Hydrangeas are a wonderful garden shrub that are easy to grow and bloom through a long season. They're elegant, colorful, and versatile, suitable in the landscape, garden beds, flowerpots, and even that tricky spot right by the front door. Hydrangeas come in a variety of colors ranging from white to blue, pink, red, purple and shades in between. Hydrangeas are best known for their chameleon-like ability to change the color of its flowers, and, you don't have to be a magician to make this happen. With a few easy products you can be on your way to creating the color that is perfect for your landscape. Remember, you can't change the color of the white hydrangeas - they will stay white.
To get started, we suggest bringing us a soil sample to get a base reading of where you acidity and pH levels. Bring them to any of our three year-round locations. From there, we can recommend one of these specific products to jump start your color changing.
To Make Your Hydrangea Blue
You will need to lower the pH in the soil. This is done with a soil acidifier. We like Espoma Soil Acidifier (with the blue hydrangea on the bag). It is an effective way to acidify soil. It is all natural and non-hazardous and non-toxic. This is also a great product for blueberries! To lower the soil pH, apply this product in the spring and every 6 months thereafter. We recommend using 1 and ¼ cup for new plants and 2 and ½ cups for established plants.
To Make Your Hydrangea Pink
You will need to increase the pH of the acidic soil. We recommend Espoma Garden Lime (which features a pink hydrangea on the front of the bag). It is pelletized for easy application and is all natural. We again recommend applying this in the spring and every 6 months thereafter.
If you want to make a rapid change in color, we suggest planting the Hydrangea in a pot. This will give you a bit more control to adjust the color. Hydrangeas can flourish in large pots, and a container gives you more control over the soil quality.
TIP: Keep in mind that you will need to adjust the soil before the bloom season or at the very latest when you see buds forming in order to change the bloom color.