Hydrangea family. Homeland East Asia, South America, Japan. About 70-75 species are common in nature, among them mainly shrubs, less often trees and vines.
In the Hydrangea culture, the large-leaved Hydrangea macrophylla is native to China and Japan. It is a deciduous shrub with opposite whole leaves ovate or broadly oval, serrate-edged, pointed at the end. Flowers in large umbrellas or scutes, at the ends of shoots. The caps of inflorescences are pink, white, blue, blue, red and even dark purple, depending on the acidity of the soil. On one bush of hydrangea, up to 6 flower caps bloom, reaching 20-30 cm in diameter, each, in a greenhouse, in room conditions, 3-4 inflorescences. Flowering from spring to autumn and winter depending on the method of cultivation.
Hydrangea - home care
Temperature: natural in summer, better in the fresh air, the optimal temperature during the growing season is 22-24 ° C. In winter, until February-March, they are kept in a cool room at a temperature of about 12 ° C, not lower than 8 ° C, greatly reducing watering.
Lighting: Bright diffused light with some direct sun in the morning or evening. Hydrangea grows well on the eastern windows, and on the windows of the southern or southwestern orientation, shading may be needed from 12 to 16 hours. There is a misconception that shade-tolerant hydrangea, yes, at home it will grow on the northern windows, but as an ornamental and deciduous plant.
In summer, you can take hydrangeas to the garden, to the balcony, gradually accustomed to direct sunlight, and then, when the plants are accustomed, the pots are dug into the ground and left until autumn.
Watering: Plentiful from spring to autumn. Hydrangeas love to be watered when the top layer of the earth dries up in pots, they do not tolerate a complete re-drying of an earthen coma. In autumn, with cooling and the onset of cloudy days, watering is gradually reduced. In winter, with cool maintenance, they are rarely watered, when the ground in the pots dries almost completely, but does not dry out into dust. Large-leaved hydrangea prefers watering with soft water (boiled or filtered).
Top dressing: carried out with complex liquid fertilizers for ornamental-flowering plants (Fertica Lux, Pocon or Agricola for flowering plants, any fertilizers for azaleas). Fed from February-March to August, every 2-3 weeks. After pruning, they are not fed until new shoots appear.
Air humidity: leaves are periodically sprayed. Hydrangeas prefer an average humidity of about 50-60%. In winter, it is quite dry at home, so with the beginning of the heating season, it is better to put pots with hydrangeas on wide pallets with water or wet expanded clay. Outside the heating season, it does not need spraying. But washing leaves under the shower from dust is good.
Transplant: Transplanted annually after flowering into fresh ground. Soil pH should be about 5.5 slightly acidic, especially for hydrangeas with blue and lilac inflorescences, neutral acidity is permissible, pH about 6.5-7 for hydrangeas with pink inflorescences. Soil is a mixture of 1 part of peat land, 1 part of light turf, 1 part of coniferous, 1/2 part of sand and 1/4 pine bark. Coniferous land can be replaced with coconut substrate, but then be sure to add pine bark. Of the purchased soil mixtures, soils are suitable for azaleas and rhododendrons, as well as for conifers. They do not like hydrangeas of heavy clay soils, they grow worse on garden land from the garden, if deoxidizing and loosening components (sand, bark) are not added to it.
Reproduction: Propagated by cuttings taken from non-flowering young basal shoots. Cuttings with two or three pairs of leaves take root in the sand after 15-20 days. Rooted cuttings are planted in 8 cm diameter pots with soil consisting of peat, leaf earth and sand. When young plants grow up, roots from drainage holes will appear, they are transferred either into large pots or planted in the garden. In February - March, hydrangeas are pruned, leaving a couple of leaves on it to form new shoots, on which inflorescences form next year.