Hydrangeas

My hydrangeas are in full bloom, now, and they look gorgeous!  Hydrangeas are native to Asia, but they can grow anywhere there is a zone 5-6 hardiness.  The hydrangea produces flowers in early spring, and often times they bloom until late fall.  The flower heads look like big snowballs at the end of the stems, and can be white, pink, blue, or purple.  You can actually change the color of the flowers by changing the pH of the soil.  Acidic soil produces blue flowers, while alkaline soil produces pink flowers.  To make pink flowers, add lime to your soil.  To make blue flowers, add aluminum sulfate to your soil.

Hydrangeas like full morning sun and afternoon shade.  They also prefer well-drained soil.  I like to add mulch around my hyrangeas.  If your soil contains a lot of clay, you may want to do the same.

If you'd like to propagate your hydrangeas, you can try to do it by placing a clipping in water, or you can do the following:

1.  Take a cutting from a branch that's about 5-6 inches long, preferably from one that didn't flower.

2.  Remove the lower leaves from the bottom two leaf nodes.

3.  Cut the largest leaves in half

4.  Dip cuttings in a rooting hormone available at garden supply stores and insert into damp vermiculite.

5.  Water the pot and allow to drain.

6.  Cover the cutting and pot with plastic.  Insert stakes to keep the plastic off of the leaves.

7.  Wait 2-3 weeks for roots to form.


One other tidbit of information about hydrangeas:  They are moderately toxic if eaten, because they contain cyanide, but in Japan, an herbal tea called ama-cha is made from crumpled, dried, steamed leaves.  It's used in celebration of Buddah's birthday on April 8th.