Re: [SG] Hydrangeas

You're welcome, Nancy....it does make a nice foliage plant:-)

Well, my plants, in general, including the Hydrangeas, are extremely lucky
to get a handful of whatever I have in my hand once in a blue moon.  They
do have a pretty consistent leaf mulch and very occasionally get top
dressed with compost.

I am not a great fertilizer person, partly because I can never either
remember or get around to it, but partly because my theory is that a lot of
fertilizer makes for soft plants who are then a bit more prone to various
problems.  I like to keep them lean and mean:-)  But, if somebody looks
peaky to my eye, I will try to throw them a handful of 10-10-10 or similar.
 Generally figure some kind of organic mulch rotting away and making the
earthworms happy should be all they need...that's all Mother Nature gives
them..

Have not noticed my Hydrangeas needing extra hand outs, really.  They all
bloom like they're supposed to unless bambi gets to them or I have a late
frost that hits them.

But, have to say that they all were started out in soil well enriched with
organic matter and kept mulched, either by me or Mother Nature.  If in
lousy soil and no mulch, then they probably do need feeding.  Seems to me
they have a greater need for consistent water.  New plantings may get some
super phosphate or Roots or similar to encourage root growth, particularly
if I've dug them from somewhere else and there's been a fair amount of root
damage.  I never give a new planting high nitrogen fertilizers.  Most of
the time, new plantings get nothing but water and mulch.

Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
mtalt@clark.net
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----------
> From: Nancy Stedman <stedman@INTERPORT.NET>
> Date: Sunday, May 02, 1999 3:46 AM
>
> Marge, Thanks for your response. I think I'm becoming reconciled to
> 'Mariesii variegata' as a foliage plant, and I'm going to move it where
it
> can act like a tall (and unwieldy) hosta.
> On another hydrangea issue: How do you fertilize them? My instinct with
> shrubs is to use a low-powered balanced organic fertilizer but I see that
> Dan Hinkley suggests really cranking it up and others also say that
> hydrangeas are heavy feeders.
> Thanks,
> Nancy
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