Tips for growing hydrangeas

Hydrangeas are my favorite flower!  

My dear friend and college roomate, Maura Jane, as I like to call her, gave me a beautiful vase for a wedding gift when my husband and I got married.  I like to keep it filled with hydrangeas (when they are in season).

Isn’t this vase beautiful?  It sits on our entry-way table next to a bowl full of sea-shells that we’ve collected from our too-many-to-count trips to Hilton Head Island.

I wanted to share the tips for growing hydrangeas that I’ve learned online, in books and through experience.

Tips for growing Hydrangeas

1- They like semi-shade or little sun.  If you have them in a sunny area, you must provide them with extra water.   Too much shade or too much sun will cause your plants to suffer.

I know this all too-well.  Last year, my Mom bought me two hydrangeas to plant outside of our house.  I have one plant in semi-shade and its doing well.  I have one in full sun and it has died after its first sumer.   My neighbor has their hydrangeas in mostly-shade and they are thriving and so beautiful!  (Luckily, they share them with me and give them to our boys to give to me… I  hear them telling our boys “Give these flowers to your Mother and tell her that you’ve picked them just for her.” and I gladly accept because they are beautiful!)

2- Water them often, but don’t let them SIT in water.  They like to be in well-draining, deep soil.

3- If your hydrangea is new, you won’t need to do much pruning.  If it is mature, but not growing, you must cut the damaged stem down.  Cut it to the base of the shrub (it it shows no signs of regrowth).  Sometimes this will cause NEW growth by having new shoots grow.

4- Don’t prune or trim hydrangeas in the fall!  The only thing that you will want to do in the fall is to take off the dead flowers.  Just let your hydrangeas die on their own.  If you prune them at the wrong time of year, you will kill next year’s growth.   When spring comes, you can prune them (as tip #3 suggests).  It could be really late in the spring or very early in the summer.

5- This was something very interesting, but did you know that the color of the flowers actually comes from the acid of your soil?

Bonus tip: If you don’t have space for them, plant them in a pot that allows the water to drain.  I am going to do this and keep them on our newly-screened in back porch (thanks to my husband, brother and Dad for building it for me).

I hope that this was helpful to you!

Are you looking for more gardening tips?  Here are a few posts that might be helpful:
Salsa with veggies from your garden
How to feed your family with a garden
10 gardening ideas for kids 

If you have any tips to share, I would LOVE to hear them!  Share them in the comments section or share them with me on Facebook.