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One of the most rewarding shrubs in the landscape is the Hydrangea. In this post, I share my experience with a traditional hydrangea in my landscape that turned blue. I will explore the five different types of Hydrangeas in my home garden.

The Hydrangea

Hydrangea macrophylla
In conclusion to reading “Success with Hydrangeas – A gardeners guide” by Lorraine Ballato I am sure this is a Macrophylla Type.

Over the years I have collected a few dozen different Hydrangea shrubs. To be honest with you, some have survived and many have not.  The most amazing thing happened: Pink Blooms turned Blue as featured in the above image.  There are a few ways you can change the soil PH to get this to occur on a few varieties of Hydrangeas but not all.

Five Types of Hydrangeas

Bigleaf Hydrangeas | Hydrangea macrophylla  French hydrangeas, florist’s hydrangeas and or hortensia are common types of this ‘Bigleaf Hydrangeas’.  There are 3 different types of hydrangea macrophylla; mophead, lacecap and mountain hydrangeas.    

Bigleaf Hydrangea

  • Panicle hydrangeas | Hydrangea  Panicle hydrangeas are known for their cone-shaped flower heads and are the only varieties that can form a tree shape. These are large blooms typically start white and may turn to pink. One of my first paniculata varieties to grow was the Pinky Winky from Proven Winners.
Pinky WInky in Spring
Pinky Winky by Proven Winners in Bren’s Garden
  • Smooth Hydrangeas | Hydrangea arborescens native to the USA and sometimes called wild hydrangeas.  This variety can take drought and heat in zones 4-7. A good way to id these arborescens is the heart-shaped, thin, and floppier than the mopheads (macrophylla).  Examples of smooth hydrangea are the Proven Winners Invincibelle® series, Incrediball®

Incrediball® Smooth Hydrangea Hydrangea arborescens

  • Oakleaf Hydrangeas | Hydrangea quercifolia  Leaves are shaped much like those of an oak tree. The foliage and blooms are known for year-round color interest. The color will change from orange to red to burgundy. The image below is my oakleaf hydrangea in the early spring.  

Oakleaf Hydrangea

Climbing Hydrangeas | Hydrangea petiolaris is a variety I would love to learn more about as the years go on.  I have one that grows facing the west that gets early morning sunshine.  This Hydrangea petiolaris, can grow 30 to 80 feet long so maybe I need to find a better trellis for the plant to encourage it to climb. 

 

Let’s Connect

Have you ever attempted to create blue hydrangea blooms?  This occurance is one of the many reasons it is important to note what type of hydrangea you are growing.  Once you know the variety you can decide how best to grow it.  Please share with me your thoughts on my post today because I would love to connect with you.

Happy Gardening,

Bren Haas

 

9 Responses

  1. lovely garden. the type of soil you have may well of changed the colour of your hydrangers.

    1. Jaycee, this shrubs I’ve had for over 10 years and it only blooms pink. Do you think by adding mulch and a little horse manure to this area it is making the soil change?

  2. I love Hydrangeas but can’t really figure them out. I have three on my property … two in the ground and one in a planter. Neither of the ground plants bloomed this year … I’m not sure why. The one in a planter did bloom. I was told to put an old horseshoe in the soil to change the color … didn’t work. So I’m not really sure how to change the color. Like you, I’m just so happy when I get flowers. 🙂

    1. WOW… old horse shoe? I never heard that one before. I used a product from one of my local independent garden centers that was actually for changing the PH of the soil naturally. It took 2 years but it worked! HA
      Thanks for stopping by @smallftprints !

      1. Hi Bren … yes, I guess that the iron in old horse shoes would leach into the soil and change the PH. Didn’t work for me, though! 🙂

        1. hmmm…. if iron makes the soil change maybe you needed more horse shoes and prehaps more rain to get it to ‘leach’ down into the soil? Interesting….. a good friend of mine shoes horses for a living so maybe I will see if I can get a few to give this a try!

  3. Oh your hydrangeas are so beautiful…I have to struggle to even keep those alive…they have to be in the shade here in Texas and they take so much water! I finally decided they do better in a pot because I can control their water a bit better.

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