Hortense – the pride of the garden and the decoration of the house

Hortense – a luxurious perennial shrub, the joy of flower growers and landscape designers. This is a real miracle of nature, the beauty of which truly fascinates. Lush flowers of the plant, with appropriate care, will please the eye almost the entire summer-autumn season.

Exotic Exterior

The hydrangea bush cover the egg-shaped bright leaves. Flowers are formed into spherical, full, dense inflorescences. Their plant sprays at the ends of the shoots. Coloring flowers can have a variety. Most often you can see them in green, blue, pink and white versions.

Several dozen subspecies of this plant were collected in the Hortensian family. They can look like:

1. Shrubs.

2. Semishrubs.

3. Lianas.

4. Treelike individuals.

The majority of representatives are deciduous species. Hortensia is a plant not only in orchards, the flower grows well at home, but the rules for caring for it are somewhat different.

Methods of breeding hydrangeas

Beauty is satiated with difficulty, so after the first acquaintance with hydrangeas, she will certainly want to see in her garden in different interpretations. There are three methods of reproduction of each species. The plant can be grown from seeds, cuttings or by dividing a bush.

If you are going to use seeds, then their landing in the ground should be done in May. Since the emergence of shoots to the first flowering, you have to wait two years.

At division of a bush this process considerably is accelerated. If you make his planting in the spring, then by autumn new seedlings will be fully strengthened and in the next season they will please you with a wild flowering.

For cuttings only young shoots of the first year are suitable. They quickly take root, literally in 20 days and begin to develop actively in the bush.

Ground and fineness of landing

“The plant belongs to the photophilous, but it does not respond well to the direct sun, so search for its planting places where in the midday there will be a penumbra”

Plant hydrangea seedlings at any time, from the end of April to the deep autumn. Even in the summer, this is not forbidden. The only recommendations on this issue are the need to purchase young shrubs in pots or tubs. Such a long period of landing, of course, pleases, however, the optimal time for such works still remains spring.

The plant belongs to the photophilous, but it does not react well to the direct sun, so look for its planting places where in the midday there will be a partial shade.

In the landing zone, it is necessary to create a special soil regime. Welcome soil, giving acidic reaction. In order to create a similar soil effect, peat is poured into the planting pits or a soil mixture suitable for azaleas is buried. You can use for this purpose mixtures from sheet humus and compost mixed in equal parts.

Compost can be replaced:

1. Superphosphate.

2. Potassium sulphate.

We need to prepare the soil and other parameters. The soil must be water-permeable and loose, then the seedling will not have difficulty with breathing.

To plant the shoot, you need to make a pit of twenty-five centimeters deep, lay one of the above options for top dressing and insert the bush into it, slowly pour a hole in a bucket of warm water. The pre-cut root must be in the mule. After that, the pit is filled with dry ground, which is somewhat trampled around the appendage.

To keep the optimal microclimate in the upper layers of the earth, it is mulched. To do this, use:

1. Sawdust.

2. Paper.

3. Sacking.

4. The needles.

5. Straw.

6. Expanded clay.

Mulching will protect the hydrangea roots from overheating, slow down the growth of weeds. Organic mulch, sprinkled around the bush, will eventually decompose and become part of the local soil, slightly acidifying its pH, and for the plant it is very useful.

In general, the mulching process will be carried out later in the spring, when the soil has already warmed up well, but has not yet dried out, and late autumn, with the onset of a period of light but stable frosts. The mulching material is covered on the perimeter, corresponding to the projection of the crown of a single plant or the entire landscape group. You can centimeters by 20 to expand the boundaries of mulching. This will produce a positive effect.

If the hydrangea is planned to grow as a hedge, then between seedlings it is necessary to leave, at least, a two-meter distance. This will help ensure that bushes do not “strangle” each other after growth.

Watering the garden hydrangea

Hortensia loves moisture, so the irrigation schedule should provide this procedure at least twice a week. Weekly water consumption for each bush is 20 liters. In hot weather, bushes are mulched with straw or sand to prevent drying of the roots.

Feeding hydrangeas growing in the open ground

In order to develop normally, fluffily bloom and lay a sufficient number of flower buds for the following season, hydrangeas need strength, and they are given fertilizer to the plant. They should be rich in magnesium and contain iron. Plants are fertilized, both during planting and during intensive growth. The first portion of hydrangeas is given in the early days of summer. This may be a solution of bird droppings or balanced complexes of minerals. In the future, the procedure is repeated at intervals of two weeks. Feeding of the plant stops at the end of July, because the hydrangea shoots must be stubborn to the onset of cold weather.

Trimming

This process regulates the size and number of inflorescences and is carried out every year. On the cropped bushes less inflorescences are formed, but they become noticeably larger. Since the flower buds are only the shoots of the current year, then they will need to be cut very early in the spring. Adults and strong plants shoots are shortened by ¾, keeping no more than three pairs of kidneys. At the same time, we cut out branches that are weak and frozen for the winter. In autumn, you will also have to pick up a sharp pruner, but now only the faded inflorescence will be removed.

Wintering hydrangeas

If the hydrangea varieties you planted are not sufficiently frost-hardy or the bushes are simply too young, plants need to organize a comfortable wintering. The easiest way to do this is by mulching the near-bush of the bush with branches of lapnik, a thick layer of peat or sawdust. You can use straw and just fallen leaves. Thus, tree types of hydrangeas are protected. Mulching is done in dry weather. The first frosts serve as a signal for the beginning of work.

Thermophilic varieties such as hydrangea petiolate, large-leaved, late autumn, gently bend, laying on the ground, covered with boards or spruce lapnikom, and fixed in this position with special hooks. Above, the plant is sprinkled with fallen leaves or fir-tree paws.

In varieties with stiff shoots, the crown is rescued as follows. It is wrapped with any covering material, such as lutrasil, spunbond or kraft paper and tied. Mulch and the winter sarcophagus are removed from the plants as soon as the danger of primroses passes. Usually this period falls on the middle of April. It is necessary to approach the process correctly, so that the plants are not affected. Works are held on a cloudy day, in the evening, so that the active spring sun does not burn shoots.

And one more fineness of care for garden hydrangeas. Their garlands of flowers look great, but it’s worth only passing the rain, as they recruit moisture and become too heavy for the branches holding them. To prevent the latter from breaking, the bushes are recommended to be tied up.

Decorative hydrangea

At home, mostly grown large-leaf hydrangea. Her flowers also have a variety of colors.

The flowering period is not less than that of the garden species, in winter the plant needs rest. He needs this time to gain new strength for a new season of active life. To grow a flower is not too difficult. But there are some subtleties in this matter.

Lighting

Well-groomed plants will thank their owners for a long and lush bloom. A pot of hydrangea should be placed in a well-lit place, however, in a place where hot sunlight does not reach.

Putting a flower on the windowsill, you are guaranteed to provoke the appearance of light spots on the leaves, but also the excessively shaded corners are not for him. Best plant will feel at a distance of three meters from the window.

Temperature conditions

Hortense does not like drafts and can die in the case of sharp temperature changes, although in principle the room microclimate, where it does not happen to be lower in 18o, is quite appealing to it.

For wintering the plant should be identified in a darkened and cooler place, for example, in the basement, where it is possible to maintain + 7o. Do not forget to water hydrangeas. Naturally, this is done much less often than in the active phase, but, nevertheless, periodic irrigation is necessary. February is the month of hydrangea awakening, so it’s time to get her back to the room. If you ignore this rule and do not create a “winter vacation” flower, it will blossom only next winter.

Features of watering

“Water the hydrangea with standing water warmed to room temperature”

Hortensia was awarded another name – hydrangea, whose translation sounds like “amphora with water”. This very accurately describes how much the plant loves moisture.

Home hydrangeas need a balanced watering. In summer, the plant is abundantly poured, and do it regularly, every two days, but the spring-autumn season – the time of moderation in everything and in watering as well. In winter, during sleep, the plant is given a minimum of moisture, taking care that its roots do not rot.

Water hydrangeas should be with standing water warmed to room temperature. Melt water or rainwater is suitable for this purpose. Sometimes it is not superfluous to add a little lemon juice in irrigation water from the calculation of 5 drops per liter. The lack of soil acidity will affect the color of the leaves, which can turn yellow.

He likes hydrangeas and sprinkles. Dry air to dry up and the edges of the leaves, For this reason, the flower is not put close to the batteries.

Additional fertilizing

Feeds the plant during flowering. The lack of nutrients will slow the development of hydrangeas and push the flowering cycle. In winter, the slumbering plant should not be fed. It is not ready to absorb “food” even in minimal quantities. If you want to increase the beauty of buds and the color of hydrangeas, you can sprinkle it with gibberellin solution.

Transplantation

This process is annual and is carried out in the autumn. You need a transplant to stimulate the flowering process in the next season. In the pot, an earth mix is ​​composed, consisting of sand, peat, turf ground, leaf earth, and good drainage is necessarily done. Hortensia grows better in broad pots, because its root system develops in a horizontal plane. Going for a new pot, remember that it should be one and a half times more than the old one.

Uniqueness of hydrangeas

The plant has an unusual ability to accumulate aluminum. Florists have learned to use this quality to change the color of the petals. It is worth adding lime to the soil, as the flowers turn pink. Want to see them blue – add aluminum sulfate, aluminum alum to the ground or sprinkle the plant with aluminum citric acid.

Reproduction at home

Hortensia can be planted by cuttings and dividing the bush. To cuttings go the lower parts or the tops of young shoots, and they are recommended to break, and not carefully cut. The damaged part of the shoot is treated with “Kornevin”, then planted in moistened sand and creates the effect of the greenhouse. The role of the “greenhouse” can be performed by an ordinary glass jar.

Shrub formation

To hydrangea had a presentable appearance, it must be properly trimmed. It is necessary to get rid of weak shoots, to cut off the apexes of normal processes. The latter will open the way for the growth of additional shoots. Thus, gradually, a magnificent bush is formed.

Pests

Hortensia can suffer from the invasion of spider mites, aphids, stem nematodes. The first – does not tolerate the usual water spraying, the second can easily be overcome with solutions of the actellic, but the nematodes are invincible and when they attack the plant will simply have to be discarded.

Conclusion

As you can see, such beauty as a hydrangea does not require from you special sacrifices in its breeding and maintenance, so there is no reason to deny yourself the pleasure of enjoying its aesthetic appearance.

Photo gallery – hydrangea

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Author: Mikhail Bond

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