Hello,
I absolutely love hydrangeas but have not grown them yet because we are surounded by forest and have deer regularly grazing our lawn. I have planted "deer resistant" plants bordering our lawn with great success. Our veggie garden is gated.
anyway, I have a fee questiins and would appreciate any advise or feedback I can get. I have browsed and read through many of the topocs in this forum and found that very helpful too.I have here are my questions.
question 1 I have bought a mix of reblooming hydrangea and hydrangea that grows on old wood. My plants have new grow but some some do not have a lot of buds yet. Will they bllom this year or focus on root growth only. They were planted one week ago.
Question 2. For deer protection i have sprayed with liquid fence and covered each plant with black deer netting. So far so good and I have seen deer around. This is my plan while the plants are not dormant. Is this enough? I plan to alternate products as well for the spraying. I was considering putting tomato cages around them with burlap or perhaps netting during the winter to protect the new buds and new growth from the deer as they graze most heavily here in the winter.
Do these sound like good plans? I was also considering electric posts with bait but it makes me nervous to attract the deer. What if they ignore the bait and just go for my hydrangas? ( of course the electricity is low wattage and humane. We do love our wildlife and want to protect them too)
Appreciate any feedback. Thanks!
New to hydrangeas!
For question 1, most plants will take time to get their roots going before they'll bloom. Often it takes a couple years before they really get going putting on a good show. So while it's possible that the rebloomers could give you a few blooms this year don't worry about it if they don't.
Can't help you on the deer since I don't have trouble with them, but between the spray and the netting I expect you've given your plants a pretty good chance so I would probably hold off on the electric posts.
Netting should work pretty good. I don't know how effective sprays are. A hosta grower close to me uses an electric fence about 12 to 18 inches off the ground to protect his 7,000 hostas from deer. I would think the deer would just walk over that but he says it has done the job for him. Dumb deer!
Most new hydrangeas will bloom the first year but some won't. Ecrane has some good advice on that matter.
I had problems with rabbits and applied Liquid Fence for Deer and Rabbits with good results. I had considered having to apply some netting but it turned out not to be needed. However, the apray was a pain as it required that I reapply after it rained. Use the liquid fence that you were trying to use and play it by ear... if there is new damage and a lot of it, then consider adding some lightweight netting (heavy ones may make the stems bend). If both of those do not work well then consider a high fence or dogs.
Hi there, I've just got the hydrangea bug myself!
I just removed 8 rosemary bushes and are replacing them with hydrangeas.
I, too, have a deer problem. I just put a circle of 4 foot tall wire fence around deer "food" plants. This has worked well with camellias, alstroemerias, and other tempting plants. It is sooo much easier than constantly applying deer repellents. The green fence looks best, but I have also bought galvanized and painted it brown so it's almost invisable. And if your plants grow through the fence, well the deer will trim them and make perfect topiaries, LOL. My husband calls my garden the "Plant Zoo" because my plants are all in cages.
How much sun does the area get where you planted the hydrangeas? Rosemary and hydrangeas like pretty much opposite conditions (rosemary likes sunny & dry, hydrangeas like shady and more moist) so if the rosemary was happy in that spot then I doubt the hydrangeas will do very well. Of course if you pulled the rosemary out because the area was too shady & wet for them then it may work just fine for the hydrangeas.
Actually the rosemary was miserable there. The oak trees had grown and created shade were once there was sun. I have hopes the lack of sun will suit the hydrangeas. I took a whole flat of rosemary cuttings and plan on putting some in full sun, as my chef husband is not happy about me removing them, LOL. I will need to keep check on the water situation but the hydrangeas will be in range of my backyard sprinkler.
Hydrangea paniculatas do very well in full sun as long as they are watered during hot, dry times. Here are some Limelights in full sun in Chattanooga taken the middle of June.
