Elegantly solemn, vibrant, beautifully flowering perennial hydrangeas are increasingly decorating the gardens of central Russia. Cultural species of panicled hydrangea, an important component in the list of wild-growing representatives of the Far Eastern flora, are extremely decorative.
One of them is Hydrangea Pink Diamond, a deciduous shrub with magnificent large, long-blooming inflorescences. It will be discussed in this publication.
Hydrangea Pink Diamond: Description
Growing up to 2-3 m in height, a sprawling bush is appreciated by gardeners in many countries for its pronounced vertical growth, the strength of shoots and long flowering. Broadly conical inflorescences from 15 to 30 cm long, elongated in the shape of panicles at the ends of shoots, are elegant and beautiful: they do not hang to the side and are not afraid of gusts of wind.
Pink Hydrangea hydrangea blooms from July to mid-September, blooming the earth with white cones of candles, noticeably reddening as they bloom. Being basic in the color of inflorescences, the white color changes with time. By the fall, initially snow-white inflorescences become pink-coral.
It attracts this species with its excellent regenerative properties - the ability to quickly recover with partial mechanical damage or freezing. Panicled Hydrangea Pink Diamond has good frost resistance, allowing you to successfully wait for winter under cover of spandbod or spruce branches or without any additional shelters, but in places protected from through winds with high snow cover.
The root system of the shrub is superficial, located shallowly, extending in the near-shore space parallel to the ground level, and this feature makes obligatory regular generous irrigation mandatory.
But pink hydrangea hydrangea is absolutely indifferent to urban gas pollution, therefore it is used in landscape design or plantings along the streets.
Growing Features
Photophilous culture prefers sunny, sheltered from the wind places with fertile acidic clay soils. Completely open areas are not the best solution, since hydrangea is hygrophilous and the duration of its flowering directly depends on soil moisture. Lack of water will result in shredding of flowers, loss of decorativeness and a shorter flowering time for a plant such as Pink Diamond hydrangea. Reviews of flower growers are unanimous: in open places you will have to maintain intensive hydration, which is often very problematic. Therefore, some shading is even welcome.
In selected areas, it is important not to use various deoxidants - dolomite flour, chalk, limestone, ash, and brown peat and pine needles are periodically added to maintain the decorative shrub. Hydrangea grows quite quickly, and when planting 4-5-year-old seedlings, you can wait for the first flowering next year, according to gardeners.
When to plant?
Experienced gardeners recommend spring planting hydrangeas. If the weather conditions in the region allow you to plant a culture in early spring, then in summer you can hope for the appearance of the first inflorescences. Autumn planting of hydrangea (in September) is also possible, but it should be carried out 2-3 weeks before the cold weather and cover a young bush for the winter.
The hydrangea planting technology is simple: the superficial root system does not require a deep planting pit; 0.3-0.5 m will suffice, depending on the age of the seedling and the development of its roots. When planning the planting of a hedge, plants are placed in a prepared trench. The intervals between shrubs are at least 2.5 m, in the hedge - 1-1.5 m. Excessively thickened plantings are easily thinned out if necessary.
Planting pits are preliminarily generously spilled with water, filled with a fertile mixture of humus, peat and pine needles by a third. The seedling is placed in the pit so that the root collar is at the same level with the soil surface, straighten the roots, making sure that they do not bend up, fill with the remaining earthen mixture and compact. Then once again abundantly watered and mulched with wood chips or any plant residues.
Watering
Cultivating events consist of timely watering, applying the necessary fertilizing, regular pruning of shrubs and protecting plants from diseases and pests.
On the features of watering the culture: the soil under the shrub should be constantly moist. When the bush grows and enters adulthood, the risk of drying out is minimized, since the crown of the bush is very spreading and casts a good shadow. The usual weekly flow rate is 3-4 buckets per bush. To stimulate flowering, manganese is added to the water every 2-3 weeks (1 gram / 1 watering).
Top dressing
To achieve active plant growth and generous flowering, the introduction of the necessary fertilizers will help, which is carried out in several stages: in the spring with the beginning of sap flow with high-quality organic matter, at the beginning of budding and the height of flowering with a complex mineral fertilizer, in preparation for winter with special hydrangea top dressings available on the market.
Pruning
Regular pruning is necessary to maintain the decorative shrub. In the fall, dried inflorescences are cut, in the spring weak weak and diseased shoots are removed.
In addition, they form a bush, removing old stems and choosing 8-10 strongest from year-old shoots. They are truncated to 3-5 buds, which is quite enough for high-quality summer flowering.
So, simple care provides excellent decorativeness for such an interesting culture as Pink Diamond hydrangea. The photos presented in the publication demonstrate the plant in all its splendor, but the lively bush that adorns its own plot is amazingly beautiful, as evidenced by the numerous reviews of satisfied gardeners.