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.
What is the ideal location to plant hydrangeas?
Learning the fundamentals of how to plant hydrangeas can help you save time and money, just like with most other items in your garden. You’ll improve your chances of enjoying big, vibrant hydrangea flowers for years to come by picking the appropriate site, getting the soil just right, and planting correctly.
When should I plant hydrangeas?
The best time to grow hydrangeas is in the fall, followed by early spring. The goal is to provide the shrub lots of time to develop a strong root system before it blooms. Early in the day or late in the day are the ideal times to plant. The day’s cooler hours provide relief from heat exhaustion. Water new plants frequently until they get established.
Locations to plant hydrangeas
The first step is knowing where to grow hydrangea plants. Hydrangeas are frequently grown in beds adjacent to houses or fences. This is so because hydrangeas prefer the mild early sun to the hot afternoon sun. A protected area with sunny mornings and shaded afternoons is the ideal spot to plant hydrangeas. This is frequently found on the north or south side of a house. Avoid planting underneath trees since it could cause competition for nutrients and water. Flowers and leaves can both be destroyed by strong winds.
hydrangea-friendly soil
The soil needs to be rich in organic matter for hydrangeas to thrive. Drainage is important. Although hydrangeas prefer damp soil, they cannot stand standing water. Root rot can be brought on by wet, poorly draining soils. Your hydrangeas could pass away in a matter of weeks. Consider adding a lot of compost to your heavy soil before planting to increase the soil’s quality.
Methods for planting hydrangeas
Simply dig planting holes that are 2 feet wider than the root ball for planting hydrangeas. So that your plant lies level with or just higher than the surrounding soil, match the depth of the hole to the size of the root ball. You can improve water drainage away from the plant’s base by making a small mound.
The best way to grow hydrangeas
Simple propagation methods can multiply a single hydrangea into several more. The optimal time to layer bigleaf and panicle hydrangeas is in the early to mid-summer. You only need to:
- Close to your hydrangea plant, make a tiny trench.
- Bend a branch such that the middle of the branch meets the earth in the trench (six to 12 inches of branch should extend past the trench).
- Where the branch meets the trench soil, make scuff marks on the bark.
- After the trench is filled, cover it with a paver, brick, or stone.
- The branch can be transplanted to a different area once it has established its own root system over time.
Hydrangeas with smooth or oakleaf leaves produce new growth from underground stems. Simply separate the baby plant from the main plant by digging it up. After then, it can be moved to a new spot.
How long should hydrangeas be exposed to the sun?
The answer is both, of course! Partial sun or partial shade-loving plants require between three and six hours of direct sunlight each day. Plants that thrive in the sun need at least six hours of direct sunshine each day.
Simply examine a specific area of your garden every hour or so from dawn to sunset if you are unsure how much sun your yard receives. From there, note if the area is sunny or shaded. Garden centers now sell sunlight estimators, which are a wonderful choice if you’re pressed for time.
In fact, all hydrangea species may thrive in some shade. Some of these species, meanwhile, will actually prosper with a little more sun. The panicle hydrangea, or Hydrangea paniculata, is one cultivar in particular that enjoys full sun.
The pH of the soil can affect the color of your flowers in many hydrangeas, especially when it comes to managing that hue. But H. macrophylla and H. serrata are two species that don’t do well in full sun or deep shade.
How much sun should hydrangeas get each day?
A lot of hydrangea species thrive in part shade, which is less than four hours of direct sunlight each day, and even full shade. These species include the blue, pink, or white bigleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla, zones 5–11). The pH of the soil affects the color of the blooms. Pink flowers grow on alkaline soils, while blue flowers are produced by acidic soils. Depending on the exact type, bigleaf hydrangeas may bear lacecap or mophead flowers, according to the Missouri Botanical Garden.
The smooth hydrangea (Hydrangea arborescens, zones 3-9) enjoys part shade and is another hydrangea that thrives in shade. It expands to a height and width of 5 feet. Between 2 and 6 inch wide corymbs of hairy white flowers are produced by this plant from June to September. According to the Missouri Botanical Garden, both the bigleaf and smooth hydrangea can occasionally grow in full sun if there is regular rain.
How much sunlight will a hydrangea tolerate?
After an early frost, I cut my hydrangeas back, and now I’m not getting any flowers. How come?
The question of how to prune hydrangeas is excellent. If you cut your hydrangeas back to the ground, the new growth will take some time to form and blossom. Be patient and watch for the green growth to emerge from the plant’s base. Your fresh blooms will sprout from there!
Last year, my hydrangeas produced a few little blooms, so this year, I fertilized every 10 days until I noticed blossoms beginning to form. What else can I do to produce large blooms?
On the foliage and blooms of my hydrangeas, there are brown dry blotches. What should I do to improve the hydrangeas’ health?
You most likely have anthracnose if the spot is circular, brown, and has a reddish to purple ring around it. Eliminate the damaged leaves and discard them far from your plants. Use a fungicide to treat, then repeat as necessary. The plants were excessively dry if the leaf edges gradually changed from green to grey to brown. If the flowers’ petal tips become brown, not enough water was used. Very rapidly, both the leaves and the blooms will exhibit signs of dehydration.
My hydrangeas were placed in a spot with at least six hours of full light and some afternoon shade. I discovered online that hydrangeas prefer to receive heavy watering once per week as opposed to daily light watering. My hydrangea shrubs have stopped blooming and are now turning brown. Why am I misusing this?
Can these hydrangea plants be grown in pots? A container would probably be a better choice because our garden gets really hot. Do I adhere to the same care guidelines as I would in the garden, such as watering, fertilizing, etc.?
Which kind of fertilizer do you suggest? Because of its large flowers, I am aware that certain types of fertilizer are excellent for hydrangea bushes, but I’m not sure which to purchase.
These plants were purchased because I wanted a large, gorgeous blue hydrangea bush in my garden. Big blossoms arrived, but they are PINK! what went wrong with me?
I would like to move my Endless Summer hydrangea to a more shaded location because I planted them in an area that is just too hot and sunny. What time of year is ideal for doing this, and are there any other pointers I should be aware of?
We advise undertaking any hydrangea bush transplanting while the plant is dormant.
As a result, you should move your hydrangea shrubs in the late fall, after the first frost, or in the early spring, before the summer blooms.
My neighborhood receives a lot of snow in the winter. Should I trim down Endless Summer Hydrangeas the same way I do my other hydrangea bushes? What more can I do to keep them warm throughout the chilly winter?