Water Vessel
Wednesday, September 22, 2010My hydrangea flowers (which I didn't know the colour earlier) turned out to be light pink and purple...
It's true that Hydrangea colour follows the pH level of the soil. The flower bracts will be pink when soil pH is between 6.0 and 7.0. To get blue flowers, the soil's pH has to be between 4.0 and 5.0. I tested the soil and the reading show that the current soil's pH is about 6.5.
About two months ago, I repotted the plant to a much bigger container and used really loose and well draining soil. After that, I was delighted to see flower buds sprouting and now... the soft-looking flower clusters.
Hydrangea Macrophylla loves water. This is probably why in Greek, hydrangea means hudōr (water) + angeion (vessel).
Below is a picture of the plant when I first bought it. The plant has always been placed in the bright shade.
Would adding some rusty nails or peat moss to the soil be able to change the colour of the flowers to blue? Coz I couldn't find any blueing tonic here ;-(
Now I wonder if it is better to just get a full grown one instead of a young plant as I had waited for about a year for the flowers to flourish! Nonetheless, the flowers are definitely sweet rewards :-D
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18 comments
Steph, You are good with this sort of plants. Purple is lovely. Why do you want them to be blue?
ReplyDeleteWould they flower indefinitely? I bought my MIL a pot some years ago. It flowered initially. After that, I only see lots of leaves.
I would vote for purple anyday. Especially a light lavender one like this. Very pretty!
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting on my blog.
Take care,
Rosey
Your hydrangea flower is lovely. My MIL has a pot with blue flowers, but once the flower dried up, I have not seen any growing, and that was a couple of months ago! But when it blooms, goodness, it really is a lovely sight!
ReplyDeleteThese flowers last about 3 months. And once they mature - they turn green.
ReplyDeleteYou can also use the dried flowers as floral arrangement. Just make sure they don't collect dust.
What you have is a lovely colour. I have heard that you can get blue flowers by burying an aluminium foil (crushed) beside the plant.
ReplyDeleteOne, so that I can have a new colour like having a new plant ;-)
ReplyDeleteThanks Rosey for voting purple. Actually purple is sweet and nice. The photo 'faded' the flower colours. They look more obvious in real.
kitchen flavours, I kept looking at the plant everyday! The flowers are really lovely.
James, 3 months? Oh wow! I'm going to love this plant a lot :-D Yes, I will be drying the flowers later.
Aaron, now I am sure you will be able to grow one well. Good luck!
Hi Stephanie; the Hydrangea looks really pretty in this pot. I love the purple shades and would not change it for blue.
ReplyDeleteThis is a good website and it tells you all about colour change and growing H. In case, you want to make a cutting and try a different colour.
http://www.hydrangeashydrangeas.com/colorchange.html
I grew Hydrangea macrophylla back in my old Zone 7 garden, but we can't grow them here in peninsular Florida. Back in Atlanta, they were the prettiest true blue. The soil had high acidity naturally there. I miss my hydrangeas. :`(
ReplyDeletelotusleaf, thanks for the tip.
ReplyDeleteTitania, the info from that website is really good. You are right. It's easier to change from pink colour to blue than the reverse. I think I am going to stick to this colour then.
Floridagirl, wow! It must have been really nice. Hope you will find one that could grow well in Florida.
Hi Stephanie,
ReplyDeleteI love your purple and pink hydrangea. Having two colors are double pleasure.
They look beautiful.
Brad
Dear Steph, the blooms are gorgeous!! I love the purple colour! I have a cutting of Hydrangea from a friend and it is growing well. Guess I have to wait a year for it to bloom too.
ReplyDeleteSteph... you got me interesting in growing them now.
ReplyDeleteIt would be a first for me. I think they are lovely, be it the colour of blue, pink white or purple, too" cute! I'm going to try my hand at a few next year.
Yeah, it's taken about 5 years to get 2 blooms on my white swan hydrangea. I have some bargain bag hydrangeas in the back. I keep meaning to try playing around with PH, but I end up just neglecting the whole thing!
ReplyDeleteOh! I love those beautiful hydrangea. I also try to collect flowers and put it in a cute vase. I enjoyed reading your article. It makes a lot of sense. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDelete-yumi-
This is one of my favourite flowers! I remember seeing it in Cameron Highlands... the blue ones :) Only you can manage to grow it so beautifully!
ReplyDeleteBrad, I am glad that their shades turn out to be quite attractive. Thanks for your kind words ;-)
ReplyDeleteJC, hope that yours will bloom quicker for you. A year is a long wait. Remember to re-pot yeah...
Vetsy, you are right. I appreciate all the pretty colours the plant brings. The plant itself loves both alkaline and acidic soil ;-)
Wendy, maybe our hot weather escalated the process ;-) I got to know the soil pH for white is between 6.5 and 8.0. True?
Yumi, Deborah, I hope the flowers in your garden will fluorish beautiful blooms for you :-D
What a cute flower is that? I like it. Thanks for sharing this one but can you add more information about this. Just quite interested. keep posting!
ReplyDeletetoni
Your flowers are the best of all website.
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