Caring for your Hydrangeas

Melanie Mathieson
Gardening Guru

Hydrangeas are considered the flowers of friendship because perfect strangers will stop to admire the blossoms and often discover a special bond with the gardener and shared love of this fine plant.
Now that you have made the decision to purchase a hydrangea you will need to know how to properly plant and care for your new shrub. Planting your new shrub in the wrong place could have a huge effect on the health of your hydrangea. Follow these planning and care instructions to get the most out of your hydrangea.
Hydrangea species like to grow in a location with partial shade. This means they need to be planted in a location where they are out of the sun between twelve and three o’clock in the afternoon. They can be planted in a garden facing east, as this garden only gets sun before noon, one facing west which only receives sun after three o’clock or a garden facing north, which has no direct sun throughout the day. A south facing garden receives the most sun from noon until three o’clock so this is not a good location for a Hydrangea. The intense sun will cause the plant heat stress. Another way of adding hydrangeas to your garden is to add them to an area in your yard where you have trees growing overhead of the Hydrangeas. The trees will provide a light filter to the Hydrangeas, crating a partial shade location. When using this idea you must avoid planting them in areas where there is large root competition from other plants and shallow rooting trees and shrubs.
After choosing the right location, the best condition for growing a hydrangea is a consistently moist, but well drained soil. If you have heavy clay soil you must amend the soil with heavy doses of compost or cow or sheep manure in order to improve drainage. Never add sand to a clay soil as it make drainage conditions worse not better. If you have sandy soil conditions mix in organic matter and be prepared to water more often than if you had heavier soils.
A well scheduled watering regime is essential for the success of your hydrangeas. Hydrangeas require a great deal of water and if not provided the correct amount, especially in hot dry weather, they show their distress by wilting alarmingly. Sometimes they will perk up once the sun goes down, but will definitely need water the following day. A good layer of mulch, pulled two inches away from the stem (to prevent rotting), helps to conserve moisture and discourage weeds. A handful of compost or a high potassium fertilizer will provide nutrients for good growth and flower production. A high potassium fertilizer is one with the middle number higher than the first and last number and example on the container may read 10-25-10. Follow the directions for blooming perennials exactly as indicated, as over-fertilization will lead to excessive leaf production and very small flowers if any develop at all.
The reward of large blooms on a hydrangea is a gardener’s delight but can also cause a problem. Like peonies, hydrangeas blooms can become very large and heavy that they tend to bend towards the ground, especially after a heavy rain. This can become a problem so severe that the entire shrub is flattened. Here are a few tricks one can use to reduce and even eliminate the problem:
1. You can plant at least three Annabelle or lacecap shrubs together - one to two feet apart. As they mature they will support one another somewhat.
or
2. Put a peony ring, tomato cage or a make short wire fence around the base of the plant with chicken wire, before it puts out new branches in the spring. When your hydrangea leafs out, it will completely hide the cage or wire
Although not common, even hydrangeas can attract a few pests. Among some pests to watch for are aphids, red spider mites and leaf miners. A good dose of one tablespoon of Sunlight dish soap added to one gallon of tepid water and poured over the shrub should be enough to rid the plant of the insects. Hydrangea foliage is also susceptible to leaf spots and powdery mildew usually in a season of excess moisture of high humidity. You can make a mixture of a tablespoon of baking soda mixed into a litre of water in a hand spray bottle and spray the leaves but it is okay not to treat the leaves too. Leaf spots and powdery mildew are more visually unappealing to the eye than harmful to the plant. Make sure in the fall that any of the diseased leaves are thrown in the garbage not the composter in order to reduce the chances of infection next year.
Friendships can begin among flowers. So plant hydrangea, and expand your social circle.