Bigleaf Hydrangea, Lacecap 'Blaumiese (Blue Sky, Teller Blue)' (Hydrangea macrop

Bigleaf Hydrangea, Lacecap 'Blaumiese (Blue Sky, Teller Blue)'
Hydrangea macrophylla

Large deep blue lacecap flowers on acid soil

I bought one of these i hope mine turns out as well as yours did.
such a beautiful Hydrangea .

Absolutly Gorgeous!!! A lace cap has been on my wish list for a while...I will make sure to get one now.
Thanks for sharring,
Colleen

i have a beautiful one of these in my garden i have had it for several years and have only gotten flowers twice it is a beautiful green huge plant what am i doing wrong i would like flowers every yr. i have tried not cutting the old plant back because new shoots come off of them but still nothing i have tried heavy mulch for the winter also . i am in michigan if that matters.

Beautimous! Have always loved these. Reminds me of my Grand Mother's garden.

janiebaby, it is probably too cold for that particular variety of hydrangea. My Teller Blue forms the buds in the fall so if I have a very hard or extended freeze it will kill them and I am in zone 8.
You might try one of the panicle hydrangeas because they bloom on new wood and are hardy to zone 3. These can be cut back hard in late winter and still bloom and they are easy to grow. The flowers are more cone shaped. Some of the varieties are Pink Diamond, Tardiva, Limelight, or Brussels Lace.
Also the arborescens are more cold hardy (to zone 6). Some of those are Annabelle, Samantha (hardy to zone 4), or Pink pincushion.
Hope this helps you a little. Jenny

What do you feed hydrangeas and how often?

I use Sam's Choice Deep Feeding Acidifier (mix with water) about once a month. My hydrangeas are mulched with a mixture of pine needle/oak leaf compost, leaves and pine needles on top. This feeds them naturally. Every spring I throw Osmocote into the flower beds for everything.

Well, I already have really acid soil, so I guess I will go with just a general fertilizer, maybe a little bone meal. How long do hydrangeas normally bloom when they are doing well.

The blooms last a long time. Many of the hydrangeas will change color during the bloom time. One of mine starts out a light green, then blue, then a greenish red mix till it dries on the stem.

sh1025:

I would love to see more photos of your hydrangeas. Do you have anymore that you could post...can't get enough of hydrangeas and yours are very pretty.

Tracey

I"ll try to look through my folders and see if I have more pics other than the Teller Blue I posted this spring. If not I'll take pics of my fading blooms (or everchanging) and of my new bed. That will probably have to be this weekend since I'm already back to work (teacher) and have to get my room ready, we've got a technology conference, a retreat, need to bale hay tomorrow, and after work today have promised to take my granddaughter shopping for school clothes. Right now I'm just waiting for daylight to go out and water before leaving for work. Heat index is supposed to be above 110 today. Yesterday we hit 101 for the actual temperature and no rain in sight. I've missed the last few rains we had and my plants are suffering. Jenny

Hi Jenny

Where's Woodville? Our heat index reached 110 also...I miss the rain that blew through here recently.

Tracey

Woodville is halfway between Beaumont and Lufkin (East TX). I do have a pic I took earlier in the summer of my Forever Pink hydrangea (this one doesn't get very big) but it has turned a purple or lilac color. The first year it was pink and now has changed.

sh1025, glad you posted these (and, the ones to come). How often did you have to water your hydrangeas their first then subsequent years. I planted 3 in late spring and its been a struggle to keep them alive in this heat of ours.

edited to say :Not the lacecap though. The varigated, nikko blue and another whose name I don't recall. All are H. macropyllia though.

This message was edited Thursday, Aug 5th 7:11 PM

I also planted a few hydrangeas in late spring and it was a struggle keeping them happy. It didn't seem to matter how much water I gave them they would always wilt during the day even though they were in shade. I was almost afraid I was drowning them because I kept giving them so much water, but they finally adjusted and seem to love it here now.

Your colors on that hydrangea are beautiful Jenny...I love the variation. Do you ever dry your blooms?

Tracey

My experience exactly, Tracey. Glad to hear they have a chance. Will continue the tlc! Thanks!

Just planted a bed this June on the west side of my house (shade in the evenings there because of a huge oak tree). I put a soaker hose on the bed. Of course these a just small hydrangeas that I purchased from Frank's Nantucket Hydrangea. I leave the soaker hose on 24/7. Now when I planted the Forever Pink and Teller Blue a few years ago I just hand watered then for awhile and then put a soaker hose down but didn't leave it on all the time. I had transplanted a huge hydrangea (one of the old blue types from a homeplace) and it would wilt like that everyday in the summer for 2 years but now is fine. I think they just have to get their roots established.
Tracey, yes I have dried some of my blooms but I just hate to cut them. The lacecap doesn't do so well. The old fashioned blue seems to do best for me. I like to keep my blooms till early winter and watch all the color changes. Next year I will have a lot of variety when these small ones bloom. I can't wait

sh1025, Wow! Soaker hose 24/7! "Overwatering" isn't a problem for you? For how long have you been doing this? All summer? Do you control the flow? What is your soil type? This is interesting. Do you mulch, too? I really like that big blue flower! I will have to "nag" my wife to get back into drying flowers next year!

The west side of my house has always been very dry. I also have red clay soil. To make the bed I dug out most of the clay and amended holes 2 feet wide and 2 feet deep. Yes, I have cypress mulch on the hydrangeas. The bed is raised so it drains. The soaker hose that I bought at Walmart (a black hose that just barely leaks) doesn't put out tremendous amounts of water, in fact I have it doubled on the bed. The few times it has rained I have cut it off, but believe me with days that the heat index is 114 it is fine. My other hydrangeas on the north side of the house have have the soaker hose turned on about every 4 days. They are all 3 years or older so their root system is well established.

I'm going to use your experiences as a guidline for getting these plants through summer. Next year I'll add at least one lacecap. Thanks for sharing. Much appreciated! Your right, root development is the key to their survival here.