them back and this year, I "opened them up" quite a bit by pruning a lot of dead wood in the center. Some of it was still green. (oops?) Everything is beginning to leaf out here and so are they. So far, no harm, no foul.

One is a dark pink and the other is a light pink. I decided I was going to try and change the color of the dark pink one so I added acidic fertilizer. I'll let you know if I have any luck.

I may be thinking seriously of moving both of them from the front of the house where they get sun all day to the back of the house. At the other place, they got direct sun for a while in the late afternoon.

And, yes. They require quite a bit of water.

Personally I wouldn't pinch out the middle, but after they flower for the year I'd go ahead and cut them back. That way they'll branch out a little more next year.

Thank you!

Loz, do you cut your blooms and bring them inside in vases? They are so beautiful sitting around the house and they stay pretty for a long time. My friends at work love getting a bouquet.

Sheri I do---YES!! There are so many big blooms that I just snip a few off from the back....that way it still looks nice from the view of my porch!

I love fresh flowers in the house...nothing better!

i put licorice root mulch around my hydrangea - changed the flower color from light pink to dark lavendar.

when i transplanted the hydrangea from the neighbors yard last year, it had a bloom on it that was white with a maroon marking just inside the tip of the petals. i didn't put the mulch down right away...within a couple of days i noticed that the blooms had turned a very light lavendar. 2 days later i put the licorice root around this bush and within a few days, the blooms turned a really beautiful dark purple - almost black actually.

I have an Endless Summer about to bloom. I know they are supposed to bloom again this season if you cut them back. My question is how much to cut back? I have heard everything from just the blooms to pretty much the whole bush.

I have two climbing hydrangeas. They are planted in bright shade. The one got blooms last year and the other one didn`t. The same thing is going on this year. I`m beginning to believe I have a male and a female. LOL Because they are climbing, I didn`t prune them. The flowers seem to be only at the top. I thought that they would have flowers all over but I guess they only flower on new growth??? Do you think I should prune them and when do you do that? Sue

some hydrangea bloom on new growth and some on old growth.

are they both the same variety? and, do you know what variety it/they are?

They are the same variety. I bought them at the same place at the same time. I don`t know their variety off hand. I`ll have to look through my stuff because I usually keep the tags that come with my plants I buy. I have another Hydrangea and I`m anxious to see if it blooms this year. My husband cut it back to the ground when he was helping me winterize the gardens last year. lol I was surprised to see it come back! But HAPPY it did. Sue

I take it nobody knows?

I have an endless summer from what I understand they bloom on old and new wood. I might be wrong though. If anyone knows the answer to Gary's question I could use the info too. I just used to pop off the wilted blooms on mine in indy.

Gary and Karrie I sure could use the answer to that ? also!! This is my first year I had several blooms but they are now beginning to wilt do I just cut off the bloom or the entire stem that it bloomed off of?

That info would help me, too. Anyone, Everyone?? lol Sue

Endless Summers do bloom on old and new wood. I certainly wouldn't cut it all the way back though. Removing all of the foliage would not be good for the plant. This will be my third year with my ES's and I've had good luck with simply deadheading the blooms back to a set of leaf nodes.

It turns out Endless Summer has its' own web page where it says "Another unique feature is that this hydrangea will continue to set buds and bloom throughout the season; deadheading
the spent flowers will encourage this. Feel free to cut the blooms for drying or fresh cut in vases because you will actually encourage the plant to produce more blossoms".

John and Gary Thanks I did go out and cut three of them back to a set of leaves that appeared a new growth was wanting to come out SOO I'm hoping by cutting it back to right above that point I have encouraged it to resprout and bloom!!

I'm sure you'll be pleasantly suprised.

may I pop in here?.... I've got several hydrangeas and might be able to shed some light on the color thing....

the dolomitic lime you used in your soil will send the hydra's color toward pink..over the space of a year or more.....if it's a mophead, that is.... white hydras won't change color...

acidic soil and aluminum sulphate will turn a mop towards blue......

it's more obvious on mops, but lacecaps' color will intensify , also, with the changes in the soil pH....

there's a great website with loads of info on Hydrangea and very nice folks who will answer email questions,(if there's no answers on the website) here...

www.hydrangeashydrangeas.com


edit.... sorry, I neglected to read all four pages!!... this may be redundant... new member jitters here......

Hi there FreedSoul. Thanks for all the info. I just put in my first one and am looking forward to seeing what color blooms it gets and keeps being where I planted it. Will decided if I want to change them once it really gets going good.