Homeliness, Gardening
How to grow a hydrangea in a garden: planting and care
Nowadays quite a few owners of country houses plant different flowers on their plot. Someone does it for beauty, and there are gardeners who sell flowering plants and earn money on it. The most important thing is to provide the flowers with the right care, and then they will please you with their appearance.
One of the most beautiful flowering bushes deservedly is hydrangea. To date, this plant has about a hundred species, differing in resistance to low temperatures, the size of the bush and the shape of the leaves. It is interesting that the coloration of the hydrangea flowers themselves depends not on the grade, but on the acidity of the soil. And the plant can in different years please the owner with white, cream, pink, bright crimson or even blue inflorescences. Common features for all plants are the height of the bush no more than one and a half meters, large dark green leaves with jagged edges (may be sharp or wavy) and a long flowering period from the middle of summer until late autumn. Before you grow a hydrangea in a garden that is healthy and lushly flowering, you should familiarize yourself with the rules of its content, since the plant is rather capricious.
Recommendations for watering
So, how to grow a hydrangea in a garden? The rules of care in the first place say about the strict observance of the recommendations for irrigation. The shrub is very sensitive to the regularity of moistening and the quality of the water. Under no circumstances should the soil dry out, since the plant is sufficiently hygrophilous. Ideally, watering should be done a couple of times a week, depending on the weather. Too dry summer of southern regions may require more watering, and cool rainy weather, on the contrary, reduce it. To keep the soil moistened for a long time, the near-bush circle of the bush needs to be promulgated.
For this, organic materials such as:
- sawdust;
- hay;
- needles;
- Straw and so on.
It is best to mill the plant immediately after planting or perform the procedure annually in early spring, even before the sun starts to burn. The procedure for watering should always be done only in the morning or in the evening, excluding the possibility of drops falling on leaves and buds, the plant does not like it.
Choice of water
To water this plant should choose water according to certain rules. Take it from the tap is prohibited, since such water is oversaturated with chlorine harmful to the bush. The consequence will be chlorosis of leaves, requiring additional costs for further hydrangea treatment. Also, irrigation can provoke rotting of the root system, if you use stagnant water for this. So how to grow a hydrangea in a garden? Water it only with warm and not hard water.
Plant nutrition
The high requirements of hydrangeas for growing conditions apply to the feeding of shrubs, without which it is impossible to obtain abundant and long flowering. To feed the plant follows various mixtures, depending on its needs at different times of the year. So, in early spring, the shrub should be fed with a mixture of urea and potassium sulfate, which will form and accelerate the process of vegetation. To do this, each component should take 0.5 tablespoons and dilute in half a bucket of water, then pour everything under one bush. Strength and strength of the future branches will also give and watering the plant in early spring with a weak solution of potassium permanganate.
Before you grow a hydrangea in a luxuriantly flowering garden, you should feed it up during the bud formation. The mixture for this is prepared from superphosphate, the concentration of which on a bucket of water is one tablespoon. Even during flowering plants should also pay attention to sufficient nutrition, which will ensure uninterrupted flowering buds until the fall. So, in the middle of summer, you can use for feeding nitrophosco, "Agricola" or "flower Kemir". All of them are bred on a bucket of water for 1 tablespoon. Such feeding will not only prolong the life of flowers, but also increase their number on the bush. Any fertilizer should be applied to the plant not more than twice a month and, if possible, try to alternate mineral fertilizers with organic fertilizers. As the last excellent fit mullein, infusion of chicken manure and so on.
Autumnal feeding should provide the plant a good winter. At this time, hydrangeas should be fed with superphosphate and potassium sulfate in equal proportions also in a bucket of water (1 tablespoon). To pour under each bush is enough 5-7 liters. As organic materials at this time, mulching of the soil with peat, humus or compost will be excellent, which should be spread out by a layer of at least 5 cm.
Formation of the plant
Even if all of the above conditions are met, the question of how to grow a hydrangea in a garden, the caring for which is quite painstaking, remains open. The fact is that without proper pruning, flowering and growth of the bush will not be of high quality even with sufficient nutrition. Form the crown of a shrub in the spring or autumn, or twice a year. The main thing in this process is to cut off the branches when they do not yet have buds that have blossomed or all the buds have already faded. Carefully cut out not only the frozen and weak branches, but also those that grow in the center of the bush. Annual shoots can be cut almost to the root, leaving a few kidneys, and can be shortened slightly, depending on the plant variety. The fact is that some varieties of hydrangeas bloom only on the branches of past years, and some already on young annual shoots.
If the plant is peculiar to produce buds only on the branches of past years, pruning young shoots will harm them, in the case of flowering on young branches, on the contrary, it will stimulate. For species of hydrangeas with flowering on last year's shoots, it is important to trim only in autumn and not too abundant, only to rejuvenate the bush.
Time, place and rules of disembarkation to the ground
Since this plant is rather capricious and sensitive, its seedlings can be placed in the open ground only after careful hardening in fresh air and growing in greenhouse conditions for at least two years. It is best to perform a transplant in the spring, so that the plant has enough time to take root over the warm season. Of course, in warm regions they do not adhere too much to this rule, since it is not difficult to plant a hydrangea in a garden, which is allowed in autumn.
The place for the bush is better to choose a well-lit or partial shade with direct sunlight at the beginning or end of the day. The pit is excavated the size of the crown of the bush or twice the size of the earth coma of the plant. Usually when planting young seedlings such a pit is half a meter in depth and as much in diameter.
The primer should be:
- Nutritious;
- Neutral (ideally acidic);
- It is good to let in air;
- Quickly adsorb moisture.
When considering the question of how to grow a hydrangea in a garden when planting several plants, it is necessary to take into account the optimal distance between the bushes. For comfortable growth, they should be placed at a distance of at least a meter from each other, and preferably one and a half.
Reproduction of the bush
The question of how to grow a hydrangea in a garden of seeds, very few people are interested, since this process is long and time-consuming. It is much easier to propagate a plant by cuttings or by dividing a bush. If the site already has a hydrangea bush, it's enough to dig it out, divide it into several parts with roots and shoots and sprinkle the damaged places with coal dust, then just plant each part as a separate plant in its place.
If the existing bush is still too small or the owner simply had the opportunity to get a cutting, then it must be cut off from the lateral one-year shoot. From the twigs, remove all the leaves except 4-8 pieces, and root it into a mixture of peat and sand (2: 1). , так чтобы листья не касались почвы. After that, the prepared soil is mulched with another layer of sand, and a depth of one centimeter is placed in the main nutrient layer at an angle of 45 ° , so that the leaves do not touch the soil. , поэтому лучше производить высадку в укрытии. Best cuttings take root in the middle of summer, but the temperature for this should not be more than 20 ° , so it's better to make a landing in a shelter.
Negative factors
To answer the question of how to grow a hydrangea in a garden, planting and caring for which are described above, it is impossible without knowledge about possible diseases, pests and ways to eliminate them. Insufficient feeding of the bush with iron occurs in this plant most often, causing yellowing of the entire surface of the leaves, except veins. The solution of the problem is to feed the plant with iron in special mixtures or with the help of foliar application of iron vitriol and citric acid (1: 2). Such a mixture hydrangea can be watered, but in especially neglected stages.
Frequent problems of the bush are white and gray rot, as the plant needs frequent watering, and powdery mildew. Diseases are eliminated by hydrangea treatment with fungicides. Pests that are dangerous for this bush are spider mites and leaf aphids, which are treated with insecticides.
Swarthy hydrangea
Before growing a hydrangea in a garden in the Urals, one should correctly choose the ideal variety for a given climate, which is the plant in question. The panicle hydrangea can be left for winter without shelter, only by profusely speculating the soil around it with humus. Pits for planting this variety are necessary because the roots are very actively growing. Plant shrubs at a distance of more than two meters from each other. If necessary, plant a hedge for a plant, dig trenches and plant bushes with the same distance. This variety in the spring should be carefully thinned for abundant flowering and leave no more than 10 buds on young shoots. When planting, you can leave no more than six.
Treelike bush
This species is resistant to cold, so the answer to the question of how to grow a hydrangea in a garden in Siberia will not be complete without considering this variety. The pit for planting is also necessary for large, the main thing is that groundwater does not reach its bottom. It can be planted early in the spring, adding to the planting pit a humus and a complex of mineral fertilizers. All shoots of this hydrangea should be cut in spring more than half. In the shelter for the winter, only young shrubs are needed, the rest is enough to thoroughly mulch the soil with compost or humus.
Thermophilic variety
How to grow a hydrangea in the garden of the Crimea? To do this, you can choose any kind, but among the heat-loving, which do not take root in other regions, stands out large-leaf hydrangea. For its landing there is enough pit in diameter and depth of only 30 cm, while the distance between plants can be 1 meter. Annual pruning is not carried out in spring, but when planting, shoots should be shortened, leaving no more than 4 kidneys. For the winter, the bush should be sheltered, laying branches on the boards and covering the fallen leaves, and open only when the threat of frost disappears.
Distinctive features of varieties
Before you grow a hydrangea in a garden, you should carefully choose the perfect variety for a particular region. As a rule, almost all varieties can be planted in the middle belt and in the south, and for the northern regions attention should be paid to frost-resistant. The best in this regard are treelike and paniculate hydrangeas, but even they must be protected in winter from severe frosts.
How to grow a hydrangea in a medium-sized garden? To do this, you can choose any variety of plants, most importantly, carefully cover for the winter heat-loving shrubs from freezing.
Southern regions can safely shelter in their garden any variety of this amazing bush.
Above was presented an exhaustive answer to the question of how to grow a hydrangea in a garden, the photo of which simply bewitches with its beauty. All the peculiarities of the trembling care of the bush will be more than justified by its exquisite appearance, and for many years of its growth on the site all procedures will not be so burdensome. Interestingly, with proper care, some varieties can bloom abundantly for more than half a century, and rejuvenate them with a fairly ordinary cutting of the bush.
Similar articles
Trending Now