7 BEST Tips on Growing a Hydrangea Bush

7 Tips on Growing a Hydrangea Bush will help you add a romantic touch to your summer garden. With hydrangea’s large, showy flowers in varied shapes and colors, you can boost your landscape design with these easy-to-grow shrubs.

If you want more tips on growing flowers, 31 Secrets on Growing Roses and 35 Best Cottage Garden Flowers to Grow will help you on your gardening journey.

What’s so wonderful about a hydrangea bush is that during the heat of summer and into fall, hydrangeas still give your garden a burst of color when most perennials have already started to fade.

They are easy to grow, requiring little care, and are a long-lived shrubs. Hydrangeas are gorgeous with their showy blooms when planted as a shrub border along a driveway, under a tree if they get part shade, or the star player in a garden bed.

Hydrangeas are native to both the Far East and America. They were traditionally blue, pink, or white, but today’s new varieties bring red, purple, violet, and lime green colors.

Here are the 7 Tips on Growing a Hydrangea Bush

1. Choosing Your Hydrangea Plant

Hydrangeas are one of the most popular floral shrubs. There are over 75 varieties of hydrangea bushes. As a result of their popularity, there has been a lot of work in creating new varieties. They feature more intense colors, stronger stems, and longer bloom times. The shape of the hydrangea flowers has different names. The flowers that look like pom-poms are called “mophead hydrangeas,” and the flatter-shaped blooms are called “lacecaps.”

Bigleaf hydrangeas (Hydrangea macrophylla) will change color depending on the soil PH level. You’ll want a more acidic soil if you want blue flowers. You can add aluminum sulfate to make that happen. For pink blooms, they need alkaline soils.

2. Location is Key

Hydrangeas are happiest with full sun in the morning and some shade in the afternoon. You want to avoid deep shade areas because it will lead to fewer flowers over the years.

These beautiful blooms look best when planted in mass, so select a location to plant several hydrangea shrubs together.

3. Create the Perfect Soil

If you want picture-perfect blooms, be sure to plant your hydrangeas in soil rich in organic matter and well-drained soil. If your soil is heavy clay or sandy, be sure to amend your soil with aged compost.

4. How to Plant Hydrangeas

Early spring and fall are the best time to plant your hydrangea bush. You’ll want to make sure the last frost has passed in spring. For fall, you want to be sure to plant before the first frost. Plant the hydrangea bush in the early morning or late afternoon.

Look at your hydrangea bush recommendations for spacing. They require 3 to 10 feet apart, depending on the type of plant. You want to ensure enough space for the hydrangea bush to reach full maturity.

You’ll want to dig a hole a little bit bigger than the depth of the root ball of the hydrangea shrub. Dig double or triple the width of the plant to loosen the soil and allow the roots to grow easily.

Set the hydrangea bush in the hole and make sure where the stem meets the soil is level. Fill the hole halfway with soil and water. Finish filling the hole and water again.

5. Add Fertilizer

Hydrangeas do best with a slow-release fertilizer fed early in their growing season. A fertilizer that has a 14-14-14 timed release formula works well. If you plant your hydrangeas in the fall, avoid high doses of fertilizer because it will stimulate growth before winter.

6. Watering Hydrangeas

Be sure to water your hydrangeas at the base of the shrub. Watering your hydrangeas on the top of the bush can lead to burning or powdery mildew. They do better when you drench the soil less frequently than just a little bit of water more frequently. Pay attention to the dryness of the ground and water as needed for your climate.

7. Hydrangea Care

After you plant your hydrangeas, you’ll want to add mulch to keep your hydrangea bush moist and cool. Mulch will improve your soil texture and add nutrients.

Types of Hydrangeas

There are so many varieties of hydrangeas, narrowing down your preference will be hard.

Bigleaf Hydrangea

Oakleaf Hydrangea

When cutting your hydrangeas to make a bouquet for your home, bring the vase filled with water to the garden before cutting. Hydrangeas are thirsty flowers that need water right away. Harvest the flowers in the morning and cut the stems of the flower buds at an angle for the best results.

We’re reached the end of 7 Best Tips on How to Grow a Hydrangea Bush. I hope you enjoyed it!

Let me know in the comments below if you grow hydrangeas and what your favorite variety is.

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