When the warm months arrive, few plants beautify our gardens and homes like hydrangeas can, with their beautiful clustered flowers of all kinds of striking colors. Hydrangeas, in fact, are not a single plant, but all those that belong to the genus Hydrangea and to the Hydrangeaceae family, which group shrubs of a great variety in size, some even climbing, and that have their origin in Asia.
If you want to know how to give a unique touch to your home when planting or sowing hydrangeas, join us in this GreenEcology article in which we tell you how to plant hydrangeas.
When to plant hydrangeas
When is the time to plant hydrangeas? These plants, although they differ slightly in their tolerance to cold or heat depending on the specific species, they share their predilection for temperate climates. In fact, no hydrangea tolerates intense cold or extreme heat, but they are especially sensitive to cold in their early stages of growth.
Due to this, the best time to sow them in is spring , as soon as the frosts have passed, so that the seedling is not exposed to temperatures below 12 ºC once it has germinated. If you are going to plant your hydrangea indoors, fall is also a good time, as long as you keep the plant above the aforementioned temperature.
It is also possible that you find yourself in the need to transplant the hydrangeas because they have grown a lot for their current pot, or because they are in an area of the garden that does not suit them. This plant does not have any complications for its transplantation, but this should be done between late autumn and winter , when the plant has already entered its vegetative rest.
Where to plant hydrangeas
These plants do not tolerate direct sunlight well, especially in the most intense hours or in hot climates. Some species even need permanent semi – shade locations . When in doubt, it is best to plant your hydrangea in a location where it receives a few hours of light in the morning , but is protected during the worst hours of noon and afternoon.
Also check that the soil is rich in nutrients, that it has good drainage and that the pH is slightly acidic , especially if you want your hydrangeas to give bluish-toned flowers, since the color of the flowers depends on the acidity of the soil.
How to plant hydrangeas step by step
Follow these steps to plant hydrangeas :
- Find an area in your garden where the hydrangeas will get a few hours of mild sun in the morning but are sheltered for the rest of the day, and check that the soil offers good drainage.
- If you are going to plant in a pot, prepare yourself a rich substrate with excellent properties by mixing peat, coconut fiber, and worm castings in equal parts, to which you can add a few handfuls of vermiculite and perlite to improve it even more.
- Remember that with a pH between 4.5 and 5 you will get bluish flowers, while between 6 and 6.5 the flowers will be more pinkish tones.
- Prepare the hydrangea seeds. It is best to get them freshly harvested from other hydrangeas, or save them until the following spring at most. It is advisable to always sow in a small container or a seedbed to better control the germination of the seeds, keeping them in an area illuminated with indirect light and keeping the substrate moistened but never flooded.
- When sowing, it is not necessary to bury the seeds more than 1-2 cm, and afterward, it is necessary to water abundantly, but always spraying the water so that the seeds do not drag.
- Once the seeds have germinated and the seedlings have grown several centimeters, you can transplant them to their final location or to a large pot.
How to plant hydrangeas by cuttings
The use of hydrangea cuttings for their multiplication is, in fact, much more common than sowing their seeds. With these plants, cutting has a good chance of being successful and is a much faster method. Take note of the steps to plant hydrangeas by cuttings :
- The ideal time to take the cuttings is after flowering, but before the flowers of the plant wither (when there are no new flowers but the ones there are not yet past). It is advisable to take branches with at least three nodes but with new buds, which will facilitate growth.
- Leave only half of the leaves from the top two nodes, pruning the others to reduce the plant’s water needs.
- If you want to improve the chances of success, you can prepare the cutting with organic rooting and plant it in a container with slightly acidic substrate.
- Afterward, keep it in the shade and water frequently but without flooding.
- In about 20 days, the cutting should have taken root and we can move it to its final location, although in the case of transplantation it is advisable to wait a few more weeks.
How to care for hydrangeas
To finish, we will tell you what are the basic care of hydrangeas:
- Climate: mild, without cold.
- Light: semi-shadow or indirect. 3-4 hours of incidence in the morning.
- Substrate: rich in organic matter, well drained and slightly acidic.
- Watering: frequent and abundant but without flooding or wetting the flowers.
- Fertilizer: contribution of specific fertilizer or organic matter in warm months to promote flowering.
