The pompous beauty of lush inflorescences and the power of a flowering bush hydrangea make it an indispensable element of mixing beds, "bouquet" hedges and solo plantings. A variety of varieties contributes to the promotion of flower gardens in Central Russia.
Read more about the features of growing in our article. See also the useful video.
Favorite of Russian gardens
The heir to the Far Eastern natural species and breeding novelties of the European collection, hydrangea (Hydrangea), as they call this flower in botanical atlases is represented in domestic floriculture by several varieties resistant to cool summer and severe winters:
tree;- large-leaved;
- paniculata;
- ground cover;
- petiolate;
- hydrangea sargent.
tree;There are no evergreen forms among them. Sometimes, for wintering, individual varieties have to be transplanted into pots and brought into the room, but minus temperatures up to 10 ° C, and even -25 ° C, some of the hydrangeas (for example, paniculata) are firmly tolerated with reliable shelter.
When in line planting, on the growth of the bush prudently lay an interval of 1.5 meters, but it happens that the bushes grow to 2.5 m in diameter (with good lighting), covered with a cap of inflorescences - each the size of a human head. There can not do without supports and supports.
A year after planting, the flower, if properly looked after, forms a spectacular shrub of 5-7 inflorescences, which, with a total height of 2 meters and above, is a serious application for a decorative accent in the garden.
It blooms by mid-summer, when there are more sunny days and relatively warm at night.. Bush blooms by September-October, repeating this cycle up to 30-50 times. For 8 years of life, a uterine plant is capable of producing numerous offspring - up to 50 basal cuttings.
Photos of plants
Here you can see the photo of blooming hydrangeas.
Breeding
Propagation of hydrangea is most often carried out by cuttings., harvested from flexible basal shoots (up to 3 internodes size 7-8cm). Suitable for breeding and stem cuttings that are buried in the substrate (peat and sand) at t◦20◦С and humidity - 80%.
For rooting, 5-6 weeks is enough, after which the plants are planted in pots or soil. In pots seedlings can spend the winter, cleaned in the basement. Attempts to bloom in the first year interrupt.
By dividing a bush, it is propagated in spring, transplanting “delenki” into prepared places. One-year-old layers can also give life to a new plant, if they are bent down and prikopat, leaving the tip of the shoot on the surface.
Grafting is occasionally used for varietal changes. Its implementation requires special knowledge and skills, therefore it is not used in home gardening. Growing hydrangeas from seeds is a very laborious business, and therefore not popular.
The cycle of growing hydrangea consists of:
- reproduction (grafting, layering, dividing the bush, grafting and seeds);
- summer care for her (watering, feeding, pruning, mulching);
- rest period (from October to March - wintering);
- spring forcing (depending on the goals) for annuals - 5-10 cm (pot), 5-30 cm (soil); The plant wintering in the basement can be put out for distillation from February.
How to care?
Summer care
Summer maintenance - a complex of agrotechnical measures promoting plant development and the passage of all vegetative cycles. It consists of:
- regular watering (once in 7 days - 20-30 liters) with rain or settled water, in the heat - more often;
- weeding, loosening (to a depth of 10 cm) and mulching of the root circle (up to 3 times per season);
- nitrogenous fertilizer of the bush during the period of budding (spring) and potash - at the time of flowering (in summer), with regularity 1 time per 2 weeks;
- sanitary and from 4 years old - formative pruning in the open field, in order to rejuvenate the bush and stimulate flowering;
- the period of care work - spring-autumn;
- preparation for the rest period: removing leaves, tying the bush into a bundle, high hilling, placing a support under the covering material - lapnik, film, lutrasil;
- during severe winters, the entire structure is covered with snow;
- planting or transplanting new plants into a prepared pit 50 x 50 and depth — as many; soil composition in equal shares: turf, sand, humus and peat;
- In the first year, the expected growth of stems is 20-30cm.
TIP: Create support fences around the bush to protect the stems from lodging under the weight of large inflorescences.
Peace
A dormant period for hydrangeas in a mild, warm climate requires no protective measures.: only trimming and linking in bunches. After a snowy winter with the beginning of sap flow and bud sprouting, the stems should be gradually opened during the day, winding the bush, raised from the shelter, tied up vertically, protecting from sunburn.
All parts of the growing hydrangea are considered poisonous, because they contain cyanogenic glycoids, but in folk medicine, the root extract is used as a tonic, wound healing, diuretic, and anesthetic.
Necessary conditions for flowering
Among gardeners there are two opinions on the cultivation of hydrangea: an unpretentious plant, and - quite capricious. They are based on the right and wrong choice of landing site..
After all, the oppression of growth, the scarcity of flowering, the defeat of chlorosis or powdery mildew - a consequence of the unsuccessful placement of the bush, or the choice of soil composition. The plant can also suffer from an excess of gardener's love: excessively flooded or “fed” with fertilizers.
Optimal conditions for growth:
- Well-lit elevation above the groundwater horizon, where there is no direct sun, but partial shade is formed.
- Natural or artificial protection against constant winds and heavy rainfall.
- Podzolic soils and nutrient loams; acidity is not higher than pH4.5-5.
- Constant moisture earthy coma.
- Temperature background not lower than + 12◦С.
- Regular removal of weeds and processes from the root circle.
- Formative pruning.
- Proper preparation for the winter.
IMPORTANT: In areas with alkaline soil, artificial acidifiers are used for the well-being of the shrub: citric or oxalic acid (30 ml per bucket of water), and even battery electrolyte (1 ml per liter of water).
Watch the video about conditions for lush hydrangea blooms:
The ability to affect the color - a rare gift of nature to man
The beauty of the spherical inflorescences of hydrangea is provided by sterile four-lobed flowers, fringing inconspicuous small fertile. The seed box is formed from the latter, they are honey plants, but they are admired, like moths, barren flowers.
At the very beginning of flowering, regardless of the variety, they all have a light green color. Only over time it becomes obvious what color the panicles will be.
The palette of blooming hydrangea: from chaste white and pale beige through all shades of pink to delicate tones of lilac, blue and blue. Hard to believe but the color of the inflorescences determines the acidity and content of chemical elements in the soil:
- the presence of Al or Fe in the form of alum guarantees all shades of blue;
- on slightly alkaline soils, sterile flowers will have a pink (natural) color;
- The change of color contributes to the introduction of peat.
Such processing is carried out in the period of the beginning of the growing season. Regular use of additives gives unambiguity of the color of the broomstick, irregular - a manifestation of bicolor.
Special hybrids of hydrangeas that can change color and very easily "repaint" in the desired color - "NikkoBlue", "Blaumeise", etc. have been derived. Snow-white varieties are the most difficult to change, at best, their inflorescences can become slightly pink. Influencing color samples, you can get complex shades of red and blue - purple, violet.
This feature of influencing the color of hydrangea inflorescences people have found out by experience has long been done: they bury rusty objects or watered the plant with rusty water.
How to extend the joy of admiring?
A flowering shrub is pleasing to the eye for several months, the inflorescences cut for a bouquet stand in water for 2 weeks. But thirst to prolong the time of flowering led florists to the conservation of flowering hydrangea in different ways for up to a year. This is the drying:
right on the bush, waiting for the paper fragility of the petals;- Drying in a cool room in a suspended head down state (preferably not in contact with other branches);
- drying in water, when a cut plant with a stem height of 40 cm is given the opportunity to live in a vase filled with water filled to the middle of the stem, without replenishing with life-giving moisture, until it is completely evaporated;
- dry flowers hydrangeas can be in the microwave or using silica gel.
right on the bush, waiting for the paper fragility of the petals;Such a flower will stand in a floral composition for a year, without losing color, but then it will fade anyway.
Cut flowers for drying need at the end of the seasonwhen fertile flowers begin to actively bloom, and sterile flowers change color, fading. It is very difficult to catch this moment: hurry up - the flowers will dry for a very long time to the detriment of beauty, you will be late - from colored ones will turn into brown. Not plucking the flowering flowers, which can provoke the withering of the whole panicle.
IMPORTANT: Hydrangea does not tolerate drought, but excess moisture is also harmful. From it appear fungal diseases, can rot the roots. A weakened plant is home to aphids, ticks and nematodes.
Watch a video on drying methods:
Why does not bloom in the garden and what to do in such cases?
This is perhaps the most important disappointment grower. Well, in the first year - of course, it is still too early. And then? The reason may be:
- wrong grade for the region;
- artificially stimulating a pre-sale copy, as can be seen from budding buds;
- abrupt change of the substrate in which the plant was purchased, and garden soil;
- lack of root development;
- early release of the bush in the spring of frost protection;
- frost damage to the upper bud buds;
- improper pruning of stems, with the removal of flower buds;
- the constant stay of the plant in the shade;
- no complex feedings.
Proper identification of the causes will help to correct them correctly, and wait for the solemn moment: the lush flowering of the hydrangea bush.
