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| Brestenburg |
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| Endless Summer hydrangeas in bloom |
I have three varieties of hydrangea plants: Brestenburg, Endless Summer, and the newest one, David Ramsey. The Brestenburg are bigleaf hydrangeas, and the blooms tend to be huge puff-balls but they're still small right now. My Endless Summer blooms are fairly small, although occasionally I see some that are bigger than my hand.
Both my Brestenburg and Endless Summer varieties' blooms tend toward pink, but I'm trying to lower the pH of the soil to get them a little bluer (I just find blue flowers to be prettier). To do this, I add special fertilizer designed for blueberries. I could also use coffee grounds to make the soil more acidic. Last year, the color results were better for the Brestenburg since it's in a pot and therefore easier to manipulate the soil. I got some beautiful colors last year. The Endless Summer in the ground got a little purple last year but in the end stayed pink, despite my soil manipulation efforts. So far I've got a nice blend of pink, purple, and pale blue. If the Endless Summer stays pink again this year I think I'll just accept that it wants to be that way and leave it alone.
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| David Ramsey hydrangea plant |
The newest plant is a David Ramsey. This replaces the Endless Summer plant that didn't make it through the winter. I have David Ramsey in a container. I'd never heard of this variety, and it was the only one in the nursery among a bunch of Penny Macs. This plant looked better than the rest, so I chose it. Apparently, the David Ramsey variety is good for cold weather climates, according to this nursery site. I also bookmarked this site for hydrangea care.
The blooms are looking really good right now, as long as I keep the plants well watered because temps have been close to 100 on the east coast, and everythying is droopy. Happy Weekend!
100 degrees. I can't imagine. How do you keep everything alive? And how do you not melt?
ReplyDeleteI love the difference in language between here and the States, "critters" for instance. Lovely word.I talked about a "yard" in a comment and I didn't mean a garden!
Your hydrangeas are beautiful! Hydrangeas and peonies are my absolute favorite flowering bushes.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for visiting me and for your sweet comments. It was quite fun snapping all those photos of nests around our farm.
By the way, I just joined you as a follower.
Blessings,
Liz @ the Brambleberry Cottage
http://thebrambleberrycottage.blogspot.com/
I tend to favor the blue ones, too. When I was in New Orleans my sister-in-law had a beautiful fuchsia colored one that was gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteWhen I lived in NOLA, I had neighbors who would change the pH of the soil by putting a few nails in it. I don't know if it was the oxidation of the nails that caused the flowers to change colors.
such a pretty hydrangea. thanks for sharing at Fishtail Cottage garden party! xoox, tracie
ReplyDelete@Janet-This heat wave has been unbearable. I try to stay in the air conditioning and my hair stays in a ponytail because it gets too frizzy. :( But it's good for my veggies! Thanks for stoping by!
ReplyDelete@Liz--thank you! Peonies are my second favorites too, but I don't have anywhere to put them (very limited yard space here). I wonder if they would do well in containers?
ReplyDelete@Girl Sprout--great tip, thank you!
ReplyDeleteDave Ramsey Hydrangea. Named after the financial guru?
ReplyDelete@greggo--I think I read that David Ramsey was a professor (?) who discovered a slightly different genetic sequence in that particular plant to the Endless Summer. To me they look like Endless Summers & Penny Macs. My eye isn't good enough to really distinguish yet.
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