I went to Natius today. That place in the Spring is better than a candy store!! I love it. The hanging baskets and plants are all 30% off. Their flowers are so healthy and beautiful. Hit them up for something new and colorful for your Spring garden.

I bought a Hydrangea, one of my faves, but its pretty much stick and a few leaves now until a couple more weeks. I want it to be blue. I know its about the soil and the acidity levels when it comes to color. Has anyone successfully changed the colors on one? Ive read that its not easy to do especially if its pink to start off with. But, idk what color im starting out with! Im going to use coffee grounds and cross my fingers, lol. 

I love that place. I was thinking about going the other day but I was afraid it would be too muddy to walk around considering the location. 

Lower the pH with coffee grounds, and mix aluminum sulphate with water 

I was in Nantucket last spring and had never heard of hydrangea before then. But they grow every where there and are huge and beautiful. Mostly blue but also white, pink and even green. Someone told me it gets too hot here for them to grow in our climate.

Do they have to be planted in the shade? Do the ones that you see at the grocery store in the spring go into the garden okay? 

Do they have to be planted in the shade?

I have mine planted in the shade of some huge oleanders and they are doing just fine.

Do the ones that you see at the grocery store in the spring go into the garden okay?
I think so ... they are probably cuttings from bigger plants. They do lots of water. 

So need lots of tlc? 

So need lots of tlc?

Not really Mutton ... just plant them and water them. 

Someone told me it gets too hot here for them to grow in our climate.


I have had mine for years. They are in an area that gets just a little morning sun and the rest of the day they are in the shade. In my opinion they do great here 

Work a bit of lime (powder) or dolamite lime into the soil. That encourages an alkaline pH to grow blue hydrangeas. Pink is from acid soil (pine needles) and green is from neutral pH soil. They like lots of water and not too much sun if at all. 

That's backwards. They turn blue in acidic (low pH). Pink is alkaline (high pH).

Technically the blue color comes from aluminum, which requires an acidic soil to make it available to the plant. So it needs two things to turn blue, acidic soil and aluminum. 

Oh yeah. Opposite of what I said.

http://www.espoma.com/landscaping/how-to-turn-pink-hydrangeas-blue/ 

I'm putting coffee grounds in it and keeping the soil moist. I really want it to be blue but ill be happy with pink when i see how pretty it is. According to what ive read, Its hard to go from pink to blue anyway if it was pink first.