Distributed in the wild nature of North America, the European south and the Asian continent, hydrangeas are elegant and majestic shrubs that amaze with their regal beauty, and are increasingly found in Russian open spaces in temperate climatic zones.
Hydrangea bush with large fairy caps bright inflorescences, crowned with flowering stems - a wonderful decoration of any garden. In cultivation, tree hydrangeas and paniculate hydrangeas are distinguished. These differ from each other in the shape of their inflorescences: the tree-like ones have rounded flat caps-umbrellas, while the paniculate ones throw out large, long-flowering panicles. Both pink hydrangeas (the photos presented in the article confirm this) are equally magnificent, but our publication is dedicated to tree hydrangea, separate species, successfully cultivated today and highly in demand.
Species features
The fantastically beautiful pink hydrangea differs from its white-flowering relatives in its ability, rare in the plant kingdom, to change the shade of the inflorescences, depending on the reaction of the soil in which it grows and the composition of fertilizers applied to the bush. This happens due to the presence in parts of the plant of specific compounds - anthocyanins, which cause the same variety to bloom blue in acidic soil, and pink in slightly alkaline soil.
This deciduous shrub, growing up to 1 m in height with straight basal shoots, oval leaves with a serrated edge and a pointed tip, is compact and decorative. Tree pink hydrangea with flowers united in large, umbrella-shaped inflorescences begins to bloom in mid-summer, which continues until the onset of cold weather. The composition of the inflorescences is remarkable, the center of which is occupied by smaller, fruit-bearing flowers, and around the circumference - sterile, but larger ones.
In garden and park interiors, hydrangea is equally beautiful in ensembles, groups and solo plantings; it looks impressive as borders or hedges outlining paths. Thanks to their exquisite beauty, blooming hydrangeas play a role in any park ensemble. main role. Long flowering juicy greens and the compactness of the shrub are important components in the overall decorativeness of the plant and its popularity.
How to grow pink hydrangea
The current opinion about the excessive capriciousness of this is very exaggerated, since, like any plant, hydrangea requires care. Following certain agrotechnical rules that are acceptable specifically for this crop does not present any particular difficulties. Only if you follow all the recommendations and advice of experienced gardeners will the hydrangea generously display fireworks of pink and purple colors every year. She also has preferences, which you need to know about in order to create the most comfortable conditions for the productive development of the bush.
Planting tree hydrangea: choosing a place
The first point in the landing process is the choice optimal location: hydrangea does not recognize frequent transfers, it is difficult to survive them and blooms poorly. Therefore, before planting, you should select a permanent place where the existence of the shrub will be most productive.
But any soil is suitable for a plant like pink hydrangea, but fertile acidic clay soils are most preferable. In areas with a similar composition, the overall decorative value of the bush is high and the flowers are brighter and larger, and in order for the seedling to become such, peat, rotted sawdust or coniferous soil are added to neutral soils before planting.
The shrub also reacts to light. Pink hydrangea is one of the rare plants, not claiming the sunniest places in the garden. The moisture-loving hydrangea in such areas will suffer from a lack of water, and the bright sun will not allow the enviable beauty of the bush to fully manifest itself. On the contrary, the average illumination, even the shading of an area protected from draft winds, will be the best option for planting a plant, since these are its biological characteristics. For hydrangeas planted in partial shade, the flowering time increases significantly. An excellent alternative is under the canopy fruit trees With south side trunk
Planting rules: soil preparation
Experienced gardeners It is recommended to plant hydrangea in spring or early autumn. Shrubs are planted, maintaining an interval between plants of 1-1.5 m. The planting hole is prepared in advance: a hole measuring 50*40*40 cm is dug, the excavated soil is mixed with humus, river sand and peat, add 35-40 g of superphosphate and urea.
Fill the hole one-third with this mixture and allow the soil to “settle.” The seedling is placed in a hole, the roots are carefully straightened so that they do not bend upward and covered with the remaining prepared soil. Compact the soil around the seedling carefully, trying not to trample it with your feet, as this can damage the roots and significantly complicate the seedling’s engraftment.
Watering and loosening
Pink hydrangea, the planting of which is completed, must be generously watered with settled soft rain or melt water. Throughout the spring-summer season, this shrub needs abundant watering, preferably combined with sprinkling. Biological features Hydrangeas are such that, with a very high above-ground part, its root system grows horizontally, immediately feeling the lack of moisture during dry periods. Therefore, regular watering is vital for the bush. In summer, it should receive 25-30 liters of water every 5-7 days, although the hydration is adjusted based on the weather conditions of the region.
To prevent the soil under the bushes from becoming crusty, loosening is carried out, cultivating an area around the bush with a radius of 50-60 cm. Over the summer, the soil is loosened several times, simultaneously removing weeds. The depth of loosening is no more than 5-8 cm, since the roots of the plant are located quite close to the surface of the earth. A good alternative to loosening and weeding is mulching with humus, peat, or plant debris. This significantly saves the gardener’s time by retaining moisture under the bush and preventing weeds from breaking through, but you should be sure of the quality of the mulch. Often, pests or bacteria are introduced along with it, causing infections and diseases. This possibility should be anticipated and excluded.
Fertilizers: fertilizers and microelements
In the first year after planting, the plant is not fed, since the hydrangea has enough nutrients that were added to the planting hole. On next year in spring, complex mixtures are applied under the bushes mineral fertilizers at the concentration recommended by the drug manufacturers. The best fertilizers for pink hydrangea - organic. Until mid-summer, an infusion of fermented mullein can be used as a nitrogen supplement, which is prepared as follows: add 3 liters of water to 6-7 kg of manure and leave the mixture to ferment for 3-4 days. Dissolve 1 liter of infusion in a bucket of water and water the hydrangea once every 10-15 days. Not only the tree-like variety is responsive to high-quality organic matter, but also the pink one, which is quite reasonable, since the plants belong to the same family.
With absence organic fertilizers Mineral fertilizers are quite suitable, the most suitable of which for hydrangea are superphosphate, urea and In the second half of summer, feeding with urea is stopped, leaving phosphorus-potassium fertilizers to strengthen the plant for wintering. The frequency of applying fertilizer is as follows: the first time - in the spring, the second time - when buds appear, the third time - in the fall. Fast growth shoots are provided by feeding the plant with a weak solution of manganese, which is carried out in early summer. Fertilizers containing lime and phosphorus will maintain excellent pink tint inflorescences.
Caring for shrubs in winter conditions
Pink hydrangea, which is easy to care for, has good frost resistance, but it should still be covered for the winter. The best material for this is spruce spruce branches, on top of which lutrasil or spunbond is laid - a non-woven polymer material that prevents the plant from damping out. First, the plant is hilled up by raising the earthen roller by 20 cm, sprinkled with peat and then covered. This is especially true for young bushes.
Hydrangea has an excellent ability to quickly recover after freezing, however, it is necessary to take care of it during a difficult period, since such tests weaken the plant and affect flowering, which becomes quite sparse.
Bush formation and pruning
Pink tree hydrangea is an ornamental plant and its appearance directly depends on quality care. The main caring measures include pruning. Like many leafy shrubs Both trees and hydrangeas require formative and sanitary pruning. In early spring, old, sick, broken bones are cut out. winter period or branches thickening the bush. Since hydrangea loves semi-shaded places, the issue of thickening is acute: the lack of sufficient light and high humidity can provoke the emergence of bacterial or viral infections. This is why crown thinning is so important: for productive development, each branch must receive enough sunlight. This is the role of sanitary spring pruning. At the same time, the crown of the bush is formed by shortening annual shoots so that 5-6 pairs of growth buds remain on them.
For the second time in the season, hydrangea is pruned in the fall after flowering, removing dry inflorescences, broken stems and small shoots that have appeared.
Old but productive bushes that have grown and are beginning to lose their shape can be rejuvenated in the fall by cutting off all the stems to a height of 20-30 cm. Fresh shoots will appear the next year.
Propagation of hydrangea by layering
Most in a simple way To obtain a new bush of tree hydrangea, you need to dig in cuttings, that is, the stem of an adult mother plant. The procedure is carried out as follows: in the spring, the shoot is bent to the ground, placed in a pre-prepared groove with humus, and fixed with metal or wooden pins. The top of the cuttings is sprinkled with soil. Necessary condition rooting - constant moistening and periodic (2-3 times a season) addition of soil. The cutting will take root and grow stronger, and by the next season it is dug up, separated from the mother bush, and the resulting seedling is planted in a permanent place, having prepared the soil as indicated above.
From a rooted seedling, a young pink hydrangea soon emerges, the cultivation of which is absolutely identical to the care that an adult plant requires.
Vegetative propagation: cuttings
Easy to propagate pink hydrangea and cuttings. Experienced gardeners recommend taking cuttings from cut shoots during the spring formation of a bush or cutting them in early summer from the apical parts of shoots of a non-flowering (mother) bush or stems that have not yet had time to open buds. Sometimes they take lignified shoots, which are cut in the cold season, rooted at home, and in the summer, already strong seedlings of a shrub called pink hydrangea are planted. Planting and care carried out subsequently are the same as for adult bushes.
The length of the cuttings should not be less than 15-20 cm. Greater survival rates were found for cuttings cut from young shoots of the current year at the beginning of summer. On each cutting, carefully, without damaging the buds, cut off the lower pair of leaves, and the lower cut should be 1.5 cm from them. The cuttings are prepared for planting as follows: they are kept for 10-12 hours in a solution of any biostimulator of root formation, for example, “Kornevin” or “Epina”, controlling the concentration, according to the instructions for the preparations. Then the cuttings are planted in seedling containers filled with a neutral substrate, deepened by 3-4 cm. The lower buds of the cuttings from the cut leaves should be in the soil, since they are the ones that will produce the first replacement shoots.
Boxes with planted cuttings are covered with film and installed in a greenhouse or greenhouse. Once every 3-4 days, the cuttings are watered and ventilated, slightly opening the film cover. The cuttings take root after 3-4 weeks. They are planted in a permanent place with prepared fertilized soil and cared for, helping them survive in the cold. First-year plants must be covered for the winter, having previously been hilled up and covered with wood chips or peat.
Dividing the bush
There is another very effective method propagation of a plant such as tree hydrangea pink. The photo introduces the reader to the division of an overgrown bush. They do this in the spring, carefully digging around the bush around the circumference. Gently shake off the soil from the hydrangea removed from the ground and wash it root system under running water, inspecting the roots and removing damaged and rotten ones, then using a sharp, clean knife, divide the bush into parts, each of which should consist of above-ground stems and healthy roots with several growth buds. The sections are treated with pharmaceutical brilliant green or garden varnish.
The resulting divisions are planted in planting holes prepared as mentioned above, spilled with water with the addition of “Heteroauxin” or “Kornevin” to minimize stress, covered with soil and carefully compacted.
Pink hydrangea: problems and solutions
Usually proper care provides excellent decorativeness of the bush and generous flowering. It is mistakes in caring activities that often lead to problems, for example, novice gardeners wonder whether the plant is pink. The main reasons here may be lack of water, improper planting, too sunny area, or too much fertilizing, which caused intensive growth of green mass to the detriment of bud formation. Detailed analysis operations performed will allow us to understand the cause and eliminate it.
We tried to talk in detail about how to care for pink hydrangea in the garden, the requirements of the plant and the main stages of care. Exactly following the recommendations and advice will allow you to avoid problems in growing shrubs and enjoy the beauty of its long flowering every year.
Hydrangea has earned the love of gardeners for its spectacular appearance and long flowering. perennial shrub originally from Japan. His scientific name– hydrangea, which means “vessel of water.” Luxurious flower has a rich palette of colors and shades. You can decorate your garden or room with pink, white, cream, purple or blue flowers. It only happens that white or colored hydrangea flowers suddenly turn green. Beginning gardeners are perplexed as to why hydrangea flowers turn green.
Features of hydrangea flowering
There are up to 80 species of plants of this genus around the world. Most often in landscape design are used:
- Oakleaf. Plants are characterized big flowers and lobed leaves ( average length– 24 cm). The most popular varieties for landscaping: “Burgundy” – pink to wine-red inflorescences, “Harmony” – white inflorescences, “Snow White Domes” – dazzling white flowers, “Tennessee Clone” – light cream inflorescences, “Snow Queen” – snow-white flowers. The main advantage of oak-leaved varieties is frost resistance. The culture is able to withstand sub-zero temperatures down to -28 degrees;
- Serrated. These are low-growing spreading shrubs. The inflorescences reach 8 cm in diameter, the leaves are jagged. A special feature of these varieties is the bright, rich colors of the inflorescences. The most famous varieties serrated hydrangea: “Bluebird” - red, lilac inflorescences, “Vierle” - blue flowers, the leaves turn burgundy or purple in the fall, “Preciosa” - inflorescences of blue, pink, greenish shades, the flowers turn crimson in the fall;
- Petiolate. This type of garden crop is ideal for decorating arches, since it is a long (more than 20 meters) flowering vine. It is also called climbing or curly. The peculiarity of petioles is their tart aroma. Popular varieties: Miranda, Cordifolia, Petiolaris.
- Garden large-leaved. Hydrangea of this type is also called large-leaved and broad-leaved. The plant is intended for planting in open ground, characterized by spherical flowers and ovoid large leaves. The height of the crop is not less than 130 cm. Popular varieties: “Romance”, “Forever & Ever”, “Red Sensation” and others.
- Paniculaceae. The bush reaches a height of 2.5 meters and has a dense crown. The inflorescences of this species resemble a panicle in shape, which is why it received this name. Culture tolerates well low temperatures. Varieties: Dysond Rouge, Vanilla Fraze, Limelight.
- Tree-like. This tall bush up to 160 cm with small flowers in inflorescence and oblong leaves. The most famous varieties of this type of hydrangea: Pink Anabel, Grandiflora.
IN middle lane In Russia, mainly deciduous varieties are grown. Shrubs bloom with the onset of summer and finish flowering in late autumn.
Green hydrangea
Note! The shades of hydrangea flowers depend on chemical composition soil. If the soil is neutral, the plant will bloom with beige or cream flowers; if it is alkaline, it will bloom with lilac or pink flowers.
Hydrangea planted on acidic soil, will bloom with bright blue flowers, because such soil contains aluminum, which is easily absorbed by the plant.
Today not only garden ones are popular, but also indoor varieties hydrangeas. At home, only the large-leaved plant is grown.
More than 100 varieties of large-leaved hydrangeas are known:
- Varieties blue tint: Early Blue, Ramars Mars;
- Red varieties: Red sensation, Prima;
- Varieties with pink inflorescences: Goliath, Hamburg, Europe;
- White or cream colored varieties: Souer Tharese and Mme E. Mouillere.
Green hydrangea
Inexperienced gardeners get very upset and wonder why hydrangea blooms green, instead of the expected white or pink.
Anyone who has already grown this flower in their garden knows that green hydrangea occurs at the beginning and at the end of flowering. This is such a cultural feature, which is why white hydrangeas turn green. Subsequently, the inflorescences acquire their natural color. This phenomenon is considered absolutely normal for the tree-like variety of hydrangea.
Green hydrangea
Additional Information! The natural shade of hydrangea is pink or white, while other shades are obtained artificially.
The reason why hydrangea flowers turn green may be an unsuccessful planting location.
The shrub should be planted in partial shade or in the shade - bright sun causes slow development of the plant. In addition, it is not recommended to plant the flower under trees that strongly absorb moisture.
The soil for the crop should be moist and well-drained, and also consist of peat, leaf soil, sand and humus. There should be no lime in the soil, as the flower loves acidic soils.
Also, the cause of the greenish tint of the inflorescences may be improper care:
- Incorrect feeding. For example, in a store a plant was fertilized with some preparations, and at home with another. This could have influenced him and, therefore, provoked a change in shade;
- Insufficient watering. Hydrangea is a moisture-loving plant and needs systematic watering. The lack of sufficient moisture will lead to disruption of the crop's development.
- Heavy rains. Frequent and heavy rainfall is a real disaster for garden crops. They wash away the necessary normal development macro- and microelements. In this case, you need to feed the flower with special nutritional preparations (for example, “Kemira flower”).
How to change the shade of hydrangea
Not only chameleons can change their color, adapting to circumstances. Plants also have this amazing ability.
The cause of the greenish tint of the inflorescences may be improper care
For getting blue color Hydrangeas need aluminum. A flower can obtain this element from the soil as a result of a reaction under the influence of an acidic environment. The soil under a bush with pink inflorescences can be acidified using citric acid, aluminum alum, then its flowers will change their shade to blue.
Note! Only large-leaved hydrangeas can change color.
White varieties are not suitable for such an experiment, they will not change their color, they will not have enough pigment. This method will not work near limestone walls or alpine slides, as they alkalize the soil.
Important! Aluminum alum must be added gradually - an excessive amount of the product can destroy the root system of the plant.
To color hydrangea pink, you need soil with a pH of 6-6.5. This level of acidity allows the shrub to feel comfortable, but it can no longer absorb aluminum. If the soil is excessively acidic, then achieve the required indicator acidity can be achieved using ground limestone. The main thing is not to overdo it, as highly alkaline soil promotes the occurrence of diseases.
Coloring hydrangeas
A neutral pH helps the shrub produce cream or white flowers.
It should be noted that changing soil acidity is a very long process. Pink blossoms will not turn blue in one day or even in a week. It may take a shrub a whole year to completely change its color to another.
On a note! If you add acidifying substances to one bush and not to another, you can create a multi-colored flower hedge.
You can add light shades to colors without special effort, but such changes will be temporary, and only the veins of the petals will be colored:
- In order for hydrangea to acquire pink tones, it must be watered with a pale pink solution of potassium permanganate;
- Solution copper sulfate will color the petals purple.
Green hydrangea varieties
To the question of novice flower growers, why hydrangeas have green flowers, one can answer this way - this is such a variety.
Indeed, there are hydrangeas with green inflorescences:
- The tree-like variety "Hayes Starburst" has light green spherical flowers, up to 20-25 cm in diameter;
- Sterilis is also a tree-like variety of hydrangea. Large inflorescences, up to 20-25 cm in diameter, at the beginning of their flowering have a greenish-white tint, then become snow-white;
- Oakleaf hydrangea "Snowflake" - its flowers are shaped like snowflakes. Towards the end of flowering, the inflorescences become red-green;
- Lamlight - paniculate beauty blooms with lemon-green flowers, changing color over time to milky or white. Towards the end of flowering, the petals acquire a pink tint.
During the flowering process, these varieties change the shades of the petals themselves without outside intervention.
Archaeologists have proven that this plant existed 40 thousand years ago.
Garden culture has received its due beautiful name in honor of the Roman princess Hortense. In the West it is called “French” because Western countries heard about it for the first time exquisite flower just during the period of the first French expedition around the world.
Interesting! In the language of floristry, a bouquet of hydrangeas means devotion and declaration of love.
Hydrangeas will produce blue flowers (not pink) if grown in acidic soil. Sometimes hydrangeas can change color over time if the acidity level of the soil changes. Therefore, if you want to constantly have blue flowers, you will need to monitor the pH of the soil and take measures to maintain its acidity. This is quite easy to do - just skip to Step 1 first.
Steps
Part 1
Scientific background- Hydrangeas can be called unique garden plants precisely because of their ability to change the color of flowers in accordance with the pH of the soil. This means that the color of the hydrangea flowers in your garden will depend on whether the soil is acidic or alkaline. WITH scientific point
- Alkaline soil is the reason why hydrangeas produce pink flowers; in acidic soil the same plant will have blue flowers. The exception to this rule is white or green hydrangeas, whose flowers have only one color. So you can't force white hydrangea bloom with pink or blue flowers.
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Check the acidity (pH) of your soil. To find out whether the soil in your garden is alkaline or acidic, determine the pH value. This will help you know how likely your hydrangea is to produce blue flowers.
- If the soil pH is below 5.5, your hydrangeas will bloom bright blue flowers.
- If the pH is between 5.5 and 6.5, the flowers will have a fantastic purple color.
- If the pH is above 6.5, the flowers will be pink.
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To determine whether your soil is acidic or alkaline, use white vinegar. For this you need distilled white vinegar. Take a handful of soil, pour vinegar on top and wait for the reaction.
Determine soil pH using the scientific method. If you want to know the exact pH value of your soil, you can check it using a test kit designed for this purpose. Such kits are widely available at garden centers or online stores. When using them, follow the instructions on the package.
- Alternatively, you can take a sample of your soil to your local garden center, where they will determine the acidity level (pH) of your soil.
Part 2
How to make soil more acidic-
Spray the soil with elemental sulfur. To save Blue colour For your hydrangea flowers, spray the soil around the bush with elemental sulfur to reduce the pH below 5.5. The amount of elemental sulfur required will vary depending on the type of soil and how much the pH needs to be adjusted.
- To lower the pH by one unit in loam or silty clay soils, apply ¾ pound of elemental sulfur per 25 square feet. In other words, it takes ¾ pound to lower the pH from 6 to 5. On sandy or sandy loam soil, it takes less than ¼ pound of elemental sulfur to lower the pH by one.
- Start spraying the soil with elemental sulfur about 2 feet from the outer edge of the bush's canopy. Scatter the sulfur evenly over the soil approximately 4 to 6 inches away from the hydrangea shoots. This is the area where most of the growing roots are located, which absorb water and nutrients.
- Using a small hand rake, stir the elemental sulfur into upper layer soil (1 to 2 inches), then water the area thoroughly to allow the sulfur to soak into the soil. The elemental sulfur will need to be reused from time to time to ensure the flowers retain their blue color.
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Use acidic compost and aluminum sulfate powder. If you are planting hydrangeas in a garden with alkaline soil and want blue flowers, you will need to add a sufficient amount of acidic compost and aluminum sulfate to the soil at planting and apply these substances regularly throughout the life of the plant.
Apply a fertilizer low in phosphorus and high in potassium. All hydrangeas benefit from fertilizer. To get or maintain blue hydrangea flowers, use a low-phosphorus, high-potassium fertilizer.
To increase soil acidity, use organic matter. If you keep your garden chemical-free, use organic matter such as grass clippings, fruit and vegetable scraps, or used coffee grounds. Gradually the soil will become more acidic.
Water hydrangeas with rainwater. Try to use for watering hydrangeas rainwater, not tap water. If you use "solid" tap water For blue hydrangeas, it will neutralize the acidity of the soil, and the flowers will gradually turn pink. You can learn how to collect rainwater from this article.
Know that hydrangeas will produce blue flowers in acidic soil, while pink flowers will appear on hydrangeas in alkaline soil.
Those people who have their own a private house, they try to plant not only useful plants, for example, carrots, beets, potatoes, etc., but also flowers. IN Lately More and more gardeners are choosing hydrangea flowers for planting.
These perennial subshrubs delight their owners with a wide palette of colors and beauty. The diameter of the hydrangea inflorescence can reach 35 cm and looks very impressive. And in order for this ornamental plant to take root on your site, it is important to organize proper care for it.
Hydrangea flower: its meaning
Each plant has its own secret meaning, known only to those people who are seriously interested in it. So, when creating bouquets, florists try to combine flowers that are suitable for each other’s purposes, and also rely on information about what celebration this composition was ordered for.
Hydrangea is interpreted in different ways. For example, in some sources this beautiful flower personifies sincere feelings, hope and faith, and in other books it is said that hydrangea is a symbol of indifference and coldness.
Landing rules
Since hydrangea is a subshrub, the most common way to propagate it is by cuttings. In order to carry out the circumcision procedure, it is very important to choose right time, the ideal period for such work is considered to be the end of June - the beginning of July.
When pruning, you need to be extremely careful and remove only green shoots; you cannot touch woody shoots. For subsequent propagation, the optimal cutting size is 12 cm; all leaves are removed from it, leaving only a pair of healthy buds.
The cut shoot should be placed in a pot with peat, and a layer of sand should be poured on top. Special attention It’s worth paying attention to this point. The tip of the cutting should only be placed in the sand and not come into contact with the bottom layer (peat).
You need to create an impromptu greenhouse above the pot and monitor the humidity in it. Periodically, the planted shoot needs to be sprayed and ventilated. The cuttings are planted in open ground only next spring.
Of course, this method of planting hydrangeas is suitable only for those people who have ornamental plant already on site.
But those individuals who are just planning to plant perennial plants will have to resort to other methods:
- buy a ready-made cutting;
- grow seedlings yourself.
True, growing seedlings is not so easy. To do this, you need to get two flowers of different sexes somewhere and carry out pollination; the manipulation is done extremely carefully with the help of a brush. Seeds appear no earlier than after 60 days. After which they are planted in pots on the window, and in April in open ground. But all this is very difficult for people who have little experience in gardening, so the easiest way is to buy ready-made cuttings or shrubs.
Tips for planting:
- Fertilizers are added to the soil where the hydrangea will subsequently “live.” For this purpose, manure mixed with bone meal or special flower feeding is suitable;
- remove the peat lump from the pot and place it in a previously prepared hole;
- sprinkle the hole with earth and compact it a little;
- Water the plant thoroughly.
We talk about care
In order for your flower to please the eye and heart, it needs to be watered, often and a lot. Hydrangea needs to be fed with water at such intervals that the soil around it is constantly moistened. This makes a big difference.
Experts recommend using a special hydrogel for watering. It is sold in powder form diluted with water. The hydrogel is stirred in a circle, mixed with the soil and helps retain moisture, nourishing the root system.
If you don’t find hydrogel, use moss, you can collect it in the forest or buy it in a specialized store.
To prevent your favorite shrub from freezing in winter, you should mulch the soil. To do this, use fresh or dry grass, spreading it 5-10 cm further than the stems.
When the hydrangea finishes flowering, it must be pruned. In this case, the withered caps are removed, but the leaves and stems remain.
Do not forget about timely feeding of the flower (optimally three times a year: April, June and September). A weak solution of potassium permanganate and lemon water are suitable for this purpose.
As you can see, organizing the correct planting and care of a hydrangea flower is not so difficult. But with a little effort, you can enjoy the beauty of this beautiful plant.
Some useful information
After browsing the gardening forums a little, you may come across a very popular question: “Why does my hydrangea bloom green if I bought pink/blue/white, etc.?”. This metamorphosis occurs with the plant depending on the soil in which it grows, as well as on fertilizers. This shrub loves acidic soil, remember this.
And so that your plants have inflorescences beautiful shade, they need to be fertilized properly. To transform the flowers into blue, water the bushes for 14 days with alum and see what metamorphoses will occur with the color of the inflorescences.
Owners often notice on their beautiful plant, or rather on its leaves, dots Brown, similar to rust. This phenomenon is caused by a harmful fungus that causes the leaves to dry out and fall off. Having seen such a disgrace on your shrub, you urgently need to take measures to combat rust on garden hydrangea flowers.
It often happens that a gardener buys a flowering hydrangea in a container, plants it in the ground - but it dries out and the flowers wither. Or after wintering, the hydrangea does not bloom - neither in the first, nor in the second, nor in the third year. Why doesn't hydrangea bloom? How can you help the plant? Let's figure it out.
Why hydrangea doesn't bloom: typical gardener mistakes
Most problems arise with large-leaved hydrangea (garden, marcophila, large-leaved), since not all varieties of this tender plant adapted to our conditions. We will talk about large-leaved hydrangea.
Hydrangea buds are freezing
Large-leaved hydrangea blooms on the shoots of the current year, buds are laid on the tops of the shoots in the fall. If you cover the hydrangea too late, or open it too early, the buds will freeze and the hydrangea will not bloom. What can (and should) be done? Cover hydrangea for the winter. The remaining leaves on the bush are torn off, the bush itself is tied with a rope, wrapped with covering material and film. Mulch is poured around the bush - dry leaves, straw. With the arrival of frost, the hydrangea is bent to the ground, fixed with staples, and covered with spruce branches. In the spring, the hydrangea is opened gradually, finally ridding it of its cover with the disappearance of night frosts, that is, until the beginning of summer.
Improper pruning of hydrangea
If you cut off shoots in spring or autumn large leaf hydrangea, is it any wonder why hydrangea does not bloom? We remind you once again that hydrangea blooms on last year’s shoots, in the upper part of the shoots.
Improper feeding of hydrangeas
If the hydrangea is overfed with nitrogen fertilizers, the plant may not have time to harden by the arrival of frost, and, again, will not survive the winter. Therefore, to feed hydrangeas, like most garden plants, remember one simple rule: in late spring and early summer we add nitrogen fertilizers(for the growth of greenery), in the summer - potassium-phosphorus fertilizers (to maintain flowering), at the end of summer - phosphorus fertilizers (to help the hydrangea survive the winter, preserving the buds of the shoots for flowering next year).
Problems with growth and acclimatization of the root system
First of all, this is a problem with large-leaved hydrangeas, which were planted from containers into open ground. It often turns out that hydrangea sellers feed the plant with fertilizers to make it bloom wildly, organizing drip irrigation. This hydrangea has a poorly developed root system - it is not used to getting food for itself with roots, but received everything ready-made with fertilizers, and on special soil. And when you plant it in your garden, the spoiled plant is unable to absorb nutrients with its weak roots, and withers before your eyes. Without emergency measures Not only will such a hydrangea not bloom, it may even disappear altogether. 
What to do in this case? Correct the “disservice” of sellers and gradually wean hydrangea from bait. Firstly, container blooming hydrangeas there is no need to trim the roots, as is often advised, and there is no need to soak them or shake off the substrate. The plant already spends a lot of energy on flowering, and under such conditions the hydrangea will no longer be able to develop the root system. It will wither away.
Secondly, for the first two months, feed the plant, gradually reducing the dose.
Thirdly, in preparation landing pit for hydrangea, make sure the area will be shaded at midday, otherwise garden hydrangea may not tolerate the heat, and even heavy watering will not help. You need to add a mixture of soil from your garden with a nutrient substrate from a container of hydrangeas into the hole, and in an area of at least 20 cm from the roots of the hydrangea. In this way, you will help the hydrangea adapt to new conditions.
Hydrangea variety is not suitable for climatic conditions
Large-leaved hydrangeas have recently begun to be planted in open ground in our area; new varieties are constantly appearing, which are praised and convinced that there are no problems with care. And then buyers, especially from northern regions countries cannot understand why hydrangea does not bloom. It’s sad, but even if all agrotechnical practices are followed, greenhouse hydrangea seedlings are not always successful. warm time years (if the summer is short) they have time to lay buds for the next year. As a result, we get a gorgeous green bush, but the hydrangea does not bloom.
Don't rush the hydrangea - let it develop a strong root system that could nurture the color. U paniculata hydrangeas this period takes about 6 years. In addition, hydrangea can bloom simply because insufficient watering, bad location, heavy soils, diseases and pests. Just carefully study the rules for caring for hydrangeas, choose a non-capricious variety (if you are a beginner) - and you will definitely succeed!