I waited for four years and I was ready to give and dig it up, then this year it flowered for the first time. It had flowered in the past, but the flowers were very small and ugly, now with extra water and improved soil, this is the result. My gardener changed the sprinkler pattern so it hits the hydrangea, this was only a side effect of changing the shape of the lawn.
What a great flower! Did you have a lot?
Me too. Finally flowers and good foliage up to now. I think it takes a few years for the root system to develop.
Worth the wait I would say!! Great looking shrub!!
I hate to brag, but it just getting better and better, the smaller flowers are growing larger and new flowers are occuring. I would recommend this plant, if you have enough water for it. I almost never see them around my area. So far the flowers are not too big to be supported by the stems, which was suppposted to be a problem.
I had a dalhia, called Kevin Floodlight that had flowers too big for the stems to support, and I ended up getting rid of it. The flowers hung upside down, with the stems bending so much. However, I never dug it up and divided it any way, and after four years, I decided I wanted to remove it, due to limited space over all.
I have had limited success with 'Kevin Floodlight' by leaving only 4 shoots (staked) and removing the rest. A pain with the over winter storage thing.
Yes, I know what you mean, we don't freeze and it was too big to have to dig up every year and store. However, by not digging it up, the flowers got smaller and over all every year, it got worse looking, due to the fact, I was not dividing it.
When dividing plants do you dig up, remove the inner circle and just plant the outside portions??? I'm sure you know that the outer stems are more robust and healthy!! :-) Your hydrangea is lovely and have yet to plant this one - new garden etc etc!! But I'm getting there!!
Actually I did not know that about dividing plants. I have never done it with Dahlias. It was just my understanding, that it should be done.
Hello Everyone! I have to dig up two of my Hydrangea's. They are getting too large for the area's I have them in. My goal is to keep them where they are, but scale them down a bit. I have read that it's possible to dig, divide and re-plant with little to no problems. Has anyone succesfully done this? Any tips or suggestions?
One of the Hydrangea's is Annabelle. It is about 5-6 years old. The mopheads get so large, they flop over if it rains. I should say, when it rains..lol! ( I live in the Seattle area). I was thinking of leaving the stems about 2 - 3 feet high when they are finished this year and let the dried stems help to 'support' the new stems next year. Does that make sense? I suppose Peony rings that have supporting 'squares' in the center would work better......
I have just mastered how to do a dual photo, and I wanted to post the photos of the smaller Annabelle for people to see. This photo has the whole plant and then a close up of the flower. I was thinking that these flowers were not working out, but maybe they are going to turn out better as the develope? It would be too much to hope for that both plants would have great flowers.
What happened with this plant is earlier in the year, it had some wind damage and I had to cut it back. This may have removed the portion that was going to flower. This is just a first year plant.
I am wondering how big they get. I have seen just huge photos of them on the net. They looked about 12 feet tall, and even more wide. I am going to check them in the plant data base to see if some has posted a maximum size.
If anyone has a huge one to share please post us a photo. The bigger the plant, the bigger the flowers, it could support.
