Doing a little googling about hydrangeas, I realise that I ought to fertilise ours some time because it has been neglected in that regard for years. Previously, I have just let Nature do its job without extra nutrients. You can buy special fertiliser for hydrangeas - to bring out the best in them. I must remember to buy some next time I visit our B&Q superstore.
Above is the common reason why plants like hydrangeas might wilt. Simply - not enough turgor pressure. The plant's cells are deflated but they can soon be re-inflated through watering - bringing rigidity back to the entire structure.
I gave our hydrangea a good watering after spotting its sagging condition this morning - as shown in the top picture. I believe I gave it eight bucketfuls. By this evening, the plant had really perked up. Its turgor pressure greatly lifted but there is a sense in which what had happened was quite simply magic!
The FM principle. It solves.
ReplyDeleteFrequency modulation? I don't get you Bruce!
DeleteYA SURPRISING WHAT A LITTLE WATER CAN DO TO A PLANT.
ReplyDeletePlease don't SHOUT at me Red!
DeleteIt';s amazing the change in the plant just from watering; she definitely needed a good soak.
ReplyDeleteThe improvement starts to happen in less than an hour. As you say - amazing.
DeleteMine have had a lot of blooms but are struggling with the heat.
ReplyDeleteCould you build a shady canopy over them?
DeleteI tead somewhere recently that hydrangeas are something we can expect to disapear from gardens as climates warm up. They don't do well in heat and it doesnttake much heat to throw them out of sorts.
ReplyDeletePerhaps you read it in "Hydrangea Weekly".
DeleteI agree; when I see the pumpkin vines in O.K.'s Mum's garden all limp like half-opened umbrellas and then, once the sun has moved elsewhere and they have been recovering in the shade for a while, they visibly spring back to life as if tiny people underneath were putting the umbrellas up properly, it is quite magic.
ReplyDeleteTiny people? You mean like the Lilliputians in "Gulliver's Travels"?
DeleteYes, about that size!
DeleteI was going to suggest that plant needs water quite badly, but you came to that conclusion yourself so all is good again.
ReplyDeleteI was like Sherlock Holmes yesterday - solving the turgor mystery.
DeleteOur rhododendrons are suffering the same fate. We have been watering them but they are still looking sad.
ReplyDeleteCouldn't Lord Peregrine erect parasols to shade them a little?
DeleteTurgor pressure, you reckon. We had a lot of trouble with hydrangeas becoming flaccid in the hot sun, but in the evening they regained their turgidity.
ReplyDeleteSure you are not referring to yourself Andrew?
DeleteI love the blue blossoms. Mine was blue when I planted it; now blooms pink. I know it's the acidity levels in the soil, which I cannot change no matter what I do. I'm just grateful it blooms at all; I usually manage to kill off any plant.
ReplyDeleteOrganic material like bark and fym help shrubs retain moisture. If you want blue Hydrangeas bury teabags under them to change the soil to acid.
ReplyDeleteWater is indeed magic stuff. And it's incredible to think that it's made of two gases! WOW.
ReplyDeleteYep. Hydrangeas will do that.
ReplyDeleteAnd that is science in action.
ReplyDeleteIt is almost magical the way a drooping plant pulls up when it's watered. We've never fed any of our hydrangeas and they keep going, year after year. We do use mulch round our plants though - over the decades, the height of the ground must have risen considerably.
ReplyDeleteOh, good, I'm glad you watered it. I was going to say, "That poor plant needs water!" Our hydrangeas wilt during dry periods as well. We've never had pruning inhibit flowering but I suppose it's possible -- I wonder if it's also the drought.
ReplyDelete