By far, hands down choice for the ornamental garden hydrangea is the scanning head. While it may be a little biased, there is no denying its beauty and flexibility as a hedge, border or as I like samples. They handle spotlight with grace and ease. The Endless Summer variety, in particular, a cultivar of Hydrangea macrophylla has large flowers on both old and new wood for the removal of faded flowers to encourage new growth further. You will have a variety of color most of the season, long after other plants have finished their show for the year.

Variety is the spice

Is large, distinctive flowers can grow to 8 inches in diameter and color can be changed by adjusting the pH of your soil. If the soil is acidic, you will be rewarded with a beautiful blue color. If you have alkaline soil the flowers will be pink. By adding small amounts of aluminum sulfate, elemental sulfur or iron sulfate in alkaline soils to reduce the pH making it more acidic and its blue flowers turn – to shoot a series of about 5.2 to 5.5. I'm partial to blue because it is a rare color in the garden.

A word of caution! Be careful adding soil amendments such as aluminum sulfate above. Adding too much or too fast added that can kill your plant then will be the one with the blue.

If you're a fan of pink and has acidic soil, add some dolomitic lime. Applied several times a year, lime increases soil pH and wishes you a range of 6.0 to 6.2. Soil test kits are available at garden centers everywhere.

Stay Cool Baby!

Hydrangea, in general, as the morning sun, but need the protection of waters, the midday sun. A to the faces this place, perhaps under a tree, is the best place for this kind of show-offs. I wish I'd known 3 years ago, before I planted (a re-planted) mine 3 times, finally finding a place in the southeastern side of my house. They are doing splendidly now. Unlike most varieties of macrophylla, are more resistant to mildew so the extra shade should not cause problems. Apart from the wet soil uniformly have very few requirements. They are what I call an "easy care "of the plant. Ron Popeil might say" Set it and forget it if. "I would not go that far. If anything I tend to be overprotective plants. I am a hands-on man and forget that Mother Nature has already discovered.

Not Just Another Southern Belle

Endless Summer is resistant to the area 4 for those of us north to as the southernmost parts of Canada can enjoy their beauty. You want to stop fertilizing after mid – August, although to start preparing the ground for winter. Encouraging new growth at the end of the years is a mistake as any new growth probably will not survive winter. Your soil should be kept moist in the fall until the weather is cold enough to freeze the ground, but do not feed on the plant. Make add fertilizer (usually Place 5 or 6 inches of leaves, debris, grass etc. in late November), will want to isolate it from strong winds and ensure the plant remains inactive, even if an warm spell during the winter months.

Once the snow melts and the spring thaw in earth, discover the plant, ensuring clean near the base where the leaves or grass may have gotten tangled. It is important to let air and sunlight can come take a while, you might even think that the plant has died. I was sure I had killed my Nikko Blue Hydrangea the first year. For the longest time they sat there, looking very much dead sticks. Once the day got warmer though growth started slowly, down at the base. A leaf here, a small branch there … I thought it was bush. Thank God I pull them!

Just In Case

Propagation of the Endless Summer Hydrangea is prohibited without a license, but no one will blame you for wanting to protect your investment for growth of a second plant for insurance. In short stem cuttings taken in summer and place them in a mixture of peat and sterile sand (sand play found in the garden center is fine), can easily result of a second plant in case your original not survive the winter.

Not that one tempted, but …

On a side note, if you have dogs like mine (which are puppies, they eat everything), hydrangeas are toxic. The plant contains cyanogenic glycosides. If Fido chews on any part of the plant, hydrogen cyanide is released and can make a dog very sick – or worse.

Fresh-Cut, Ready for Table

Hydrangeas are wonderful dried flower arrangements. The color can bring to your garden into your home. You want to wait and not even just cut the flowering stems. The best results come from the flowers that have begun to dry on the stem, once the petals have begun to dry and feels the feel like paper. Cut, pull the leaves, stick them in a vase and take them home. You do not even need to put them in water. You can get more details and use of materials special drying the freshest flowers and color retention even more. Silica gel can be sprinkled in the flower and dried for 4 to 5 days. After 5 days, take the flower to shake off the excess silica gel in a newspaper and save it to another flower. I have even heard of people using kitty litter as an alternative less costly for the silica gel.

Although there are other equally beautiful plants available for your garden, hydrangeas provides a versatility that few other plants can claim. Its long-lasting flowers in shades of pink and blue are proud long after most others have called it a day. They ask little and the reward as well.

R. F. Berry is a freelance journalist who writes for Essay Street Article Directory – The Home of the No~Label RSS Feed

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