4 Tips to Follow to Have Beautiful, Lush and Colorful Hydrangeas at Home

Welcome Tips 4 Tips to Follow to Have Beautiful, Lush and Colorful Hydrangeas…

Taking care of flowers is never an easy task. While some require more sun, others prefer humid corners. This is particularly the case for hydrangeas. Here are 4 tips to have the most beautiful ones this summer, depending on the species you have.

1 – PLANT A HYDRANGEA PROPERLY

Hydrangeas are best planted in the fall, in heather soil, especially if your soil is chalky.

You can plant hydrangeas until spring and even summer, avoiding periods of frost and high heat.Hydrangeas like partial shade, which is the guarantee of beautiful flowering. Respect a spacing of 80 cm to 1 m between each foot if you want them to grow larger.

Water well the first year after planting.

2 – PROTECT YOUR HYDRANGEAS DURING WINTER PERIODS

In winter, wrap the stump with dead leaves in cold regions. Favor mulching, a process that consists of covering the ground with materials of plant or mineral origin, in order to limit evaporation and the growth of weeds. You can find a mixture in garden centers. If you live on the west coast, do not hesitate to prune the hydrangea during the winter. Elsewhere, simply cut off the faded inflorescences.

3 – THE SIZE

Hydrangeas should be pruned, if necessary, usually in late winter, which leaves the inflorescences dry on the plant. Although unsightly, the dried flowers protect the plant, while an open cut on the branch before the cold weather sets in exposes the plant to the risk of pests.

Depending on the family to which our hydrangeas belong, pruning will be more or less invasive:

Macrophylla are usually cut above the second or third bud from the tip (not the base), starting to remove the oldest, woody branches after 4 or 5 years; the same goes for Serrata.

Arborescens can be pruned even to 30-40 cm from the ground.

Paniculata can be pruned more lightly if we want to keep their shrub appearance, while if we want to give them a more rounded appearance, we can intervene more massively as in the case of arborescens, limiting ourselves mainly to eliminating the dry inflorescences.

The quercifolia are the only ones to be pruned at the end of August (as well as the “Praecox” variety of paniculata).

On the contrary, involucrata, one must intervene as little as possible.

4 – YOU FORGOT TO WATER IT? 

If the leaves or flowers are very soft, it is a sign of a lack of watering. Bathe the plant for 15 minutes in water and spray water on the leaves. Then place the hydrangea in a cool place.