Hydrangeas, planting and caring for which is easy, are amazingly diverse and beautiful shrubs. They are appreciated in decorative gardening for a wide palette, a variety of inflorescence shapes, interesting bark, curly large leaves, abundant flowering, and unpretentiousness.
Hydrangeas (planting described below) belong to the vast family of hydrangeas, their genus is about 100 species. There are curly, deciduous, upright, evergreen, thermophilic and frost-resistant, as well as tree-like and dwarf hydrangeas.
Hydrangea leaves are oval, with serrated or wavy edges, large. Depending on the species, the flowers are formed in inflorescences in the form of an umbrella, ball, panicle or cone. In the center of the inflorescences are small fruit-bearing flowers, and on the edges are large, sterile with 4 petals. Color can be cream, white, pink, blue, purple, red, raspberry and bright pink. The palette of one flower can consist of several transitional shades. The color of the flowers depends on the acidity of the soil (pink appears on alkaline soils, blue on acid soils).
One of the most popular types is
garden hydrangea. Planting it and growing it by flower growers is very widespread, mainly because of frost resistance. The following types of
hydrangeas are most valuable for growing at home and in the garden
: tree-like, serrate, sergeant, petiolate, oak-leaved, panicled.
Planting panicled hydrangea, in principle, like the rest of the species, begins with the choice of soil. Preference is given to loamy structural and moisture-penetrating soils, generously flavored with organic matter, with an acidic or neutral reaction. On alkaline soils, plants become ill from iron deficiency. In such a situation, acidification of the soil or the cultivation of flowers in a tub is necessary. When planting, plants are placed at a distance of about 2.5 m from each other. The dimensions of the pit are 50x60 cm, and the depth is 40 cm. Roots are shortened at the seedlings right before planting. Planting, abundantly watered.
Very hygrophilous hydrangea plants . Planting them involves further moisturizing and mulching (shavings, slivers, bark, humus, needles). As for lighting, hydrangea loves partial shade, but some of the species can grow with a lot of sun.
Cropping is very important for these colors. Too frequent, it leads to sparse flowering. The correct pruning is to remove the old inflorescences to the first pair of healthy and strong buds. Excessive thickening can be avoided by cutting a couple of weak, very densely located or old branches under the root every year. It is advisable to carry out pruning in early spring, before the start of active vegetation. Panicled hydrangea is pruned harder.
Hydrangea propagates with non-woody tops of non-blooming (young) shoots in summer and spring, woody cuttings in the period of cold weather, and species plants by sowing seeds in unheated greenhouses in spring.
Many gardeners love to breed hydrangeas. Landing them is not so difficult, and care too. But, like other flowers, they are affected by various fungal diseases, downy mildew, gray rot. The pests that infect this plant are aphids, weevils, pointed nibs, spider mites.
In the garden, hydrangeas are often placed in very large groups, where plants of various species may be present at the same time. But the large, overgrown adult bushes look great alone. Blooming hydrangea branches look great in a vase. And dried inflorescences are traditional elements of winter arrangements and poppuri.