I bought a hydrangea years ago that only seems to flower every other year or so. I cut it back early spring like I was told to do. Anyways, it was supposed to produce blue flowers, depending on our soil I was told. I've never seen a blue flower on it til this year. I was looking the other day and noticed a bit into the leaves there was some blue blooms inside. They are gorgeous. Then on the outside part of the bush there are blooms but they are more white to yellow-ish. Is there a reason the color would be different on the outer part of the bush? The blooms on the inside part of the bush are shaded obviously. And the bush doesn't seem to produce many blooms either, which I think is weird.
Any ideas or thoughts?
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coasterqueen
- Full Member
- Posts: 16
- Joined: Mon Jul 10, 2006 2:10 pm
I don't know who told you to prune in early spring, but that removes the buds that set the previous year. Your hydrangea is a mophead type. Take a look here at pruning.
hydrangeashydrangeas.com
If you look at the picture at the top of that link you will see a hydrangea that has different colors on the same shrub. Different roots will be effected by the pH of the soil they are growing in. There's info there on color change as well. Here's more info on your hydrangea.
Newt
hydrangeashydrangeas.com
If you look at the picture at the top of that link you will see a hydrangea that has different colors on the same shrub. Different roots will be effected by the pH of the soil they are growing in. There's info there on color change as well. Here's more info on your hydrangea.
Newt
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coasterqueen
- Full Member
- Posts: 16
- Joined: Mon Jul 10, 2006 2:10 pm
Newt, thank you. You have given me a WEALTH of information and I appreciate it.
It was the nursery I bought it from that told me that. Maybe pruning is not the word I should use. I am not a gardener by any means, and trying to become one.
What I do in the spring is I see the dead looking stems on the bush as well as little buds starting to form. I cut back pretty far the dead stems or pull them out (I can't remember what I do, lol) and leave the ones with the buds coming out on it.
One of those links you provided mentioned getting rid of dead stems. So I think this is what I'm doing, but maybe I'm not supposed to??? Or maybe I'm not getting rid of the right thing. Who knows, but the links do tell me that it's the pruning (which is what I call what I'm doing) that could be the problem.
It was the nursery I bought it from that told me that. Maybe pruning is not the word I should use. I am not a gardener by any means, and trying to become one.
What I do in the spring is I see the dead looking stems on the bush as well as little buds starting to form. I cut back pretty far the dead stems or pull them out (I can't remember what I do, lol) and leave the ones with the buds coming out on it. One of those links you provided mentioned getting rid of dead stems. So I think this is what I'm doing, but maybe I'm not supposed to??? Or maybe I'm not getting rid of the right thing. Who knows, but the links do tell me that it's the pruning (which is what I call what I'm doing) that could be the problem.