2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
A rare lover of garden flowers will not be delighted with the magnificent balls and lush cones of hydrangea inflorescences. Such a bright decorative bush will become a real decoration of any personal plot. But so that the planting does not become a disappointment, and the perennial continues to delight with its incomparable flowers, you need to know about the intricacies of getting out of the winter dormant period, pruning and autumn shelter of hydrangeas
Hydrangea: features of growing varieties
The genus of hydrangea has about seven dozen species. They are represented by both small and impressive shrubs of the size of a house, low trees and flexible vines. In our gardens, for the most part, they grow large-leaved, paniculate and tree-like hydrangea bushes.
Large-leaved hydrangea in its appearance differs little from tree-like, however, in care, the latter is closer in the paniculate variety. And if these three species carry out the same pruning or shelter, one of them will definitely refuse to form buds next year.
Treelike hydrangea can be distinguished from large-leaved hydrangea by two main characteristics:
• its leaves will be smaller relative to flowers;
• it forms large flowers on young shoots of the current year.
The shoots of large-leaved hydrangea, in order to lay flower buds, will need to overwinter under cover. Therefore, unlike tree hydrangea, it is strictly forbidden to carry out radical pruning in the fall, and even more so in the spring.
Another sign that distinguishes a tree from a large-leaved one is the color of the petals. Large-leaved varieties are of blue, purple shades. And white hats of a tree with the arrival of autumn acquire a yellow and greenish tint.
With the definition of panicle hydrangea, even a beginner in floriculture should not have any problems. It forms a wide-pyramidal loose cone-shaped inflorescence. Its feature is also the ability to change color by autumn closer to pink and burgundy.
Subtleties of pruning
From a decorative point of view, it is advisable to prune faded shoots in all varieties of hydrangeas. But what to do with the rest of the aboveground part of the perennial? As we have already found out, treelike and panicle hydrangea form flower buds on the shoots of the current year. Therefore, radical pruning begins in early spring or late autumn. But so as to leave at least a couple of buds on the bushes, from which side shoots will grow on the stem. To do this, trimming is carried out approximately to the height of the width of the palm.
From time to time, thinning pruning should also be carried out. Since with each next, about twice as many shoots appear, the bush grows, becomes thick, and the flowers become noticeably smaller. The inflorescences become looser, and the plants greatly lose their decorative qualities.
In large-leaved hydrangea, flower buds are laid at the ends of last year's shoots. Therefore, pruning is supposed to be cosmetic in order to remove faded inflorescences, and rejuvenating - only old or weak branches, as well as branches that have poorly survived the winter, are cut to the ground. Cosmetic is performed in the fall, in front of the shelter of the bush. And it is recommended to postpone the rejuvenating one until spring - then it is better to see the state of each shoot from the green buds and swollen buds.
By the way, one should not rush to remove the shelter, since this species is very sensitive to frost. When pruning, it is possible to determine which shoot was damaged by the cold and which is still alive by the condition of the tissues under the bark. If they are green, then the shoot is healthy. When tissues die off, they take on a yellow tint.
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