6/15/2014

Blue Hydrangeas For Curbside Appeal


Wow you with my neighbor's hydrangeas.  
This front yard has a number of beautiful flowers.
What great curb appeal welcoming with
the American flag!


How to make pink or other colored hydrangeas blue:
Blue hydrangeas develop when aluminum is available in the soil.
In years past, I added aluminum sulfate to the soil around the hydrangeas. I have not done this in about ten years since I became an organic gardener who doesn't use chemicals.
Wouldn't you rather healthy hydrangeas be what they want to be?
White ones are my favorite. Weather conditions can change the color quite nicely.
But here is the recipe should you so wish for blue:
Mix a solution of 1/2 oz (1 Tbsp) aluminum sulfate
in a gallon of water to be applied to plant roots. Don't apply to new babies or after they have spent and bloomed. The plants need a rest in the Fall.
Plants that are two or three years old can handle this after you have watered them. Note: soak them first in the cool of the day, then add a couple cups
of the bucket water on each plant at the soil level.
 
A slower method (and more organic) is to add coffee grounds - After your morning coffee is ready to be cleaned up from May through August dump the cooled grounds in the pots or soil.
This will lower the pH of the soil. It should be between 5.2 and 5.5 You can also stick banana peels or green vegetable trimmings such as cucumber or the stalks of spinach into the soil. Don't use citrus peels- they are too slow to degrade.



Yellow epi on my garage wall just ready to bloom!


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