I should preface this by saying that I am very new to gardening...earlier this summer, my mom came up from the south to visit and we went to a local nursery together. She bought me a beautiful macrophylla type Hydrangea ("Merritt's Supreme"), which we planted. The plant did not have a tag that you would normally have, just a hand written label, so I just assumed that because the local nursery was selling it, it was for our zone. So, weeks later I come to realize that that type of hydrangea is rated for zone 6 and higher ...I probably should have just dug it up an returned it, but I got busy and never got around to it. I know the chances of it making it thru the winter and blooming are probably slim to none, but since it was a gift from my mom, I'd really like to attempt to do whatever I can to increase it's odds of survival. I was reading about putting up a chicken wire fence and filling that with leaves, which is my plan. My question is, WHEN, exactly, am I supposed to put up the winter protection? I keep going out and expecting the plant to tell me, but it still looks great and "alive"...just not sure when to do it...or if there is a more recommended method besides the chicken wire and leaves? Any advice would be much appreciated- thanks!
When to protect for winter?
We've had our first hard frosts, the leaves are drooping and are starting to drop from the plant. As soon as more than half of them are off, I pack them with leaves (I don't need to do the chicken wire because I have much older, larger plants. The stems hold the leaves in and there are other plants on the sides of them that trap the leaves.)
HTH,
Suzy
noreaster - your cage and leaves should work for you. Deer love hydrangea and will be thwarted by the cage.
Come springtime resist the urge to prune. Give the pruners to a neighbor if you have to but don't prune it or even think about it until late June. Too many people prune off the flowering buds not knowing better. In late June if there's still brown tips you can take them off but still check the interior of the first piece you cut off and if it's green and healthy looking I wouldn't cut any more tips off.
Ok, thanks for the guidelines- I'll wait till half the leaves are off. Should I try to pull all the stems together to make a tighter column? All the leaves are off the trees now, or pretty close, yet my hydrangea still looks pretty perky. I wasn't sure if there was a wrong time to put the protection around it, and I didn't want to mess it up.
I learned about not pruning from this forum, and the fact that late freezes in the Spring are the most likely cause of no blooms. I'm a complete novice to hydrangea, and gardening in general, so I'm learning as I go here. I still don't get why the local nursery would even sell a plant not hardy for this area. My inlaws, who live close by, do have several mophead and lacecap hydrangeas in their yard, and they have done alright with no winter protection, but I have no way of knowing what variety they have.
What exposure does your hydrangea have? That has a lot to do with survival and blooms. They prefer anything but north exposure and most like some shade.
I think it would be considered East...we do have a pretty shady yard, since there are a lot of tall trees surrounding the property. I probably have it in too much shade. It only gets a few hours of direct sun, then filtered sun thru the trees the rest of the day. Well, I'll give it a year and see how it does.
Can I ask another question- what are these red things on the stems..these pics are from just the other day.
forgot the pic:
Score one for Noreaster! They are the buds for next years flowers! JOY!
Are they really? I didn't know they would be there so soon...and there are quite a few of them. Wow, babies. LOL. Ok, now I REALLY have to try to protect them.
Ok, now this is strange...I just drove around my neighborhood...and was noticing that it is really starting to look wintery and bleak here. I also noticed that other people's hydrangeas, including the ones at my inlaws house, have already died back. Why is mine still looking so alive? I didn't do anything to it other than stick it in the ground when I bought it. I also have a "Gypsy Dancer" Heuchera that still has some blooms and looks very fresh..that thing has been blooming and looking great since I bought it in early July.
Your trees just might be blocking some of the harsher winds and protecting your hydrangea. Why challenge whatever you did so well that your plant is happily holding onto the leaves? We have many heuchera in great shape.
I think today (at least the last few hours) was kind of gray looking anyhow. Maybe Thursday will look less bleak and less wintery.
Mostly I was just curious as to what would cause that...I just looked across the street at my neighbor's and saw that his hydrangea looks pretty dead, too. Perhaps mine is in a more sheltered location.
The onset of winter is always fairly depressing up here, since it drags on thru the end of May, but this year I have something to look forward to when Spring arrives- I planted a lot of things this past Spring and Summer and I can't wait to see what comes back and how they look. Mostly I'm looking forward to seeing how much bigger the hostas get next year, and of course I am looking forward to seeing if I can save the blooms on this hydrangea!
One last question- the blooms on this hydrangea were a beautiful rose color when it was planted. I understand that acid soil is going to produce blooms that are bluer. Our yard is very acidic- is there any point in trying to counteract that, or should I just be happy with blooms of either color? Thanks for all the help!
Just add lime but don't go crazy with it. Lime takes six months to begin to have an effect. A little each year is much better than a lot all at once.
Need any daffodils for springtime?
Unfortunately, I have to stay away for daffodils and narcissus because I have a young dog that hasn't grown out of his "eat everything" phase. I know someone whose dog got very sick from eating a daffodil...I think they are high on the ASPCA's poison list. Hopefully in a year or two he'll have grown out of that and I can put in some new things.
Can lime be added at any time...like now? Also, should the leaves be loosely packed into the chicken wire fence, or should I try to get them pretty dense...just not sure how much air a plant needs.
You can apply the lime now. A few handfuls of the granular lime would be fine.
I can't be sure about the leaf packing, never having done it. I'd pack them in but not push down so much you'd risk breaking a branch off the hydrangea. Maybe you could pile the leaves on the lawn, run over them with a mower a few times and use those shredded leaves?