Hydrangea Colour Variations

Cameron_z6a_N.S. · Post by **Cameron_z6a_N.S.** » Fri Sep 23, 2011 8:25 pm

I posted this on the HPS board awhile ago. I find it interesting how soil acidity affects the colour of hydrangea flowers. Here are some flowers from a plant planted in very poor, acidic soil at the corner of my house:

The amount of blue on these flowers is not very common. Regular flowers are white-ish, and those in alkaline soils can be pink! There are some hydrangeas planted at 2 neighbours' houses just 50 feet away, and they are both white with, with hints of pink.

Cameron.

JordanNL · Post by **JordanNL** » Sat Sep 24, 2011 4:15 am

There are some huge specimens here in St. Johns. Really cool shrub.

canadianplant · Post by **canadianplant** » Sat Sep 24, 2011 5:05 am

Hydrengea lost its "coolness" for a while but it seems to be makin a come back!

Id have to say your soil there is acidic to a point dude, as far as im aware they dont go blue unless the soil is properly acidic. Only certain ones do this, the larger tree like hyd. I jsut planted one I got from walmart for a buck, and it can get 15+ feet!

http://www.northscaping.com/InfoZone/FS ... 0021.shtml

Thats the one I have. Not the Pee Gee, which is a seedling offspring from this one. This baby gets MASSIVE flower cones. My grandma has one she cuts down every year to about 2 feet, and it comes back in full sun with a vengence, topping 10 feet on average.

Certain types were and still are used as an herbal medicine, bees LOVE these plants, and the smell is almost intoxicating. They are like lilac, cept IMO nicer, easier to care for, and bloom later.

Do you have climbing hydrengea cameron? That is a WICKED vine, topping 80+ feet, grows well in full shade, and is literally, looks like a hydrengea that is a vine.

igor.glukhovtsev · Post by **igor.glukhovtsev** » Sat Sep 24, 2011 8:47 am

JordanNL wrote:There are some huge specimens here in St. Johns. Really cool shrub.

Any chance taking a pic. of this Hydrangea plants? It has been never growing well in my place pretending to be a zone 6a.

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Sat Sep 24, 2011 11:45 am

Having lived many years in Vancouver, a Hydrangea (and Azalea) seem to be prerequisites for home ownership there

Love the Hydrangeas, especially the Lacecaps.

Epsom salts are great to turn so-so (mid-range) soil to more acidic for the gorgeous blue flowers.
So's aluminum sulphate (21-0-0), also "flowers of sulphur" but that takes longer to work.

Barb

Cameron_z6a_N.S. · Post by **Cameron_z6a_N.S.** » Sat Sep 24, 2011 4:36 pm

Hi Canadianplant, yeah this soil is acidic. I don't think that this hydrangea is a climbing one. Right now, it is around 3 feet tall, and has been for several years.

Barb, I also had a French guy recommend aluminium sulphate to me on another forum. I think the flowers are quite blue already, so I probably won't amend the soil any further

canadianplant · Post by **canadianplant** » Sat Sep 24, 2011 4:44 pm

Cameron_z6a_N.S. wrote:Hi Canadianplant, yeah this soil is acidic. I don't think that this hydrangea is a climbing one. Right now, it is around 3 feet tall, and has been for several years.

Barb, I also had a French guy recommend aluminium sulphate to me on another forum. I think the flowers are quite blue already, so I probably won't amend the soil any further

LOL, my bad, Im asking if you also have a climbing hydrengea, but that also answers the question... so its all good lol

They are nice plants, theres tons of them planted here, probably every 5th or so house has one, and theres big ones in the old parks

The climbing type is interesting...

Hardy to -35C or so as well, and gets 80 feet if you let it get to some tall trees!

Cameron_z6a_N.S. · Post by **Cameron_z6a_N.S.** » Sat Sep 24, 2011 4:53 pm

I think I've seen several of them around here. There is one on my commute that is a tree form around 15' high or so.

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Tue Sep 27, 2011 10:53 am

I love the blue flowers Cameron, your soil's perfect for blue.
It's simply too hot and dry here for hydrangeas...too bad.

Here's a nice site/info on hydrangea:

https://sites.google.com/a/gardeningfor ... /www/home2

Barb

OOPS LINK IS BROKEN...

canadianplant · Post by **canadianplant** » Tue Sep 27, 2011 1:43 pm

lucky1 wrote:I love the blue flowers Cameron, your soil's perfect for blue.
It's simply too hot and dry here for hydrangeas...too bad.

Here's a nice site/info on hydrangea:

https://sites.google.com/a/gardeningfor ... /www/home2

Barb

OOPS LINK IS BROKEN...

Barb, i bet they would do great in the shade there. The corner mine is in gets 10C hotter then the open air, and it did quite well so far (full sun)

Thanks for the hydrengea talk, it reminded me to multch mine with some peat. Can you take a pic of the whole shrub cameron?

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Tue Sep 27, 2011 4:49 pm

We don't have shade here...we have only HALF-DAY blistering bloody hot OR FULL-DAY blistering bloody hot.

canadianplant · Post by **canadianplant** » Tue Sep 27, 2011 4:53 pm

lucky1 wrote:We don't have shade here...we have only HALF-DAY blistering bloody hot OR FULL-DAY blistering bloody hot.

LOL are those the technical terms? LOL

You could plant a shade tree, a black/honey locust would work....... if they make it in north dakota, im sure vernon would be a cake walk...

Cameron_z6a_N.S. · Post by **Cameron_z6a_N.S.** » Tue Sep 27, 2011 7:04 pm

I'll try to get some pics taken/posted of the full plant tomorrow.

Cameron_z6a_N.S. · Post by **Cameron_z6a_N.S.** » Mon Oct 24, 2011 10:13 am

I realized that I forgot to post the pic of the entire plant!!

Here is a pic, taken a few weeks ago. Sorry for the quality!:

Cameron.

canadianplant · Post by **canadianplant** » Mon Oct 24, 2011 4:44 pm

IT looks really good dude. I hope mine looks that good in the comming years!

Cameron_z6a_N.S. · Post by **Cameron_z6a_N.S.** » Tue Oct 25, 2011 5:00 pm

Thanks!

Cameron_z6a_N.S. · Post by **Cameron_z6a_N.S.** » Sat Aug 04, 2012 7:52 pm

Here's a shot of the Hydrangea from a few days ago:

TimMAz6 · Post by **TimMAz6** » Sat Aug 04, 2012 10:42 pm

Nice specimen Cameron. 99.999% of the Hydrangeas are blue around here since our soil is very acidic. I did see a plant with some blue blooms and some pinkish blooms at a local clam 'shack' restaurant. They had their parking area covered with crushed seashells which made the soil less acidic. The side of the plant near the shells had pink blooms and the side of the plant away from the shells had blue blooms.

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Sun Aug 05, 2012 9:56 am

Love that blue, Cameron, beautiful!

side of the plant near the shells had pink blooms and the side of the plant away from the shells had blue blooms.

Neat idea...

Barb

andym · Post by **andym** » Sun Aug 05, 2012 5:12 pm

my soil is currently slightly alkaline but I am changing it to a neutral to acid sandy soil that lies about 100 ft above my garden.
I've only got one Hydrangea but I grow it for its leaves as well as flowers

I can't remember but I think it is Hydrangea Serrata Macrophylla. The pink buds open out into a light purple colour.

TimMAz6 · Post by **TimMAz6** » Sun Aug 05, 2012 5:45 pm

Great garden Andy.......what's the broad leaf evergreen with a tall trunk that is located behind the dead palm?

andym · Post by **andym** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 3:48 am

Kalopanax Septemlobus v Magnificus.... a member of the Aralaceae family. Does not really like that position as light levels are poor at the bottom of my garden. It can grow into a tree with time. It is also very hardy and deciduous.

igor.glukhovtsev · Post by **igor.glukhovtsev** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 7:46 am

andym wrote:Kalopanax Septemlobus v Magnificus.... a member of the Aralaceae family.

I have this one in my garden too. I saw some mature trees of Kalopanax in Vladivostok (the Russian Far East) - they were magnificent! Mine is grafted into Aralia elata stem so unlikely it would be growing like own root 10-15 m height monster.

Summer 2011 pictures

igor.glukhovtsev · Post by **igor.glukhovtsev** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 7:53 am

andym wrote: I can't remember but I think it is Hydrangea Serrata Macrophylla. The pink buds open out into a light purple colour.

Looks pretty much like my H.serrata sargenti.

Some time ago I've bought pink colour variation of Hydrangea arborescens. Believe this is a newly introduced variety....

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 9:25 am

Those are so beautiful!!!

When I lived in Vancouver--where hydrangeas grow with NO problem at all--I never had one.

Now that I live where they do not grow(because of the intense summer heat), I've wanted a lacecap.
Human nature...

Nice pics of hydrangeas here too, with ID: http://www.hydrangeashydrangeas.com/identify.html

Barb