pink hydrangea...but I want blue

[fidealindie]

I have a 2 year old plant that was a housewarming give, when my grandmother in-law gave it to me last may, I was ecstatic, I had a perfect place for it, the flower bunches were a deep blue, and exactly what I wanted. This season, my plant has more than doubled in size and produced twice as many flowers as last year, only they're a solid pink. I'm happy that my plant is so healthy, and I know this has something to do with the acid levels, I was told to start putting down coffee grounds when buds started showing up...and I did, but I ended up with pink blooms...long story short, how do I make them blue next season at lowe's they have a fertilizer for acid loving plants...but it nothing for hydrangea in particular, would this work?

[rainbowgardener]

Hydrangeas are interesting that way, pink or blue depending on soil conditions. For blue you need acid soil AND aluminum in the soil.

Here's an article about it:

https://www.hydrangeashydrangeas.com/colorchange.html

[cynthia_h]

I work in my MIL's yard/garden once a month, more or less. She has a hydrangea that was blue when it was originally planted in 2007 (in memory of my FIL, who died in April 2007).

In Spring 2008, it rebloomed pink. She and my BIL asked me to make it blue again.

I knew how to do it (see RBG's linked article), but BIL's landscaper/yardman had made it somewhat difficult by adding landscape fabric right up to the stems of the plant. (All the plants, actually, except for about 40 square feet when the budget ran out. Praise all deities of plants.) I couldn't get to the soil around the plant without pulling up the landscape fabric.

By now, I've loosened the fabric considerably so that I can apply a half-strength mixture around the plant a few times during the hydrangea's active growing period, to avoid burning it. (I can't water it a few days ahead of time, obviously.)

If your plant is easy to get to, I'd just apply half-strength solution a few times during the growing season and when buds are developing in the spring for the blue color. Leave off when flowers start to die off in the fall.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

I was away from the house 3 hours today and Vergil didn't shred toys or bedding. Maybe I can go back to the office next week for half-days...getting a little cabin fever here...this is the 4th week of 24-hour care, with just a couple of days' respite when DH is here and I've been able to run errands.

[IzzyM]

If your garden soil is acidic you are going to get pink hydrangeas. However, it's a lot of hassle having to add to the soil each year to get blue flowers. In your case, I would build a raised bed garden and grow your hydrangea in that (take a cutting off the one you have). There is so much less soil in a raised bed, so less looking after to keep it alkaline.
Then you can grow all your alkaline loving plants in the one place

[rainbowgardener]

Basically correct, except backward --acidic soils (with aluminum) produce blue hydrangeas. Alkaline soils with lime produce pink hydrangeas. Check the article I linked.

[gumbo2176]

When I was a kid growing up in New Orleans, the only thing we ever did was add some rusty nails to the soil near the base of the plant. The formerly pink blooms were replaced by two tone pink and blue for a while, then eventually they started making blue blooms.