My hydrangea has no color. The flowers are the same as leaves. Why? I have lovely blue flowers all spring then blah!
Hardiness Zone: 8a
kauphykup
Add your voice! Click below to answer. ThriftyFun is powered by your wisdom!
I am not a real gardener - but I remember somewhere reading about putting rusty iron nails in hydrangea beds to give them more iron and improve color - anyone else here know about that? The color, as I recall has something to do with the pH of the soil?
Editor's Note: My mom used to say the same thing, and would put rusty nails in the soil around hers in the Seattle area.
Hydrangeas like acid, if I remember right. Before I moved, I had some Nikko blue and I put coffee grounds to keep them blue. Also use the coffee you don't finish and tea grounds as well.
Hydrangea flowers fade after blooming if left on the bush. That's just what happens, no matter how bright they were in the spring. If you want to preserve the blue color, then snip them off at their peak bloom and dry them. Otherwise, they'll fade- which is completely normal.
If you're interested in hydrangeas that continue to keep color after blooming, there are some selections that start out white, then change to mauve as they finish blooming. They stay a pretty dark pink for a long time before eventually fading all the way to brown in the winter. Blues won't do that, though. Sorry!
I worked briefly for a lawn and garden supply store, and we were taught that the more acid ph the soil, the more blue the hydrangeas will be (also the better for azaleas). So buy an appropriate acidifying fertilizer ( yes, coffee grounds are supposed to be acid ph)
I also recall my very knowledgeable boss informing someone that if their hydrangeas were planted next to a cinder block or cement wall or foundation, that the cement would leach into the surrounding soil and make it a more basic ph - less acidic, resulting in more pinkish or faded looking blooms.
YES!!! Our new neighbor built a huge addition and has put in a cinder-block foundation along the fence where my once beautiful blue hydrangeas bloom. They are now only a sickly green; not blue at all. I knew about adding rusty nails to make more acidic soil...but not about the PH from cinder-blocks and cement. I'll make adjustments...but I wish I could sue the neighbor for yet another annoying thing resulting from his thoughtless construction!
If you didn't know about the Ph of the blocks making a difference how did you expect the new neighbors to know? Just want to be mad or blame others
Hydrangeas I have had for years in all variety of color it depends on how much acid and some root tone you add to it although my mom gets beautiful ones by adding coffee grounds and banana peels and egg shells to hers all the time! she swears by the coffee grounds but buy root tone and jump start it that way first!
This won't fix the problem, but it may help in the short run. I have a friend who bought that transparent dried flower spray paint that's made especially for dried flowers for florists. (You can find it at most craft stores). After her hydrangeas had died and started to lose their color, she sprayed the flowers with a med color of blue and a just a hint of purple.
* The trick is to NEVER use spray paint, but actual florist paint.
Thanks to all of you. Now I feel like it was not my fault. I also learned that they will not bloom if cut back in fall.
You can change the color by, adding acid. I got this out of the, bhg magazine. It said you do not have to buy colored ones, to get color.
Hydrangea colors can be changed by adding white vinegar to the soil for a brighter color but this depends on the acidity of your soil.
Like Beth from MA said, they will eventually fade after being on the bush for the season.
But they make good dried flowers and they are bigger also. I think you have to leave them on the bush or the stem will dry too thin to support the flower part.
Have you tried giving them food coloring in their water? I have never heard of this happening with hydrangeas, but aren't you supposed to be able to to do this with shasta daisies?
It has to do with the PH level in the ground. I have a neighbor who adds lime for pink and rhododendrun fertilizer for blue. She says you use 2-3 handfuls and place it a few inches from the roots and scratch it in to the soil. Hope this helps.
It could be the breed of the hydrangea. There are berrds that flower green. However most hydrangeas can change color according to the acid of the soil. I have a hydrangea tree. This is the first year it has bloomed.
This poster is correct. Some varieties of hydrangea don't have red / pink or blue / violet colored flowers regardless of soil ph. I have the old school hydrangeas that don't have a particularly colorful flower just green. The only thing you can do in that case is tear them out and replant.
Add your voice! Click below to answer. ThriftyFun is powered by your wisdom!
