DON'T HIDE YOUR HYDRANGEAS |
 Hydrangeas are the sort of plants that we think about when they are in flower in mid summer, and then forget about for the rest of the year. But mid winter is a really important time to give some thought and care to your hydrangeas. If you've hidden a pot of hydrangeas in an out of the way part of the garden, it's a good idea in the next few weeks to pull the pot out from its hiding place and have a good look at it. If your hydrangeas haven't been pruned since they flowered during summer, this task should be completed as soon as possible. Prune the stems that flowered last season - don't prune unflowered stems, because these are going to produce the next lot of blooms. That's not to say that normal pruning rules shouldn't apply: cut back anything that's very weak and spindly and, of course, any dead stems. You can sacrifice a few of the potential flowering shoots to provide cuttings of new plants and, with any luck, they'll bloom in time for Christmas and make wonderful gifts. Hydrangeas are deciduous plants that lose their leaves in winter, leaving bare stems decorated with fat, promising buds. Like other deciduous plants, they grow easily from cuttings taken at this time of year. Because the plants are in a dormant, storage mode, the cuttings will easily survive on the starch and water that is stored in their tissues until they form new roots. Take cuttings that are between 150 and 170 mm long. Sometimes it's suggested that these are taken with a 'heel' - which is a sliver of the older wood from the main stem - at the base. If taking a normal cutting, trim the cutting just underneath a bud (this is the site of a 'node', where new root growth will occur). Dip the base of the cutting into some Yates Cutting Powder or Clonex Red, a specialist hardwood propagating gel that combines rooting hormones, vitamins, minerals and a fungicide. The combination of ingredients in Clonex promotes and protects delicate root tissues. Four or five cuttings can be inserted into a single pot that has been filled with Yates Seed Raising Mix, a propagating medium that has been formulated for striking cuttings as well as giving seeds a good start.After the cuttings have formed roots, they can be carefully separated from each other and potted on into individual pots. Keep them under cover, especially if you live in a cold area, and feed with Nutricote slow release fertiliser pellets. The most interesting feature of showy hydrangea flowerheads is their ability to change colour according to the pH level of the soil. Hydrangeas have blue flowers where the soil is naturally acidic, and pink or red blooms in alkaline soil. This gives the home gardener a certain amount of control over the colour scheme of the hydrangea bed. Winter is a good time to start planning these changes - by the time the hydrangeas are in flower it's too late. To change hydrangeas to pink, try sprinkling about half a handful of Yates Gro-Plus Garden Lime around each plant - once within the next few weeks and again in spring. Your results will depend on the original colour of the flower and the pH of the soil, but, even if they don't go completely pink, they should produce some interesting mauves. Another application next year will deepen the colour. For blue flowers, Yates Hydrangea Blueing Tonic can be mixed into a watering can and applied every 2-3 weeks until flowering time. Again the results will vary, but they're attractive at any stage. Hydrangeas are high water users and, during hot periods, should be kept well watered. But, all in all, they are easy care plants, with minimal requirements, and their tendency to flower at Christmas makes them highly prized for dramatic floral arrangements. WE THANK ARTHUR YATES & CO. FOR THE INFORMATION PROVIDED ON THIS PAGE. |
