- Hydrangeas are an excellent shrub with many different varieties and types and with such a diverse range there’s a hydrangea for every garden. Most of us are most familiar with the mop head types with large ball shaped flower heads coming in a range of colours with shades of pink, red, white and blue. You can also get lace cap varieties with similar colour ranges - all flowering from through Summer and well into the Autumn. There’s also cone shaped flower heads on the paniculata varieties, suitable for both traditional or contemporary gardens and varieties suited to growing in pots and you can also get climbing hydrangeas, great for partially shaded areas.
- Hydrangeas do best in moist, well-drained soil and dappled shade – not too sunny and not too shady and never in very dry soil. To keep blue hydrangeas blue you need to grow in acidic soil but all the others are happy in alkaline soil - you can also grow your blue hydrangeas in pots using ericaceous compost and some ericaceous feed. If you have a water butt or a barrel, watering with rain water is also advantageous for your blue varieties. Hydrangeas can take a bit of wind but the new foliage can be prone to a bit of wind burn so perhaps avoiding very windy areas is the better option. You can plant hydrangeas at any time of the year, making sure they get plenty of regular watering if you are planting them in Summer and perhaps a bark or farmyard manure mulch to reduce evaporation from the soil - and always dig in plenty of compost with some manure when you are planting, you’re looking to create a rich, moisture retentive soil foundation for them to grow in.
- Amongst my own favorite varieties there’s “Phantom” which has huge flowers - starting off in a pale green colour and turning white as they mature through the Summer - they can reach a height of about 6 or 7 feet or kept smaller if you prune each year. Limelight is another large variety with huge flowers that start off pale green then fade to white and then pink in Autumn - they make great cut flowers also and are happy in sun or partial shade. Bobo is a beautiful white dwarf variety and Wims Red is a nice pink red type. So if you are looking for something to flower all Summer into Autumn that’s hardy and easy to grow it’s hard to beat Hydrangeas for variety and versatility - call into the shop and we’ll help you pick some out
A few jobs for the week ahead;
- It’s time to start planting or at least planning your window boxes and hanging baskets - there’s loads of fabulous colourful options to go for that will flower all Summer long and even into the Autumn
- Lots of vegetable and salad plants available and ready to plant now - huge selection of edible plants and seeds
- Plant up some Sweet Pea - let it grow up a wigwam using bamboo canes or some climbing plant supports - great for scent and added height
- Earth up any seed potatoes you have planted - this protects them from late frosts, blocks sunlight getting into the tubers and gives the spuds more room to grow - if you have any seed potatoes to plant get them into the ground as soon as you can
- Open greenhouse vents and doors on warm days - same for polytunnels keep the doors open on hot days - you can put a bit of netting up over the doorways to keep out visitors like cats or birds
- Plant summer-flowering bulbs into pots for bright, colourful displays all Summer
- Get the garden hoe out to keep on top of weeds