Enormous flowers in white, pink or blue that change colour to autumnal shades of red, brown or green. Obviously we're talking about the hydrangea. This flower fits perfectly with September, the month in which summer cautiously gives way to autumn.
Mophead hydrangeas look lovely in the fall when their blue, purple and pink flowers contrast with the fall foliage. Brown flowers can be snipped off if they annoy you, but you don't have to remove them. Look for flowers like this to dry or for making Hydrangea Wreaths.
Blooming hydrangeas are one of the most elegant and beautiful highlights in any garden. Starting in mid summer and continuing into September, Hydrangea paniculatas take center stage. With their fresh foliage and large cone shaped flowers, they add a dramatic accent to any garden border or planting bed.
One of the best flowering shrubs for fall color is the Oakleaf Hydrangea. They will have a stunning maroon to burgundy red fall color. Slow to turn in fall, color improves with each frost. Showy flowers and exfoliating bark make this a plant with year-round interest.
Unfortunately, their beauty doesn't last all year. Once the flowers and foliage die back in fall, you'll need to head out into the garden for your annual hydrangea maintenance session. These tasks are vital to keeping your plants looking great and ensuring they come back even stronger the following year.
But when to prune them? Prune fall blooming hydrangeas, or old wood bloomers, after they bloom in the summer. If you prune old wooded hydrangeas in fall, you are cutting off next seasons blooms. Summer blooming hydrangeas, or those that bloom on new wood, are pruned in the fall, after they stop blooming.
Prune back stems to just above a fat bud — called a heading cut — in fall, late winter or spring. These plants have conical-shaped flower heads. I recommend leaving the dry, tan flower heads on the plant to provide some winter interest in your landscape, so I wait to prune these until late winter or spring.
As to when hydrangeas bloom, the simple answer is that a usually a hydrangea flowers from mid-spring through the late summer or early fall.
During the winter months, most of the blooms fall from the plant and whatever is left often turns dry and brown. The cold winter weather can leave the remaining foliage and buds of hydrangeas dead and damaged - but what's the most likely cause?
To prepare hydrangeas for winter in colder areas, add a thick layer of mulch around the base of the plants to protect the crown and roots from freezing temperatures.
Enormous flowers in white, pink or blue that change colour to autumnal shades of red, brown or green. Obviously we're talking about the hydrangea. This flower fits perfectly with September, the month in which summer cautiously gives way to autumn.
The best time to deadhead is when the first set of blooms on your hydrangeas begin to turn brown and dry. Cut the stem below the flower head and just above the first set of leaves. For reblooming types, you can deadhead again when this second set begins to fade, but only through mid-August or so.
Some introductions such as the Forever and Ever series or the well known Endless Summer family bloom both on old wood and new wood. The spring flowers occur on the prior year's old wood, while the fall flowers occur on the plant's current-season new-wood growth.
However, stop deadheading hydrangea shrubs in mid to late fall, leaving any spent blooms in place. This not only provides winter interest, but also ensures you don't remove the buds that will become flowers next spring.
Quick Fire® Hardy Hydrangea: This Paniculata actually starts blooming a month earlier than her brethren…but will continue to bloom into the fall. Her blooms start out white, but turn to dark pink as time marches on. She'll grow to be about 6'-8' tall and wide.
If you're looking for hydrangeas that are going to continue producing large, fluffy blooms even once the weather starts to cool, Justin Hancock, a Monrovia horticultural craftsman, says you'll want to look at Hydrangea paniculata varieties like 'Limelight' and 'Candy Apple,' which bloom in the summer and continue ...
If you don't prune hydrangeas then they can eventually resemble a tangled mass of woody stems, and the flowers will become smaller and less showy.
Hydrangeas don't look very nice in the winter. And they look even worse in the Spring! The old branches look dead at the end of winter (even though they're almost always just dormant); and they are unattractive for a while.
So, while fresh flowers have a particular type of loveliness, in some ways hydrangeas improve when Autumn throws a restraining hand on the foliage, adding pink, purple and yellow where there was only green. The flowers both brighten and fade, losing some of their stiffness and gaining a more soulful air.
Hydrangeas that bloom on new wood can be safely pruned in late fall once the plants have gone dormant or in early spring. Next year's flower buds won't be formed until late spring the same year they bloom, so there is no risk of removing the buds if you prune in fall or spring.
Learn how to grow hydrangeas and, from July into October, you can enjoy these shrubby stalwarts adorned with generous blooms in shades of cream, lime, pink, or blue.
Hydrangeas do not require strict reqular pruning; simply keep them healthy by removing dead wood and they will grow and flower well.
In late winter or early spring, these shrubs can be cut all the way back to the ground. Smooth hydrangeas will produce much larger blooms if pruned hard like this each year, but many gardeners opt for smaller blooms on sturdier stems.
Wrap with winter protection.
During the winter, make a DIY A-frame wire cage out of burlap and chicken wire to protect your hydrangea plant. This cage will protect it from winter winds, heavy snowfall, and cold temperatures.