When I visited Ruibal's nursery at the Farmer's Market in Dallas yesterday, I saw a gorgeous mophead hydrangea that was the color of a deep, almost black burgundy/wine/claret color. They said it is in a 12-inch container and is priced at $119.00. The only name they had for it is "California Floral Hydrangea." Well, $119 is out of my budget and I'm not encouraged that a smaller size--if they can get it for me--will be significantly less given shipping prices from California. Apparently, that is what is bumping the price up. Anyway...does anyone know about these? Possibly direct me to another source for a smaller plant? I'll continue my Goggle-ing and calling around to local nurseries. Just hoping for a shorter route to the solution. Thanks for any help you can give. My computer will be going down later today, so it may be a couple of days before I can read responses.
California Floral Hydrangea
Personally I'd shop around, that's an awful lot of money to pay for a hydrangea that they don't even have a cultivar name for. If you go to the websites for some of the hydrangea retailers like www.hydrangeasplus.com you'll probably find some plants that have the deep color you're looking for but a better price.
Whoa! Now if you can come up with a cultivar name, that's one I'd like to see. Just see mind you. That's a whop to the wallet and I've been known to melt the plastic a time or two myself in runaway "gotta have it" plant mode.
Thanks for the referral to the website. I sent them an email asking them if they have the plant I described. And yes, that's a lot of money. Even for me who has been guilty of spending all my stash money on a plant that grabs me by the throat. So far, I'm resisting, but still searching for a smaller plant. I, too, thought it strange that they didn't have a cultivar name. But DH offered: "It's probably a freak plant that will change to white in your soil. Then what are you going to do after you've blown your stash on it?" Hmmmm.
It won't turn white, but he does have a good point on flower color, since the flower color changes based on the pH, the flower color you saw there may not be the same flower color you'll get growing it in your soil. Since I know my soil tends to be alkaline, when I'm shopping for hydrangeas I always look for ones where there are pictures of it on the pink end of the range, and I make sure I like how it looks when it's pink. There are some gorgeous pics of blue ones on websites but I don't even look at those because I know they won't be blue for me and they may not be nearly as impressive in pink as they were in blue.
I agree with ecrane3, granny70. Most locales in the Metroplex have alkaline soil and, as soon as the new plant roots grow from the container into our alkaline soil, there goes the blue or pruple. The nest you can do however, is keep it in a pot/container and ammend the potting soil mix so it is acidic. Trying to do the same with the ground soil is much harder. I admit I do that but it is because I am hard headed and sometimes do not follow my own advice. Plus I do like the look of purples and blues. But most of my hydrangeas are a medium pink as I prefer not to go overboard with these chemicals and, if I do not ammend, they suffer from iron chlorosis episodes once a year.
Well, y'all have brought home a point that I hadn't fully considered--testing my soil. The only 2 hydrangeas I have now are both pinky mopheads, an older one in the ground (a Mother's Day gift so I have no clue as to its cultivar) and a new one in a container (a Forever and Ever). Both are staying pink, the ground plant year after year. So I assume I have the alkaline soil that luis has in Hurst. I'm not a blue person, so I've not experienced planting a blue only to have it turn pink. Thanks, folks, for the input. If I ever find the plant at a reasonable price, I'll let you know.