Flowers can decorate any home and garden interior. One of these plants is hydrangea. Its name, translated from Latin, means "longing for water." The plant reaches a stalk length of one or more meters in height, ending with round caps of inflorescences. It blooms from April to November.

In order for a flower to please the eye with its appearance, it is necessary to know how to care for hydrangea. Otherwise, instead of bright buds, only yellow leaves will remain on it.

Hydrangea - types and varieties of houseplant

Hydrangea is divided into many varieties and several main types. Each of them differs not only in the color of the flowers, but also in their arrangement on the inflorescence.

Depending on the type of inflorescences, the plant is:

  1. Hydrangea. It is a shrub that can reach a height of 1 to 3 meters. The leaves are large, green on top and slightly gray below. The flowers form balls reaching a diameter of about 20 cm. They have a white or milky hue. The bush is unpretentious in care.
  2. Panicle hydrangea. It looks like a large shrub or even a tree. It can reach a height of 2 to 6 m. The leaves are elongated, young shoots quickly turn brown. This provides the plant with cold resistance. Inflorescences are a pyramid of beige or milky color, somewhat reminiscent of a whisk.By autumn, the flowers become more brown or reddish.
  3. Large-leaf hydrangea. The average length of the bush is 1-2 m. This species is suitable for growing in home pots, because in the room it does not reach a height of more than half a meter. The leaves are large, and the shoots remain green for a long time. This explains the lack of resistance of this species to cold weather. Large-leaved hydrangea has the most varieties, which vary in the shade and shape of the flowers.

Varieties for home growing:

  • Mme E. Moullere;
  • Soeur Therese;
  • Goliath;
  • Hamburg
  • Europe;
  • Red sensation;
  • Prima;
  • Airlie Blue;
  • Ramars Mars.

Any of the species is of different colors, this fact is directly affected by the composition of the soil. An acidic substrate determines the blue hue of the plant, alkaline provokes the appearance of a pinkish pigment, neutral - gives a white or milky color.

Read also:hydrangea limelight

Home Care

Most often hydrangea decorates street interiors. But also some species can be found on the premises of particularly fastidious amateur gardeners. Caring for a plant at home is practically no different. Therefore, in the apartment, the flower needs to create a suitable microclimate, provide the “right” soil and good watering.

Lighting and placement

Having enough light is one of the most important factors affecting plant growth. The pot is best placed near the south window. There are most of all soft diffused sunlight. Hydrangea should not be placed on the windowsill, it is better to choose a place a couple of meters from the window and radiators.

The optimum temperature in the apartment is 20 degrees, for the winter it is necessary to remove the flower pot in a cold room up to 10 degrees. When new buds begin to appear on hydrangea in February, it will be necessary to return it to the usual light and temperature conditions.

This is an important fact in flower care. If there is no full wintering, new inflorescences will not appear by spring.

Substrate requirements

The soil for the flower should be nutritious, light, have a suitable acidity, as well as water conductivity. The most comfortable plant feel in a weak or medium-acidic substrate.

Periodically you will need to fertilize the soil with organic acids. If you do it right, you can adjust the color of the flowers. Freshness of the soil in the pot is also a very important requirement in caring for the home bush.

The earth mixture consists of:

  • loose soil;
  • peat;
  • sand;
  • needles;
  • humus.

All components will need to be taken in different proportions and pre-disinfected. To get rid of this stage, you can purchase ready-made soil suitable for azaleas.

Watering a plant

Hydrangea grows well from proper watering. The soil lump should be slightly moist. In summer, water often, in the off-season - in moderation, and in winter - no more than once a week. In addition, inflorescences will need to be sprayed periodically. Once a month, it is important to water the flower with a few drops of lemon acidified with water.

How to properly prepare hydrangea irrigation fluid:

Settle water for 1-2 days, then strain and place in the freezer. After this, you need to defrost the liquid, insist at room temperature and only then water the flower. Suitable rainwater in ecologically clean areas.

Fertilizer and fertilizer

Fertilize and feed the flower will be required. This must be done during active growth, as well as flowering hydrangea. In the autumn and winter until February, the plant is not fertilized. In the store you can buy a ready-made complex solution, which is suitable for heather and azaleas.

How to cook yourself:

For 2 liters of water, you need to take 10 alum to give the flowers a blue color. A small amount of lime in the soil will help grow a pink or lilac plant.

Pruning and transplanting

Pruning a home bush should be done twice a year.In the autumn season, weak shoots will need to be completely removed, and strong ones should be shortened by half. This is necessary to prepare the plant for wintering.

Autumn pruning is required after flowering. In the spring, the longest shoots are pruned. So hydrangea will look neat, delighting with its beautiful inflorescences.

How to care for hydrangea in autumn, winter?

Care for hydrangea in autumn and winter is to prepare the flower for the cold season. It will be necessary to significantly reduce watering, and completely remove fertilizer before February. For the plant, you need to choose a dry dark place with a temperature of up to 10 degrees above zero. By the end of winter, it is recommended to gradually introduce top dressing. Rest in the cold season is a prerequisite for the future flowering of hydrangea.

Hydrangea propagation

In order to get several similar plants from one bush of a beautiful flower, you need to reproduce it at home. You can do this in several ways at once. Most often, propagation by cuttings or division of the mother bush is used. But there is also the cultivation of hydrangea from seeds.

Color reproduction options:

Cuttings

It is the most effective method for breeding hydrangea at home. Cuttings need to be cut in January or February. Later cuttings will give a bush with one stalk. Cuttings should be cut off from root shoots about 8 cm long. On each of them there should be no more than three internodes.

The lower sheets from the cuttings are removed, the upper ones are shortened by 1/3. From below, they must be treated with a root growth stimulator, and then planted in the soil with a predominance of peat and sand. The temperature in the room should reach 20 degrees, and air humidity - 80%.

Planted cuttings must be covered with a semblance of a greenhouse, for which you can use suitable-sized cans. Every day they must be removed to ventilate the plant. Germination soil should always be slightly moist. Rooting takes about 4 weeks, after which hydrangea is planted in a permanent pot no more than 9 cm in diameter.

Bush division

The method is very simple, but care must be taken. It is necessary to carry out the division during transplantation. To do this, divide a large bush into small daughter bushes, each of which should have the same number of roots.

Shoots and root system will need to be slightly shortened. Then you can plant hydrangea in a permanent pot with suitable soil, water and pour the top layer of the substrate with peat. Reproduction in this way is best in spring.

Seed cultivation

The method will require a lot of time and effort. For reproduction, you need to take the soil, in which leaves, sod and humus are present in equal proportions. Also in the soil should be sand, peat. Plant the seeds on top of the substrate, cover with a glass container on top. The soil needs to be moistened daily.

An impromptu greenhouse is cleaned when the first shoots appear. When two full leaves appear on new shoots, they are allowed to be transplanted into deeper containers with the same soil. When the seedlings are fully strengthened, they are planted in a permanent pot with a diameter of not more than 9 cm.

Protection against diseases and pests

So that hydrangeas are not affected by pests, you need to properly care for it. If this still happened, you need to quarantine the flower and carefully process it.

Types of diseases and methods of combating them:

  • gray rot - you need to slightly reduce watering, and treat the flower with Bordeaux liquid;
  • nematode stem or annular spotting - requires the complete destruction of hydrangea;
  • downy mildew - treat the plant with a fungicide or a composition containing copper;
  • spider mite, aphid - is eliminated with a soap solution.

If necessary, you need to process all plants that are adjacent to the infected flower.

The main problems when growing

If indoor hydrangea does not please the owner of the splendor of its inflorescences and good growth, we can assume the lack of suitable care. Most problems arise due to illness, improper watering, or a lack of winter rest after flowering.

Hydrangea turns yellow, dries

The plant will dry out with insufficient watering or due to trauma to the roots during transplantation. Hydrangea is a rather finicky flower, so the intake of sufficient moisture in the soil must be monitored constantly.

As a rule, with improper care, the leaves often turn yellow. This symptom indicates an insufficient amount of liquid or nitrogen in the substrate, as well as a high concentration of alkali in the soil.

Leaves fall

Falling foliage in a small bush is due to insufficient watering. Initially, the leaves turn yellow, and then completely fall off the stem. To prevent this from happening, it is necessary not only to properly moisten the soil, but also to normalize the increased humidity in the room. It should be about 75-80%.

The plant does not bloom

The lack of flowering in hydrangea is due to insufficient rest in the winter. The plant does not have the strength to produce new flowers for next year.

To prevent this from happening again, you will need to carefully prepare the green pet for wintering:

  • put the pot in a cool place for two winter months;
  • cut off strong shoots, shorten by half weak;
  • before future flowering, young and long shoots need to be pruned again.

Use in landscape design

Hydrangea garden during flowering can decorate any landscape. But in order for it to look organically and grow well, it is necessary to choose the right place for planting in the garden.

How to design a landscape depending on the type of hydrangea:

  1. Tree-like. It is unpretentious, grows equally well in the sun and in the shade. It looks beautiful along the fence, so it looks like a hedge. White flowers adorn the garden, while not straying from the general style. In addition, next to the plant, you can plant any other flowers.
  2. Panicled. It survives winter well and blooms very magnificent every year. It can be given both a bush and a standard form. It looks beautiful at the entrance to the house. However, it must be borne in mind that this type of hydrangea is very fragile. Therefore, you should not plant it in places where snow from the roof can fall on branches. You will also need to carry out full cropping.
  3. Large leaf. It is a heat-loving species, therefore, requires shelter for the winter. Well suited for growing in containers that can be taken out to the relaxation area or terrace. For wintering, such hydrangea must be taken to a cool room.
  4. Petiole. It is a vine, so it is suitable for landscaping vertical surfaces. It grows slowly, but then it becomes very difficult. This must be considered when choosing a place to land. In addition, petiole hydrangea cannot be used as a support for wooden walls, as the tree decays very quickly.

 

Knowing all the basic rules for the care of lush hydrangea will allow you to grow from it a full-fledged beautiful bush or even a tree, which, among other things, will delight the grower for many years.

 

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