Hydrangea Ideas, Tips & Guides

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Today we’re in Springfield, Ohio, visiting with Bryan Bailey.

Hydrangeas, with their extravagant blooms, are a quintessential part of any garden. However, coaxing the best performance from these plants requires more than just basic gardening skills. This guide will share some secret Master Gardener’s Tricks to Grow the Successful Hydrangeas!

If you want your garden to keep looking good throughout the months ahead, then these fabulous plants are sure to bring a boost of colour throughout late summer and autumn. There are options to suit every colour scheme, and plants that will thrive in pots as well as your borders. Our choices include recommendations from the Gardeners’ World team and familiar faces from across the gardening industry.

Slender deutzia (Deuzia gracilis) is a fantastic, but underused deciduous shrub for the sunny to partly sunny landscape. There are several cultivars of Deutzia available, and most produce a profusion of pure white, fragrant flowers during late April and early May. Deutzia will grow well in USDA Zones 5 to 8, which covers most all of South Carolina. In the warmer parts of the state, they will perform best with partial shade.

Are you frustrated because your French or mophead (Hydrangea macrophylla) hydrangeas only bloom once? Then the Endless Summer® Hydrangea series is the answer to adding repeat blooming hydrangeas to your landscape. With proper care, they will bloom from early summer to fall. The first flush of flowers in the early summer usually bloom on old wood; therefore, any necessary pruning should be done immediately after blooming. Flower buds will then form on new wood. As these blooms fade, deadheading is recommended to encourage more flower bud production. Flower color is determined by the availability of aluminum in the soil. If the soil is more acid, the flowers will be blue in color, but in alkaline soils, they will turn pink. If the soil pH is neutral (7.0), then the flowers will be purple.

Many people get confused about when to prune hydrangeas. It is essential to know which species or cultivar you have to determine when to prune.

One of my favorite native hydrangeas to use in the landscape is Annabelle Hydrangea (Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’). It is best grown in morning sun and afternoon shade. The white flowers bloom in late May through June on new growth. Prune it back in the late winter or early spring before the new growth emerges to encourage heavier flowering. After the white flowers fade and begin to dry, they turn a soft green color.

Utility companies have the thankless task of maintaining the right-of-way for above-ground utility lines to keep the power on. Gardeners and residents often gasp in horror upon seeing the tree and large shrub pruning performed to keep the lines clear. It is a necessary evil. But in many cases, following a ‘right plant in the right place’ mentality will avoid plants interfering with the lines.

Do your flowering shrubs need a makeover? Perhaps it’s the overgrown shrub that craves your contact whenever you use the front door or carport. Maybe it’s an old shrub that lost its vitality and produces few if any flowers in its dense thicket of crisscrossing branches. Then there’s the shrub that becomes top-heavy or “leggy”, with most of its leaves clustered at the top, revealing bare or leafless stems below. If you want to improve access to your home or your view from windows now hidden by leaves and branches, consider these three options.

Hydrangeas Are The Stars of a June Garden

Panicled Hydrangeas Are in Full Bloom and Shine in July Gardens

As I mentioned in my previous blog about the French style of floral design, I was inspired to create my Southern style arrangement using flowers and foliage from my own South Carolina landscape. The only floral items I purchased were a bouquet of fall floral mums and a bag of dried, sustainably gathered Spanish moss.

Many believe that “hydrangea hysteria” erupted in 2004 with the debut of the reblooming bigleaf hydrangea, ‘Bailmer,’ now known by its trade name of Endless Summer® The Original. Since this mophead hydrangea cultivar entered the marketplace, the interest in bigleaf hydrangeas skyrocketed, especially remontant or reblooming types. This frenzy to produce bigger-flowered, smaller-statured, more floriferous hydrangeas led to the introduction of hundreds of Hydrangea macrophylla cultivars.

Are you looking at plants in your garden and wondering why they aren’t flowering?

I HAVE SAID IT BEFORE (BUT AM INCLINED TO REPEAT MYSELF): I prefer white Hydrangea to blue ones. And in this hottest, driest summer I know another reason why: The clean white blooms of my various Hydrangea paniculata freshen the place up a bit.

I’M NOT GRATEFUL FOR MULTIPLE WASP STINGS, nor for the latest woodchuck who likes to hang out on the patio between garden-fresh meals. I am grateful, however, for a number of bold-textured or simply large-scale plants, and particularly for some with white in their foliage or flowers that help to freshen up the look of the place right about now, in the dog days.

ICOMPLAIN A LOT IN JUNE, I KNOW, and there are a few more days left of what is in my garden the in-between month. It’s the month of pulling spent spring things out and cutting others back; of swapping out pots and impatiently waiting for the new things to fill in; of wanting all the Hydrangea paniculata to come into their own–of just plain being cranky.

Click on the first thumbnail to start the slides, then toggle from image to image using your computer’s arrow keys or the arrows beside each caption. Links to the plant profiles are below the thumbnails.Mid-September’s Showoffs(with links to their profiles or more information)Viburnum dilatatum ‘Michael Dodge‘(shrub with prolific yellow fruit) Lespedeza thunbergii (giant perennial fountain of purple flowers) Clematis tangutica (vine with masses of gold flowers with purplish centers) Cornus kousa, or Kousa dogwood (large red fruit; a slideshow of all

Note that there are 2 separate events — select a ticket for one or both at checkout using the form below.10-11:15 talk by margaret, ‘making a garden for the birds’Margaret always says the birds taught her to garden. And she thanks them.What started out decades ago as merely a semi-conscious wish to see more birds ended up bringing nearly 70 avian spec

I absorbed at least a rudimentary command of the official language of plants, and my only regret is that I didn’t learn even more. Now, thanks to the fun I’ve been having dipping over and again into the new book called “The Gardener’s Botanical: An Encyclopedia of Latin Plant Names,” I’m further sharpening my skills, because botanical Latin opens up a world for gardeners willing to try learning some of it.What can a gardener learn from studying botanical Latin? Ross Bayton, a former editor of the BBC’s “Gardeners World Magazine” created the “The Gardener’s Botanical,” and when we spoke recently, he answered that question and more. (Photo of Ross, below, from the Heronswood garden

Hedges are the best way to create boundaries for your yard, make a small privacy screen, and shelter little plants from harsh winds. Check out the Best Low Maintenance Hedge Plants you can choose to create the perfect fence for your garden.

Hydrangeas are great garden plants, thanks to their bunch of blooms that come in a variety of shades. However, if you are someone who wants to train these plants to become tall, then keep on reading to learn How to Grow a Hydrangea Tree!

Coming in an array of colors, shapes, and sizes, Landscaping with Hostas will allow you to use the plant to its full potential to make your yard stand out!

 Purple Hydrangeas surely catch everyone’s eyes with their vivid hue. In this article, we will have a look at the trick on How to Make Your Hydrangea Purple!

Discover the Best Types of Purple Hydrangea Varieties, showcasing stunning shades and captivating blooms for adding a touch of beauty and elegance to your garden or landscape.

Today’s photos are from Carla Z. Mudry in Malvern, Pennsylvania.

There are few things more beautiful than lush hydrangea bushes. Unfortunately, their beauty can be sullied by a number of fungal and viral diseases (and two bacterial diseases).However, there are steps you can take to k

If you're new to growing Hydrangeas, then you might have a few questions on how to care for them once they're planted. Today, we're answering a burning question that our customers ask often — Can hydrangeas grow in shade?

Hydrangea season is upon us. The South Carolina Botanical Garden has a designated Hydrangea Garden across from the Hanover House. Hydrangeas are a multi-stem, woody shrub native to Asia and the Americas. Our native hydrangeas include the smooth and the oakleaf; both grow in hardwood forests with moist, humus-rich soil.

Limelight hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata ‘Limelight’PP12874) has become so popular in the past decade that many refer to it simply as Limelight. It is a large cultivar, reaching 8 feet tall and wide, and may be too large for a smaller landscape.

Today we’re visiting with Judith.

Before you try to use a soil amendment like caffeine, it is important to know Which Plants Like and Do Not Like Coffee Grounds. Keep on reading to know everything about it.

Do you know about the most Common Flowers that are Poisonous? If you have children and pets, you should avoid growing the most poisonous flowers. Let us take you through the names of poisonous flowers so you can stay safe.

One thing about us: Southern Living editors love plants. Whether it’s a windowsill herb garden soaking up sun in the kitchen, a blooming bouquet brightening up a beautifully designed room, or a flowering tree enlivening the landscape, we have a deep appreciation for greenery. In the South, we have affinities for many different kinds of plants, flowers, and trees, many of which  connect us to memories of our families and friends. With that in mind, we asked our editors what plants they love. They came up with a bunch of great plants, some of which they tend in their gardens and others they love to encounter in the landscape season after season. On this list, you’ll find some classic herbs, showy flowers, and a couple of trees with distinct personalities. These are our editors’ favorite plants–what are yours?

No matter the time of year, freshly cut flowers will always bring a sense of joy and natural beauty into any room. Fresh bouquets in water — whether grown ourselves or gifted — are normally at their best for a couple of weeks, but blooms will be fleeting and are usually thrown away once they start to lose their colour and wilt. So, a question that I’m asked a lot is simply — ‘How can I make my flowers last longer?’ The answer lies in the art of drying flowers — a craft that I’ve been immersed in for the past seven years. Dried floral arrangements will bring a different aesthetic to interiors compared to fresh — they are not for everyone — but if you like the look, you can very easily prolong the beauty of your flowers by months — even years — by creating striking arrangements that celebrate floral structures and will add interest to mantelpieces, dining tables, sideboards — you name it — throughout the seasons.