Re: Various hydrangea questions

Dear Nancy and Marge,

As an obsessed collector of Hydrangeas, I'd like to pass along a tip given
to me by Charles Cresson: planting hydrangeas deeper (like tomatoes), helps
improve hardiness. I've been doing that routinely and have not had a plant
lose all its flowers, although some will have fewer blooms in a harsh
winter. Here in southeastern Pennsylvania, we too can have the flower buds
nipped by a late cold snap. If you know it's coming, throw a blanket, trash
bag, etc. over your "risky" plants. If you miss the opportunity, there's
always next year!

As for wintering hydrangeas in pots, I have successfully stashed H. mac.
'Ayesha' (nicknamed the "popcorn hydrangea"), which is not fully hardy here,
for several years in my garage. The garage is under the house, so it's not
completely exposed. The only light it gets is from a small, basement-type
window on the far side. I let it go completely dormant, letting the leaves
just drop off. It looks terribly ugly. I don't water. Before it's safe to
put it out (like March), it always starts new growth, even in the dark and
witholding water. The foliage then starts to look yellow from the lack of
light and I worry that it will lose its flower buds. As soon as the weather
is above freezing during the day, I wheel it in and out of the garage during
the day and start to water. THe yellow leaves magically turn green. I keep
leaving it out for longer and longer periods and then at night. By the end
of April, I leave it out for good, but in a protected location. Somewhere
along the line, I add some new potting mix and fertilizer, Osmocote. I
usually cut it back a bit and root the cuttings to give away (I'm also a
compulsive propagator). Every other year I root prune to keep it sized so it
fits the pot (plastic....I made the mistake the first year of using terra
cotta and no one could move it!)

THe more I learn about hydrangeas, the more they break the "rules" for me.
The only thing I'm sure of is they are extremely tough plants, can be moved
at any time, and can take a ton of abuse. Part of their charm is that they
constantly change. New plants change color upon being planted, moved plants
will do it too. Mine all want to be blue so I'm thrilled when I can get one
to be pink....and stay that way.

I also dry lots of flowers. I never put them in water. To keep the stems
straight (especially the floppy peegee's and arborescens with weak stems) I
strip off most of the leaves, rubber band them and hang them upside down. I
dry so many that I made myself a rack from Home Depot pvc pipe and S-hooks.
I like to pick them at various stages of aging to get a mix of colors. I've
found that you must wait until they start to dry on the plant before
cutting, or they just wilt. Once they start, they keep deepening to a rose
color before finally turning brown. The exception is H. arborescens
'Annabelle', which ages to green, then brown, skipping the rose colored
phase. I love green flowers and added a bunch of new plants, just to have
more dried green hydrangeas, which blend with everything. They are fabulous
with dried Bellamcanda (blackberry lily).

Guess I've motor-mouthed enough about one of my favorite plants. Just
reinforcing Marge's usual, right-on-target advice.

Lorraine




On Thu, 13 Jul 2000 17:22:27 -0400, PRIMROSES wrote:

>  Hmmm, Nancy....in your zone 6, it might be a tad risky, depending on
>  your winter - and considering that you have problems with the ones
>  you do have in the ground.  You could try plunging the pot - dig a
>  hole and bury it up to the rim and mulch it and you can even erect a
>  burlap fence around it to cut the wind on the buds...plus put it in a
>  very sheltered spot that does not get early morning sun - or any sun
>  would be even better.  Sun on plant parts in winter is not a good
>  thing as it can trick them into reducing their built-in anti-freeze
>  and then they can't replace it to protect themselves when the sun
>  sets and it freezes again.
>
>  The problem with the mopheads - all Hydrangea macrophylla varieties
>  (usually) is that they are not very flower bud hardy.  They all want
>  to break dormancy at the first sign of warmish weather and get caught
>  in cold snaps.  Even in my z. 7 climate there are years when I have
>  no flowers on mine because of either really bitter cold or late cold
>  snaps.
>
>  If you really want flowers from your potted plants, best is to winter
>  them under cover and deal with the dormancy breaking when it happens.
>   Luckily, Hydrangeas grow and flower well in fairly deep shade, so
>  they don't need the kind of light that a lot of plants do.  If you
>  can provide them with a shop light in the garage - or even bring them
>  into the house and put them in a window in a cool room - would be
>  safer than leaving them outdoors in your climate, I should think.
>
>  Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
>  mtalt@clark.net
>  Editor:  Gardening in Shade
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>  > From: Nancy Stedman <stedman@INTERPORT.NET>
>  > Date: Saturday, July 08, 2000 11:57 AM
>  >
>  > Marge:
>  > Thanks for all the info! It almost sounds easier to leave the
>  hydrangeas
>  > outside, wrapped up, than inside where they might break dormancy
>  earlier. Or
>  > is that too risky in a pot?
>  > Nancy


Lorraine Wallace
Philadelphia suburbs, Zone 6b





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