HOW TO TRANSPLANT A HYDRANGEA

"Summer...The time for beautiful Hydrangea flowers to open their soft colorful petals and dance in the warm breeze until the cool days of autumn take their precious gift along hiding them away for the next summer."  D. Shenkle

My love for Hydrangeas began several years ago when I happened across them in a local garden center. I purchased a lovely blue one and promptly planted it in my backyard only to find that it didn't grow any additional blooms. In fact, it wasn't looking too good at all. It was then that I realized that Hydrangea really aren't happy with so much hot summer sunlight shining on them all day long.

I dug up my precious plant transplanting it to the north side of my house where it is practically shady all day long. Much to my surprise the Hydrangea loved the spot and grew profusely exhibiting an abundance of  over 50 large beautiful flower heads in an array of colors from green, lavender, blue, white and pink. I was thrilled!

However, after a few years I realized that it was getting so large that it became necessary to divide it and replant it, which left several new transplant divisions that needed new homes somewhere in my yard.  So I did my fair share of research to learn just how to divide and transplant with success.

Once I felt confident in my dividing and transplanting abilities,  I decided to remove some of my tall Hosta's that were growing next to my large Hydrangea so that I could put two additional  Hydrangea division plants in their place.  Using the directions that I found during my research, I dug up my large plant, divided it and planted two of the additional  divisions next to the larger main plant.  Soon the  new division transplants were showing signs of green leaf growth.

So for those of you who have a very large Hydrangea that you would like to divide into more plants I have included instructions on how to properly divide and transplant a Hydrangea:

The time to divide your Hydrangea is in the spring when your plant is just putting on leaves at the bottom of the plant as shown below:

 

Starting about 12-18 inches outward from the base of the plant dig out the complete root of the Hydrangea. Once out of the ground you will be able to identify new individual plants that should easily come apart from the main plant. Mine fell apart into six separate plants. You may not have as many, but be sure to have roots on each new plant start.

Soak the roots of your plant divisions in a bucket of lukewarm water while you are digging the hole where you are going to plant them.  In a shady location, dig holes two to three times the size of the root circumference of your division plant, as shown below:

Fill the hole with water as shown below.  Then let the water completely soak into the soil. Repeat this process one more time.

Place your Hydrangea division into the hole, then cover with soil level with the area just covering the root to the top where it attaches to the plants branches, packing the dirt lightly around the plant, as shown:

Water thoroughly once more.

If your new division transplants do not have any leaves growing yet, be very patient because it may take awhile for the roots to get settled in their new home and start putting on new leaves. Remember to keep them well watered during the growing season.

***DO NOT prune off  the old branches  until your plant is showing signs of forming blooms or you probably won't have any blooms.  It is also important to  always prune your Hydrangea in the early summer once the plant is showing signs of blooms forming, but not before. The old foliage from the previous year determines your blooms for the following year. I had to also learn this the hard way. The foliage looks dead but it is not. You may also treat your new plants to special fertilizer that is especially formulated for Hydrangea and may be purchased at  your local garden center.

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It's Seed Ordering Time

We had our first significant snowfall last week here in Southwest Iowa. It has been an unusually mild and dry winter here this year, but I will take it. Generally speaking we are blessed with quite an abundance of snowfall and sub-zero temperatures during our winters in Iowa.

This week the thermometer has bounced back up into the upper 40's and low 50's giving way to the rapid melting of the 5 inches of snow that fell last week. It's nice to see the grass showing through the snow again and breathe in the mild fresh air outside.

I took a little stroll around my yard today just so that I could bask in the warm sunshine. Suddenly, I realized that spring is just around the corner and it would be planting time again once more. Oh, how I look forward to planting my vegetable, herb and flower gardens in the spring. Digging in that fresh black dirt is so therapeutic to my soul.

I don't use any pesticides or chemicals on my lawn, garden or flowers so the neighborhood birds, bees and worms just love my yard. I feel that is my duty as a steward of the earth to contribute to a healthy environment when at all possible.

When it comes to buying seeds and plants each year, I try my best to only purchase organically grown plants and organically produced GMO free seeds. I have found this to be a very challenging task some years, however. I live in the first Nursery Capital of the World, the place where seeds were first commercially grown, packaged and made available through purchase through catalogs. Yet, little organic and non-GMO seed is even produced here, probably because it would be nearly an impossible task to accomplish since all of the nursery fields are surrounded by farmland where the crops are all GMO and heavily sprayed with chemicals.

So.....I've come to accept it and look elsewhere for what I need if nothing is available locally. One of the places that I love is actually by way of a nursery called “Seeds of Change” or seedsofchange.com. Their online and print catalogs offer a large variety of Certified Organic non-GMO seeds and plants including fruits, vegetables, herbs, flowers and fruit trees. They also offer a variety of gardening products, even raised planting beds.

I have ordered seeds online from Seeds of Change for the past 3 years and have had excellent germination, growth and production from the seeds that I purchased. And, I feel so good that the plants and foods that I am growing are chemically and GMO free. The difference in taste between the foods produced from seed and plants that aren't organically grown  and those that are is like night and day.

Seeds of Change has not paid me and I receive no compensation for endorsing them. I just love their products and would like to pass along the information to those who are organically conscience. I also appreciate  their Safe Seed Pledge . The first couple of sentences read, “Agriculture and seeds provide the basis upon which our lives depend. We must protect this foundation as a safe and genetically stable source for future generations.........”

Anyway, in closing...it's time to get your seeds ordered from wherever it is that you order them so that you will be ready for spring planting. I can't wait until those tiny green shoots start to poke up out of the ground.....Happy Planting!