Looking for a versatile, fast-growing, flowering shrub with long-lasting blooms in beautiful colors?
Start dreaming aboutgrowing hydrangeasthe South’s favorite flowerin your garden.
Flank The Stairs
Who cares where the stairs lead when they’re flanked by hydrangeas?
Credit: Ralph Lee Anderson
Contrasting coleus add to the dramatic setting.
Someshade-loving hydrangeasprefer full shade to filtered light.
This mixture of pink and purple blooms is a unique feature of hydrangeas.
Credit: Ralph Anderson
Make A Doorway To Paradise
Pink and purple hydrangeas fill this green garden with color.
A sweet table for two gives the gardeners a spot to enjoy their bounty.
With French hydrangeas, gardeners can amend the soil to change the color of the blooms.
Credit: Ralph Anderson
For pink hydrangeas, amend the soil to be more alkaline, and add lime.
For blue hydrangeas, amend the soil to be more alkaline with garden soil.
You canchange your hydrangea’s color, whether pink, blue, purple, or a combination.
Credit: Ralph Anderson
Alum powder, available in the spice aisle in grocery stores, helps cut flowers take in more water.
Hydrangeas don’t need a lot ofpruning.
If you prune too much or at the wrong time, it could prevent the plant from blooming.
Credit: Van Chaplin
Knowing your hydrangea variety is key to timinguse aseasonal calendarfor common types of hydrangeas.
‘Strawberry Sunday’is a panicle hydrangea that changes from white to pink to red during the growing season.
Keep things casual with a basket planter or go all out with porcelain blue and white.
Credit: Robbie Caponetto; Styling: Buffy Hargett Miller
When planting in masses, space French hydrangeas 3 to 4 feet apart.
With new plants,water consistentlyfor the first few years.
Keep hydrangeas hydrated with a deep soak once or twice a week to reach the roots.
Established French hydrangeas need an inch or more of water weekly during the growing season.
Amend soil as necessary with materials like compost, manure, wood clippings, and sphagnum peat moss.
For a more neutral palette for your garden, many hydrangea varieties bloom in whites and lime greens.
Credit: Van Chaplin
With the right variety, hydrangeas can be scaled to your garden’s space.
Compact hydrangeas pair well with cottage gardens that tend to be smaller and full of a variety of plants.
For the best options for small garden spaces, explorecompact hydrangea varieties.
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Hydrangeas like companions too.
The way you water is just as important as how much you water hydrangeas.
see to it to water hydrangeas at the base or roots with drip irrigation or soaker hoses.
Credit: Hector Manuel Sanchez; Styling: Buffy Hargett Miller
Overhead watering cancause diseaseslike Cercospora leaf spot, a fungus, to form on the leaves.
To achieve a bold, blue hue to French hydrangeas, try tweaking the soil withcoffee grounds.
French hydrangeas require acidic soil to turn blooms blue.
Credit: Hector Manuel Sanchez; Styling: Page Mullins
To create a welcomingSouthern garden, choose varieties of hydrangeas that thrive in the South.
For shrubs, consider yew, mahonia, boxwood, and gardenias.
Hydrangeas bloom spring through fall depending on the variety.
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Why Didn’t My Hydrangeas Bloom?
The Grumpy Gardenershares his tipsfor growing beautiful blooms to enjoy these gorgeous flowers year after year.
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Credit: Ralph Anderson; Styling: Scott Martin
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Credit: Ralph Anderson
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Credit: Ralph Anderson
