Can You Plant Two Hydrangeas Together

Due to their size, hydrangeas can sometimes be difficult to position in the garden. You should be aware of the amount of space hydrangeas require so that you won’t ever need to transplant plants.

Bigleaf and Panicle hydrangeas must be planted 6–12 feet apart. The spacing between Oakleaf hydrangeas should be between 6 and 8 feet.

Generally speaking, hydrangeas should be placed apart at a distance equivalent to one adult plant’s width (for plants of the same size). To ensure that there is a modest space between the plants, you must additionally add an additional foot to this amount. When planting hydrangeas of different sizes, the planting distance should match the bigger variety’s diameter.

We’ll then go into greater depth about how much room is required for the most widely grown hydrangea species and variations.

To avoid stale air and an excessive amount of wetness, leave an additional foot between hydrangeas. Otherwise, the hydrangea can contract a disease and have yellow leaves. Check out the article on growing hydrangeas in good health as well.

Can hydrangeas be planted closely together?

When the time comes to plant, McEnaney advises choosing a spot with early sun and dappled afternoon shade. Getting too much sun will quickly cause hydrangea leaves to burn. The ideal location also contains loam soil, which is composed equally of clay, silt, and sand and is well-drained. This plant prefers nutrient-rich, well-drained soil, according to McEnaney. “Make sure to modify the soil for excellent drainage if you have thick clay or sand. utilizing gypsum in clay and adding peat moss to sand to increase water retention.”

The hydrangea’s branches can stretch out in the ideal location, which is very spacious. Some hydrangea blooms can reach a width of six feet. Before planting, make sure to check the plant’s tag to determine what its mature size would be. According to McEnaney, while planting hydrangeas, “you want to make sure there is space for air flow.” Plant hydrangeas at least two feet apart to achieve this. This promotes airflow among the plants and helps ward against mildew.

How far apart should I put hydrangeas?

Hydrangeas have huge bloom heads and exude an old-fashioned elegance. How to plant and take care of beautiful floral bushes is explained in our hydrangea growing guide. Additionally, learn the answers to frequently asked questions like “why aren’t my hydrangeas blossoming this year?”

About Hydrangeas

These elegant plants are simple to grow, withstand nearly any sort of soil, and produce an abundance of blossoms that are unmatched in the world of shrubs for their stunning flowers. Clear blue, vivid pink, frosty white, lavender, and rose blossoms sometimes grow on the same plant, enticing us with their colors.

From container gardens to shrub borders to group plantings, hydrangeas are great for a variety of garden locations. Breeders seem to give us more possibilities every year, and gardeners have countless expectations for bloom size and color. Varieties abound. Pay attention to the species listed below to get an idea of how your hydrangea will develop as some require different maintenance. The joys you experience will be enhanced when you know what to expect.

Enjoy this tribute to hydrangea beauty and read our guide below to discover how to grow hydrangeas.

Where to Plant Hydrangeas

The majority of hydrangeas like fertile, moisture-rich soils that drain well. Compost can help improve bad soil.
Hydrangeas typically prefer some sun. In an ideal world, they would receive full sun in the morning and then some afternoon shade to avoid the intense midday sun. The Bigleaf Hydrangea (H. macrophylla), with its huge, prone-to-wilting leaves, is a prime example of this. Some kinds can withstand more direct sunlight.
Depending on the kind, place hydrangeas anywhere between 3 and 10 feet apart. Plants should always be spaced according to their anticipated mature size!

When to Plant Hydrangeas

The optimum season to plant hydrangeas is in the fall, followed by spring. The cooler shoulder seasons are the ideal times to plant shrubs because they will have plenty of time to build a strong root system before the intense heat of summer or the bitter cold of winter.
In the early morning or late afternoon, plant the shrubs. The plant is less prone to experience heat stress from direct sunshine because it is typically cooler.

How to Plant Hydrangeas

Gently remove the hydrangea from its container and examine the root ball. Snip off any rotten or dead sections, and if the plant is very root-bound, pry the roots free.
Make a hole that is two to three times as big and as deep as the root ball. The top of the planting hole should be level with the base of the plant, which is where the stem joins the earth.
After placing the plant in the hole, add enough soil to fill it halfway. generously hydrate. Fill the remaining space in the hole with soil once the water has been absorbed.
once more, thoroughly rinse.

How to Grow Hydrangeas from Cuttings

Cuttings of hydrangeas can be easily grown. They easily take root, and the process is a wonderful teaching tool for propagation. This is how you do it:

Find a branch on a mature hydrangea that is fresh growth and has not flowered. In comparison to older growth, new growth will appear lighter in color, and the stem won’t be as firm.
Make a horizontal incision 4 to 5 inches down from the branch’s tip. Make sure your cutting has at least three to four pairs of leaves.
Trim the cutting’s lowest pair of leaves so that they are flush with the stem. If you can afford to remove more than one pair of leaves, do so. Roots develop more readily from these leaf nodes. But make sure to leave at least two pairs of leaves at the cutting’s tip.
Remove the tip half of any leaves that are still pretty large by cutting them in half. This keeps the leaves from slamming into the sides of the plastic bag you’ll later use to cover the cutting (to keep the humidity up).
(Optional) Sprinkle rooting hormone and a plant antifungal powder on the stem’s leafless area (both available at a local hardware or garden store). This will promote roots and deter decay.
Prepare a small pot and put moistened potting soil inside. The cutting should be planted in the ground, buried down to the first remaining pair of leaves. Lightly water the area surrounding the stem to close any air spaces.
Wrap a plastic bag loosely around the entire pot. To prevent the cutting’s leaves from rotting, make sure the bag is not touching them. The bag can be supported by chopsticks or other such objects to keep it off the leaves.
Put the pot in a warm location that is protected from the wind and sun.
Only rewater your cutting after the top layer of soil is dry after checking on it every few days to make sure it isn’t decaying. In a few weeks, hopefully, the cutting will start to root! If you feel resistance when you gently tug on the cutting, roots have grown.

Watering

Make sure hydrangeas get enough water for the first year or two after planting and throughout any droughts.
Over the course of the growing season, water at a rate of 1 inch per week. Three times a week of heavy watering is preferable to shallow watering. Root growth is promoted by this.
All varieties of hydrangeas benefit from constant moisture, but bigleaf and smooth hydrangeas need more water.
If the soil is too dry, the leaves will wilt, and there won’t be enough moisture for the flowers to bloom.
To water thoroughly while keeping moisture off the flowers and leaves, use a soaker hose.
The best time to water hydrangeas is in the morning to protect them from disease and get them ready for the heat of the day.
Under your hydrangeas, spread organic mulch to help keep the soil cool and moist, gradually add nutrients, and enhance soil texture.

Fertilizing

You might not need to fertilize hydrangeas if your soil is rich. When fertilizer is applied in excess, blossoms are sacrificed in favor of green growth. A soil test is the most effective tool for determining your fertility requirements.

Apply fertilizer according to the type of hydrangeas you have. Every variety has varied requirements and will profit from applying fertilizer at various times.

Several mild fertilizer applications in March, May, and June are beneficial for bigleaf hydrangeas.
Two applications in April and June work best for oakleaf and panicle hydrangeas.
The only time smooth hydrangea plants require fertilizing is in the late winter.

Winter Protection

Cover plants with bark mulch, leaves, pine needles, or straw in the fall, at least 18 inches deep. If at all feasible, create cages out of chicken wire or snow fencing and cover the entire plant, including the tip, with the cages. (Avoid using maple leaves; they have a tendency to mat after becoming wet and may suffocate the plant.)

How to Prune a Hydrangea

Many of the queries from readers concern hydrangea trimming. It makes sense that it’s unclear because it relies on the hydrangea kind. Fortunately, identifying which type you have makes determining the best pruning strategy simple. Discover the fundamentals below, then read more about pruning different varieties of hydrangea here.

Pruning Common Hydrangeas

The Bigleaf cultivar of Hydrangea macrophylla is the most popular garden hydrangea shrub. (For more, see below.)

Hydrangeas with large leaves, such as Bigleaf (H. macrophylla), Oakleaf (H. quercifolia), Mountain (H. serrata), and Climbing (H. anomala subsp. petiolaris), are pruned AFTER the summer blooms have passed. On stems from the previous season, these kinds bloom (“old wood).

Avoid pruning after August 1 since flower buds actually grow in the late summer and bloom the next season.
Dead wood should only be removed in the fall or very early spring.
To stimulate branching and fullness, trim one or two of the oldest stems by cutting them all the way to the ground.
Pruning the stems all the way to the base is necessary if the plant is old, neglected, or injured. For the following season, you’ll lose the flowers, but you’ll also revive the plant for subsequent ones.
The huge Mopheads should not be deadheaded (faded flowers removed); instead, you should leave them over the winter and trim them back in the early spring (to the first healthy pair of buds). Deadheading Lacecaps is OK; simply trim down to the second set of leaves below the bloom head.
Avoid pruning unless it is absolutely required while growing H. macrophylla (and H. serrata) cultivars in Zones 4 and 5, and then only after blooming. If not, merely remove dead stems in the spring.

Pruning Other Hydrangeas

Hydrangeas called Panicle (H. paniculata) and Smooth (H. arborescens) are clipped BEFORE flower buds develop. On stems from the current season, these kinds blossom (“new wood).

When the plant is dormant in the late winter, prune. The plant will therefore grow new buds in the spring that will result in blossoms even if the winter kills the buds.
In general, avoid pruning to “shape the bush” and just remove dead branches.

Can hydrangeas be planted next to one another?

Bushes called hydrangeas bear white, pink, or blue blooms. These are small flowers that grow in voluminous bloom clusters. These bushes will typically reach a height of four to six feet and bear flowers that can range in length from six to eighteen inches. These shrubs thrive best in damp soil and are extremely cold hardy. These shrubs prefer some shade and cannot stand full sun or complete darkness. H. anomala, a climbing variation of hydrangeas, is also available. This type can either be let to grow along the side of a structure or planted on a trellis on the north side of the house. It has the capacity to grow as tall as 80 feet. Hydrangeas do well when planted close to small evergreens or woody shrubs because they also do well in woodland regions.

No matter where in the nation you reside, the north side of your house receives little natural light.
Hydrangeas do well when planted close to small evergreens or woody shrubs because they also do well in woodland regions.

Are hydrangeas invasive?

You need to seek for areas where hydrangeas can flourish when deciding where to put them in your front-of-house landscaping. Hydrangeas like full sun if you reside in a northern region. In contrast, hydrangeas thrive in Southern climates where they like early full sun followed by afternoon shade or partial sun. According to The Old Farmer’s Almanac, the region should also have fertile, moisture-rich soil that drains properly.

Make sure there is enough room for the hydrangeas to spread and grow when selecting a spot. They can grow up to 15 feet tall and between 3 and 10 feet broad, depending on the kind. So you should watch out that a mature plant doesn’t take over your front-of-house landscaping.

The function of the plant is another factor to take into account when using hydrangeas into front yard landscaping. In front of a tall porch, do you want it to act as a natural screen? Will they serve as focal pieces on the porch steps or as flower bed bookends? They may serve as a kind of inorganic fence separating the front yard from the side yard or the backyard. Your choice of the finest location to plant your hydrangeas will be influenced by the purpose.

How quickly do hydrangeas grow?

When it comes to hydrangeas, rapid growth is defined as 25 inches or more of growth per year until the plant is mature. A “tree” format plant will reach a minimum height of 13 feet and a minimum width of 3 inches at a point 4 1/4 feet high.

What complements hydrangeas well?

Perennials that can tolerate the shade are perfect next to hydrangeas. Hostas, ferns, foxglove, and coral bells are a few of the best. A shady area is created behind the leaves of numerous upright hydrangeas. Hostas that prefer the shade do well in this area. Hostas are typically grown in gardens for their attractive foliage. The pale hosta flower spikes that some gardeners remove because they don’t like them will be concealed by the hydrangea leaves above.

Hostas come in a variety of green hues, from blue-green to chartreuse. Many have uniformly colored leaves, while others exhibit leaf variegation in white or yellow. Choose greenery to go with your hydrangea blossoms.

You can combine two or three different varieties, or you can utilize only one type. Around the hydrangea base, plant them in a single row in a circle or half-circle, or in small groupings in a triangle configuration. White blooms go nicely with green and white variegated hosta species, while pink hydrangea blossoms pair well with hostas that have bluish-green leaves.

Hostas come in a variety of heights and leaf widths. Even if they initially appear to be quite far apart, they tend to get bigger every year, therefore plant them where instructed on the label. Plant annuals in the voids for the first year or two if you don’t like them.

If you decide on perennials that require more sun, such as daylilies, place them next to hydrangeas, such as smooth or panicle hydrangeas, that can withstand more sun.