After a day or so of being cut, the blooms begin to wilt. About three days later, they are completely done. But guess what I just learned (from an instagram conversation)? Hydrangeas take in water from their PETALS!
You really want to make sure you are buying the freshest Hydrangeas available (1-3 days old) as they only tend to last 5-9 days depending on how you care for them.
Put Hydrangeas In Water Immediately After Cutting
As soon as hydrangeas are cut, the stems should immediately be put into tepid water. And adding a little bit of flower food to it would be a great idea too.
One of the great things about hydrangeas is that they are long lasting cut flowers. As long as you know how to keep the water reaching them.
Have you ever cut hydrangea blooms and put them right into a vase of water only to have them wilt within an hour or two? This seems to be caused by a sticky substance that clogs the stems, preventing moisture from reaching the blooms. This does not happen every time.
But hydrangeas are among the few plants that can draw moisture in through their florets, so it's possible to perk up wilted blooms by completely submerging them in water and letting them sit for a few hours to rehydrate.
Boiling Water Treatment for Hydrangea
The Boiling water treatment can also be used to revive wilting heads after a day or so and the Hydrangea heads can look as fresh as the day they were cut from your garden.
First, add a 1/4 cup of sugar to the room temperature water in the vase. The sugar helps feed the stems and increases the life of the cut flowers.
Hydrangeas form a type of sap on the stems where they have been cut—and this can prevent a constant flow of water to the flowers and cause them to droop. Put on a kettle of water and bring it to a boil.
"Oakleaf and Limelight hydrangeas with their cone shapes lend themself to linear vases like a tall cylinder. More traditional hydrangeas do very well in a compote or a bowl." Lee suggests using vases that do not require foam as hydrangeas are thirsty and "like a good drink." Instead, place them directly in water.
You can use vinegar to lower the pH of your soil, but be aware that in order to achieve blue blooms, you will need both an acidic environment and aluminum ions. The acidic environment will also need to be a sustained over a period of time, which could be hard if rainwater is washing the vinegar away.
EMERGENCY RESCUE FOR WILTING HYDRANGEAS
Then recut and place the stems into boiling water and then back into a vase of fresh water. They should revive in a couple of hours and live another day or two.
"Hydrangeas like cool water and it should be changed every other day with a fresh snip of the stems," Bladow says. "You can add in a little flower food or simple cane sugar from your pantry in the vase." Make sure to keep your arrangement out of direct sunlight.
Cut the hydrangea stem on an angle, and additionally, cut into the slanted edge with little short slits vertically a few times. If your goal is to keep the hydrangea alive, it should never be without water. Hydrangeas LOVE water, so the reason you do this is to give the stem more surface area to suck up the water.
Hydrangeas will wilt or start drooping when they cannot get the water that they need. That's when you can try reviving them by giving them a nice cool bath in the sink! Hydrangeas are one of the few flowers that can absorb water not just through the stems, but also through the leaves and the blossoms.
To rejuvenate the hydrangea, remove up to 1/3 of the older living stems down to the ground each summer. This will revitalize the plant. If necessary to control the size of the plant, cut back before late July to allow for buds to develop. Usually the plant will return immediately to its former size.
Most often, the reason hydrangea leaves and flowers turn brown is because the leaves are losing more moisture then the roots can draw up. Excess wind saps moisture away from the leaves causing them to turn brown and curl up. Lack of moisture around the roots causes leaves and flowers to turn brown.
Some gardeners report success in turning their hydrangeas blue by applying coffee grounds to the soil. The coffee grounds make the soil more acidic, allowing the hydrangea to more easily absorb aluminum. In addition, fruit peels, lawn clippings, peat moss and pine needles, are thought to have a similar effect.
If you're growing hydrangeas, use coffee grounds to affect their color. Coffee grounds add extra acidity to the soil around hydrangeas. On a chemical level, this increased acidity makes it easier for the plant to absorb naturally occurring aluminum in the dirt. The effect is pretty blue clusters of flowers.
Most common hydrangeas prefer a partial sun location - ideally receiving sun in the morning hours and shade in the afternoon. The reblooming Endless Summer® Hydrangea series prefers part shade. These include BloomStruck®, Endless Summer®, Blushing Bride®, and Twist-n-Shout®.
You will notice your hydrangeas wilting overnight, especially right after they're cut, because their blooms are unable to consume any moisture from the dew or rain that they get in the outdoors. In nature, hydrangeas love nighttime.
Symptoms of overwatered hydrangeas may include brown and wilted leaves, yellow leaves that will drop from the plant, and stunted growth. Signs of root rot may present themselves as well. This could appear that half of your plant is dead, and you may see white fungus near the crown of the hydrangea.