Color me pink hydrangea12/31/2023 ![]() ![]() While the most common colors are pink, blue and purple, hydrangea blooms can also be red, white and green. Hydrangea blooms come in a variety of shapes, colors and sizes. For more plant advice, check out the best locations for plants in your home, and the best indoor plants for low light, clean air and easy care. To get the lowdown on hydrangea colors, I spoke to expert Mal Condon, curator of hydrangeas at Heritage Museums and Gardens - and more aptly known as "the Hydrangea Guy" - to find out what makes hydrangeas change color and to get a few tips on how to actually get the color of bloom you want. There's a particularly scientific explanation as to why your hydrangeas might not achieve the color you want. You probably assume that the blooms will surely look the same planted in your yard as they did at the nursery, right? Well, not necessarily when it comes to hydrangeas. This is a common mistake made by novice and seasoned gardeners alike. And while I loved the soft pink blooms of our hydrangeas, my mom would often remark on how they never bloomed bright blue like she wished they would. My family even had a few bushes in the back, where the hydrangeas could enjoy a lot of direct sunlight and pockets of scattered shade throughout the day. I have vivid memories of driving around my neighborhood and seeing the vibrant pink, white and lilac blooms on almost every front lawn. From pink to blue, and even a mishmash of the in-between, hydrangeas have color changing down to an art.Growing up in eastern North Carolina, I considered the cloudlike blooms of hydrangea shrubs to be synonymous with the spring and summer months. A few even naturally produce flowers in multiple colors, without the need to adjust pH.īy creating various soil pH levels, you can test out the range of hydrangea colors- a fun way to change things up in your garden. Some newly developed hydrangea varieties have an extended bloom period. Both sulfur and lime are effective for in-ground and potted hydrangeas. Earth Science’s Fast Acting Sulfur® is an effective solution to lowering the soil’s pH, and again, fostering a better soil environment. In order to promote blue blossoms on your hydrangea, you will want to add sulfur to your soil. Earth Science’s Fast Acting™ Lime product quickly raises soil pH, as well as nourishes the soil environment. In this case, we are speaking of the mineral lime, which is actually the finely ground mineral calcium carbonate. However, this does not mean a trip to the grocery store for a bag of those acidic green limes. ![]() In order to promote pink blossoms on your hydrangea, you will want to add lime to your soil. If you do want to control the color range of your hydrangea blossoms, changing the pH of your soil is the most straightforward method. ![]() It is also possible that the amount of aluminum in the soil has as much effect as acidic soil on the tendency for hydrangeas to bloom in blue. The depth and intensity of the blossom color is impacted by factors that you will have less control over, such as the weather conditions, the amount of humidity, and the health of the plant. For example, some say that hot weather will prevent any hydrangea from turning a true crimson or red, no matter how alkaline the soil may be. Other elements can affect hydrangea blossoms. Other Factors that Impact Hydrangea Blossoms ![]() Purple Tiers remains purple regardless of the pH of the soil. For example, Ami Pasquier remains red unless the soil is extremely acidic, in which case, it turns purple, but never truly blue. Some individual cultivars stick to their color in all but the most extreme conditions. Hydrangeas with white blossoms will always bloom in white, no matter the pH of the soil. There are exceptions to every rule, of course, and there are some exceptions here. In neutral to slightly acid soil, these hydrangeas can have purple blooms, or even a mixture of pink and blue blooms on the same plant. In alkaline soil (with a pH above 7), their flowers will be pink, or even red. In acidic soil (below a pH of 6), their flowers will be blue. Most French hydrangeas (Hydrangea macrophylla) have, over the centuries, developed this sensitivity. Some hydrangeas are very sensitive to the pH of the soil in which they are grown, and this sensitivity is reflected in the color of their blossoms. Plains with less rainfall and lighter cover tend to have neutral soils. The pH of soil ranges from 0 to 14, and we speak of low pH soil as being “acidic” and high pH soil as being “alkaline.” Generally speaking, areas with heavy rainfall and a lot of forests have acidic soil, and drier areas of desert terrain have alkaline soil. The hydrogen ions are what enable a plant’s roots to absorb the various nutrients from the soil. PH is a scientific term that describes the amount, or “power” (hence the “p”), of hydrogen (the “H”) that’s available within the soil. ![]()
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