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Hydrangea Growth

Nine kinds of hydrangeas are cultivable in our countries:  

Each one of them presents several, even enormously, of varieties. That gives hundreds of types of hydrangeas, recognizable by the branches of the plant, the leaves and/or the flower.

The most known of the public are the hydrangeas macrophylla (sometimes called hortensia). These shrubs are generally appreciated for their blue or rose globulous flowering. Also, there are very diverse sizes and shapes: with flat flowers, semi-flat, with mixed foliage, bi-color, or with branches drawn up or falling down.

The other species quoted above are less known but are worth undoubtedly the look because they are sometimes either more spectacular, or are better adapted to the conditions of your garden (sunny ground - shaded ground). And indeed, there are hydrangeas for the full sun.

How to have blue hydrangeas?

The color of the flower of the hydrangea (rose, blue or red) can change according to the alumina rate (aluminum sulfate) of the ground. Thus, in a ground with strong content of alumina, the rose varieties become blue and the red varieties go rather dark purple. Conversely, the blue varieties remain blue, they do not become darker. That explains why many varieties sold in not specialized nurseries do not necessarily have their color of origin: “rosy” hydrangeas in the beginning are “blue” artificially and conversely. That depends on the substrates used (with or without alumina). It is thus very difficult, for an amateur, to find itself there among different the cultivars.

We encourage you to keep the initial color of each plant to be able to offer the “truth” of the cultivar. Nevertheless, if you wish to keep your hydrangeas blue, we advise you to provide, each year in March, to the foot of the plant, aluminum sulfate.

Conversely, if you wish that your hydrangeas remain or become rosy, it is necessary to dig “a very large” hole of plantation and to associate there only horticultural compost with pH 5,5

N.B. To pass from one color to the other, it takes approximately a season.