Hydrangea Colour Variations

Cameron_z6a_N.S.

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I posted this on the HPS board awhile ago. I find it interesting how soil acidity affects the colour of hydrangea flowers. Here are some flowers from a plant planted in very poor, acidic soil at the corner of my house:

The amount of blue on these flowers is not very common. Regular flowers are white-ish, and those in alkaline soils can be pink! There are some hydrangeas planted at 2 neighbours' houses just 50 feet away, and they are both white with, with hints of pink.

Cameron.

Posted : 23/09/2011 11:25 pm

JordanNL

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There are some huge specimens here in St. Johns. Really cool shrub.

Posted : 24/09/2011 7:15 am

canadianplant

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Hydrengea lost its "coolness" for a while but it seems to be makin a come back!

Id have to say your soil there is acidic to a point dude, as far as im aware they dont go blue unless the soil is properly acidic. Only certain ones do this, the larger tree like hyd. I jsut planted one I got from walmart for a buck, and it can get 15+ feet!

http://www.northscaping.com/InfoZone/FS-0021/FS-0021.shtml

Thats the one I have. Not the Pee Gee, which is a seedling offspring from this one. This baby gets MASSIVE flower cones. My grandma has one she cuts down every year to about 2 feet, and it comes back in full sun with a vengence, topping 10 feet on average.

Certain types were and still are used as an herbal medicine, bees LOVE these plants, and the smell is almost intoxicating. They are like lilac, cept IMO nicer, easier to care for, and bloom later.

Do you have climbing hydrengea cameron? That is a WICKED vine, topping 80+ feet, grows well in full shade, and is literally, looks like a hydrengea that is a vine.

"The definition of insanity, is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting different results" - einstien

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Posted : 24/09/2011 8:05 am

igor.glukhovtsev

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There are some huge specimens here in St. Johns. Really cool shrub.

Any chance taking a pic. of this Hydrangea plants? It has been never growing well in my place pretending to be a zone 6a.

Posted : 24/09/2011 11:47 am

lucky1

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Having lived many years in Vancouver, a Hydrangea (and Azalea) seem to be prerequisites for home ownership there 😆 😆 😆

Love the Hydrangeas, especially the Lacecaps.

Epsom salts are great to turn so-so (mid-range) soil to more acidic for the gorgeous blue flowers.
So's aluminum sulphate (21-0-0), also "flowers of sulphur" but that takes longer to work.

Barb

If you drink, don't drive. Don't even putt.

Posted : 24/09/2011 2:45 pm

Cameron_z6a_N.S.

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Hi Canadianplant, yeah this soil is acidic. I don't think that this hydrangea is a climbing one. Right now, it is around 3 feet tall, and has been for several years.

Barb, I also had a French guy recommend aluminium sulphate to me on another forum. I think the flowers are quite blue already, so I probably won't amend the soil any further 😆

Posted : 24/09/2011 7:36 pm

canadianplant

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Hi Canadianplant, yeah this soil is acidic. I don't think that this hydrangea is a climbing one. Right now, it is around 3 feet tall, and has been for several years.

Barb, I also had a French guy recommend aluminium sulphate to me on another forum. I think the flowers are quite blue already, so I probably won't amend the soil any further 😆

LOL, my bad, Im asking if you also have a climbing hydrengea, but that also answers the question... so its all good lol

They are nice plants, theres tons of them planted here, probably every 5th or so house has one, and theres big ones in the old parks

The climbing type is interesting...

Hardy to -35C or so as well, and gets 80 feet if you let it get to some tall trees!

"The definition of insanity, is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting different results" - einstien

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Posted : 24/09/2011 7:44 pm

Cameron_z6a_N.S.

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I think I've seen several of them around here. There is one on my commute that is a tree form around 15' high or so.

Posted : 24/09/2011 7:53 pm

lucky1

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I love the blue flowers Cameron, your soil's perfect for blue.
It's simply too hot and dry here for hydrangeas...too bad.

Here's a nice site/info on hydrangea:

https://sites.google.com/a/gardeningforlove.com/www/home2

Barb

OOPS LINK IS BROKEN...

If you drink, don't drive. Don't even putt.

Posted : 27/09/2011 1:53 pm

canadianplant

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I love the blue flowers Cameron, your soil's perfect for blue.
It's simply too hot and dry here for hydrangeas...too bad.

Here's a nice site/info on hydrangea:

https://sites.google.com/a/gardeningforlove.com/www/home2

Barb

OOPS LINK IS BROKEN...

Barb, i bet they would do great in the shade there. The corner mine is in gets 10C hotter then the open air, and it did quite well so far (full sun)

Thanks for the hydrengea talk, it reminded me to multch mine with some peat. Can you take a pic of the whole shrub cameron?

"The definition of insanity, is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting different results" - einstien

Check out my new Blog! http://canadianplant.wordpress.com/

Posted : 27/09/2011 4:43 pm

lucky1

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We don't have shade here...we have only HALF-DAY blistering bloody hot OR FULL-DAY blistering bloody hot.

😆

If you drink, don't drive. Don't even putt.