Blue Hydrangea

I am very confused about Hydrangeas. I always thought they needed different PH amounts in soil to determine the colour. This year I have 3 plants in the same bed- one a glorious blue- another a vivid pink & the other a very pretty mauve & the mauve one is not between the other 2. I'm expecting either rainbow ones next year or maybe yellow or orange!!

That's a useful tip. Hilltopgran, - I will give that a go. Thanks! The hydrangea is chock a block with blooms at the moment, so now would be the best time to cut a few for drying.

I used to dry hydrangea heads every year, some I left natural, other I sprayed silver and gold at Xmas.

The best metod I found to keep the heads in good condition and avoid the petals curving was to stand stems in an inch or so of water and let them dry out. I used to have success drying out delphimum spires as well and the two looked good together.

This thread has remined me to get some new hydrangeas for my garden, I like a couple in pots by the front door for the second half if the summer, then put them out in the garden for future years.

I think absolutely everything has been brilliant this year.

Mine are good as well

Must say my hydrangeas are looking glorious this year. There are a masses of glorious pink flowers and they look fabulous. Have to admit I've never fed them but they have flourished. They must like the south facing location.

I have seen the flowers dried and on display in National Trust properties. How do I do that? Do I just pick a bunch and hang them up? Is it that easy?

What the others say.....haven't tried rusty nails ( any old iron )
Feeding and water is all.Position doesn't seem to matter, although they are light woodland shrubs they also do well in sun.

Give them plenty of water.
Regular feeds.
To keep the blue my grandparents used to put rusty nails around the roots.

Keep them well watered and fed. Tomato feed is good, Wilkos does a cheap one. Don't remove the last of the spent heads in the Autumn, they protect next year's shoots from frost. Around May prune down to the first strong pair of buds. They'll produce that year's flowers.