Hygrangea Color (landscape, growing, fertilizer, Hydrangea)

[oregonwoodsmoke]

I just picked up a hydrangea in the most beautiful dusty rose pink color. It was from a discount house, so no variety name came with it.

Does anyone know whether the pink is a variety color, or have I purchased a regular hydrangea that has been colored by feeding it something special? If it is fed for color, what do I feed it?

I've got a huge hydrangea bush that came with a house that I just bought. It's color is pathetic, but I can tell it is a blue, and I'll feed it some Epsom salts and see what happens. I'd love to keep this pink color on this new bush.

I'd gone back in for an azalea. I saw them yesterday and spent the next 24 hours, saying, "not going to do it, not going to do it, not going to do it....." And then I gave up and went back for the azalea. Today, they had added the hydrangeas, and --what the heck-- as long as you are buying a plant, you might as well buy two. Right?

[luv4horses]

Hydrangea color is determined by the pH of the soil through an interaction with aluminum ions that are accumulated in the plant. So, your pink color is completely natural. Different varieties have different potential for this response, but for most hydrangeas a more acidic pH tends to blue and a more basic pH tends to pink.

Interestingly, wherever there is cement nearby, such as a house foundation or sidewalk or brickwork, the soil is more likely to be of a higher pH (>pH 7), so hydrangea planted right next to a house are more likely to turn pink, unless the homeowner gets clever with acidification and adding some minerals to the soil.

[Zoisite]

If the soil on your property is naturally high acid (low pH) then if you plant your pink hydrangea in the same soil the plant's blooms will become blue. Since you want to keep the pink colour, you can amend your soil where you plant it by raising the pH of the soil. A pH of around 6.0 to 6.2 is best for the pink, but no higher otherwise if it gets above 6.4 the plant may get an iron deficiency. To raise the pH mix some dolomite lime into the soil 4 or 5 times a year and if you use a fertilizer then use one that has a high level of phosphorus in it. Phosphorus helps to prevent aluminum in your soil from getting into the hydrangea's system.

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[HB2HSV]

Originally Posted by luv4horses

Hydrangea color is determined by the pH of the soil through an interaction with aluminum ions that are accumulated in the plant. So, your pink color is completely natural. Different varieties have different potential for this response, but for most hydrangeas a more acidic pH tends to blue and a more basic pH tends to pink.

Interestingly, wherever there is cement nearby, such as a house foundation or sidewalk or brickwork, the soil is more likely to be of a higher pH (>pH 7), so hydrangea planted right next to a house are more likely to turn pink, unless the homeowner gets clever with acidification and adding some minerals to the soil.

^THIS^.

I have a hydrangea in my front flowerbed surrounded by concrete driveway and foundation, it usually bloom pink unless I heavily acidified the soil with sulfur. But make sure you add them uniformly otherwise I'll get one side blue, the other side pink. And purple (blue-ish pink) in the middle

[Lost Roses]

Hmm, thanks for posing this question. I'm now dialing down my expectations for the red hydrangeas I had in containers last year. Hydrangeas are new to me and they aren't something you see in many landscapes in my area in zone 5 but I thought it would be fun to have some in my large containers on my terrace last summer.

I fell in love with the red ones and wanted to save them so I transferred them at the end of the growing season to plastic pots which I buried in a hill of dirt. I covered the tops with leaves. I see they have survived the winter as new growth is evident but now I'm realizing that : 1. They may not come back as red, 2. I may have no blooms as I probably trimmed the old wood that would produce new blooms.

Ah well, live and learn. I say that all the time when gardening.

[Zoisite]

Originally Posted by Lost Roses

I fell in love with the red ones and wanted to save them so I transferred them at the end of the growing season to plastic pots which I buried in a hill of dirt. I covered the tops with leaves. I see they have survived the winter as new growth is evident but now I'm realizing that : 1. They may not come back as red, 2. I may have no blooms as I probably trimmed the old wood that would produce new blooms.

Ah well, live and learn. I say that all the time when gardening.

You could try repotting them into concrete/cement containers. Concrete has lots of dolomite lime or other high calcium limestone in it since it's an important aggregate used in concrete mixes. That's why, as noted above by other posters, hydrangeas growing near concrete foundations, driveways, patios etc. will be pink - it's because of the lime leeching out of the concrete into the soil the hydrangeas are growing in.

Or you could just feed some dolomite lime to the red hydrangea without repotting it.

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[NYChistorygal]

Originally Posted by HB2HSV

^THIS^.

I have a hydrangea in my front flowerbed surrounded by concrete driveway and foundation, it usually bloom pink unless I heavily acidified the soil with sulfur. But make sure you add them uniformly otherwise I'll get one side blue, the other side pink. And purple (blue-ish pink) in the middle

I have a tri-color hydrangea and I love it!