Hydrangeas are a staple around these parts and we are excited to say that a new shipment has just arrived! Oh dear hydrangea, how we love you so…let us count the ways:
- We love their ability to dramatically beautify just about any landscape or container
- We love how forgiving their blooms are – especially when we’ve forgotten to give them a proper drink of water
- We love their richly-hued, oversized, & delicate blooms
- We love getting to cut blooms to bring indoors and arrange for everyone’s enjoyment (Cutting also promotes new growth – double ‘win’!)
Endless Summer The Original
Endless Summer – The Original
The repeat mophead blooms of Endless Summer® The Original truly offer gardeners an endless summer of incredible color. This hardy plant is perfect for everything from foundation planting to container gardening. They even make an ideal floral arrangement or table setting as cut flowers. Don’t feel bad when snipping blooms to enjoy indoors – periodic cuttings actually promote more blooms!
Just when you think this variety can’t get any better, it does! You can actually alter the color of the hydrangea blooms from pink to blue if you wish – here’s how:
Turn Your Hydrangeas Blue
Hydrangeas turn blue as a reaction to aluminum in the soil. This requires 2 conditions:
1.) Perform a soil test first, to determine your starting pH
The soil pH should be slightly acidic (5.2 – 5.5). Adding aluminum sulfate to the soil will help lower its pH, if necessary. A word of caution: not all plants can tolerate acidic soil and neighboring plants may be adversely affected. Always follow label recommendations when adding amendments to your soil.
2.) Aluminum must be present in the soil
If aluminum is naturally in your soil and the pH is low, your hydrangeas are probably already blue. But even if you have naturally acidic soil, you may need to add some aluminum sulfate.
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Turn Your Hydrangeas Pink
Hydrangeas turn pink because their lack of aluminum. This can be accomplished by a few different methods:
1.) Add dolomitic lime
This raises the soil pH to about 6.0 -6.5, which is considered a healthy range where hydrangeas can’t access the aluminum in the soil, but don’t suffer other nutrient deficiencies. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t want to make the soil truly alkaline.
‘Limelight’ Hydrangea
An exciting hardy Hydrangea from Holland, ‘Limelight’ has unique bright chartreuse blooms in mid-summer that hold bright and refreshing color right into autumn when the blooms change color to a rich deep pink. The autumn display of chartreuse and pink blooms on the same plant is breathtaking! The color makes a great addition to the garden and it blends wonderfully with all other colors. Use ‘Limelight’, either fresh or dried, in bouquets to make a unique floral design. This is an easy to grow plant with reliable flowering and flower color regardless of soil pH. The flower heads are of good size, ranging from 6 to 12 inches and are held upright on the shrub. The blooms are well distributed making a very nice plant and display.
'Little Lime' hydrangea
‘Little Lime’
A new dwarf form of the ever popular ‘Limelight’ hydrangea, Little Lime sports the same great flowers and coloration as ‘Limelight’ but in a smaller package. At one third the size of traditional hardy hydrangeas, this new variety fits well into any landscape. Summer flowers open soft green and turn pink and burgundy in fall.
Oakleaf hydrangea
‘Oakleaf Hydrangea’
Use this foundation or accent plant in your landscape where its con-shaped flowers can be admired & appreciated. This bushy shrub is roundedly upright with an open, loosely branched habit. In late spring, creamy white, elongated flowers appear, gradually turning pinkish purple with age. Dark green, oak-like foliage becomes glowing red in fall, while mature stems exfoliate to reveal rich brown inner bark, lending winter interest. With its long bloom period and multi-season attraction, this native hydrangea is a real winner!
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Limelight hydrangea
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