Flowers are also very unusual. Depending on the species, inflorescences can be formed in the form of a ball, an umbrella, a cone and a panicle. Their shade depends not only on the species, but also on the quality of the soil. On alkaline soils hydrangeas often bloom with pink flowers of different shades, and on acid ones - with blue.
Proper planting and care for hydrangeas
Plant the plant in open soil in early spring or fall. If in a place of your residence cold winters, then it is better to plant it in the spring, so that until the next cold season the plant has time to acclimatize and grow stronger.
The soil before planting must necessarily be fertilized with mineral and organic fertilizers. In the hole for planting, peat should be put, and the roots of the seedlings should be shortened.
Plants can be planted in groups, or one by one, depending on the design of the flower bed that you wish to create. After planting the seedling, it is recommended that a small mound of humus or peat be placed around it.
Recommendations for care
- Top dressing with mineral fertilizers should be done regularly, but not too intensively, as too much fertilizer will lead to intense flowering, and the stems can simply not withstand the weight of the inflorescences.
- They perfectly perceive organic fertilizers: manure and humus.
- Watering the flowers should be quite active, because the plant is very fond of moisture. But make sure that the acidity of the water for irrigation is not too high.
- Three times a season the soil around the hydrangeas needs to be loosened to get rid of the weeds and let the roots breathe.
- Flowers must be cut off. In adult plants, removal of superfluous inflorescences is carried out in the autumn, and young ones in the spring, when they have not yet released the kidneys. By cutting from hydrangeas, even a small tree can be formed, if every season remove all the kidneys and leave a maximum of four sprouts.
How to propagate hydrangeas correctly
There are several ways to increase the hydrangea population.
Cuttings
From the crown of an adult plant, several green branches are taken, which are first planted in a fertile extract, after being harvested - on a special bed in the greenhouse, where they are recruited for one or two years, and only after this hydrangeas can be planted in the open ground.
By division
In spring or autumn, strong bushes are excavated and divided into several independent plants. Make sure that every new germ has a kidney.
Layers
Shoots up to a year old are bent down and buried with earth so that the top of the plant is visible from under the ground. The next year the plant will acquire roots and it can be transplanted to the right place.
Diseases of hydrangeas
The most common disease is gray rot, powdery mildew, fungal diseases and hydrangea virus. Determine that your plant is ill, will help you dark spots on the leaves and flowers.
Among the pests of hydrangeas, aphids, spider mites and spider mites are very fond. In all cases hydrangeas are treated with conventional means that are used to control a particular pest or disease.
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