Hydrangeas offer huge bouquets of clustered flowers, in various arrangements, from summer through fall. Varieties differ in size, flower shape, color, and bloom time. Hydrangeas thrive in moist, fertile, well-drained soil in partial to full shade.
Mophead hydrangeas are the most popular hydrangeas grown in home gardens and landscapes. Lacecaps are looser, more graceful, and more subtle in its effect in the landscape. These macrophylla varieties bloom in pink or blue, and every shade in between. The color depends on the acidity of the soil!
To turn hydrangeas from blue to PINK, use Espoma Garden Lime to raise soil pH and make the soil less acidic.
Paniculata varieties bloom and grow in a variety of climates, but they do need several hours of sun to do well. As the panicle-shaped blooms age, many develop a lovely pink shade, extending their beauty into fall.
Although hydrangeas do not require annual pruning, occasionally snipping these plants can improve their performance. You may not like the look of fading blooms or the shrub may be a bit too tall. Pruning hydrangeas can also improve the shrub’s vigor and increase the size of its flowers.
Blooms on old wood: hydrangea macrophylla, serrata, and oakleaf
- Blooms appear in early summer
- Next year’s buds are formed in late summer or early fall
- Reduce the risk of removing these buds by pruning flowers just as they begin to fade
- Snip off spent blooms just below the flower head
- Remove the oldest canes to improve vigor
- Do not prune these hydrangeas to the ground in late fall – doing so removes all of next year’s buds
Blooms on new wood: hydrangea paniculata and arborescens (smooth)
- Bloom in midsummer and continuing until frost
- Prune in late winter before new growth begins
- Can be cut back to the ground in late winter or early spring
- To reduce flopping, leave a framework of old growth to support the new growth
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