Endless Summer Hydrangea

CarolB · Post by **CarolB** » Jun 27, 2005 1:51 pm

Did anyone buy this plant? I did this summer. It is supposed to be cold hardy. Anyway, when I bought it, it had pink flowers. I wanted to change it to blue. I have gotten them to be more on the lavender side. Am having a difficult time trying to change to all blue. Read some articles about it and they say it isn't easy as they say it is to change the color. Just watering with Miracid won't do it. I put down some Espom Salt as I read that helps. Can someone give some pointers if they were able to switch the color?

Snow · Post by **Snow** » Jun 27, 2005 1:53 pm

I bought it last year, but mine hasnt bloomed for me yet. If your soil is on the alkaline side, your plant will bloom more pinkish. If you want it to be bluer - you need to add some acidity to the soil. If you do use Miracle Gro - you want to use the Miracid type - but if you are very alkaline it may not be enough. There are other products that add acidity - but for the life of me I cant think of the chemical name. Someone here will, I'm sure!

Dee · Post by **Dee** » Jun 27, 2005 2:38 pm

Hollytone adds acidity, and if I remember correctly...don't they sometimes need more aluminum phosphate for blue blooms as well? I added both this year and my blooms are still pink so I guess I didn't add enough.

mooie · Post by **mooie** » Jun 27, 2005 4:21 pm

If I'm not mistaken, you need to start adding it before it starts to bloom. I give the hydrangeas with the exception of the Endless Summer a 2 gallon bucket solution of water mixed with Aluminum Sulfate a week after it leafs out. Then water normally the rest of the time. It takes a little time for the stuff to work its way up the branch to the bloom. For some reason, the ES stayed blue without any treatment so my soil in that location must be acidic enough!

mooie

Snow · Post by **Snow** » Jun 27, 2005 4:42 pm

I never have to add acidity to mine - at least I havent yet. We'll see how my ES does when it blooms.

Tigger · Post by **Tigger** » Jun 29, 2005 1:55 pm

It is the aluminum (generally applied as the sulfate) that's needed for the blue. Normal to acid pH is fine once the aluminum is present, but you probably don't need to add any additional acid component.

For the Brits among us, that's aluminium sulphate!

Snow · Post by **Snow** » Jul 01, 2005 1:14 pm

THAT's it! Aluminum sulfate - I couldn't remember.

Ginger · Post by **Ginger** » Jul 07, 2005 2:27 pm

A new neighbor told me that you can turn the colors by adding food coloring to the water when you water. Before I told her she was full of it, I thought I better check to see if that is true?

Ginger

caliloo · Post by **caliloo** » Jul 07, 2005 5:14 pm

Hmmmmm... I thought ES was supposed to be pink. I know you can change the color around by fiddling with the acidity, but every ES I have seen is pink (even in the catalogs).

Mine is new this year and has just begun blooming.... and is the shade of Pepto Bismol LOL!

Alexa

CarolB · Post by **CarolB** » Jul 07, 2005 5:46 pm

Mine started to turn purple/blue and it is back to being pink. I did not try the aluminum sulphate yet. Has anyone had luck actually keeping them blue?

PeggyB · Post by **PeggyB** » Jul 07, 2005 10:30 pm

I have two planted, two still in pots. The two that are planted are in virtually the same bed only opposite ends. One is blue the other more pink. Go figure!

Oh, the potted ones are blue.

mooie · Post by **mooie** » Jul 07, 2005 10:51 pm

That's because they have been treated by the grower's nursery Peggy. They treat with aluminum sulfate in the spring and fall. We got in a batch of these where I work and I immediately called the company to talk to the grower. These babies came in with such huge blue blooms they were dragging the ground with their weight!

Stunning! He also added that they had lots of rain (we don't have that in Illinois now) and that would account for the size of the blooms. I'm still in awe of what I saw come off the truck...

mooie

PeggyB · Post by **PeggyB** » Jul 08, 2005 7:02 am

Thanks for the info Mooie, but would that only account for the two potted plants, bought this year? The two I've planted I bought in Spring of last year.

Also where can a person buy Alum Sulfate and what is the application?

mooie · Post by **mooie** » Jul 08, 2005 1:47 pm

Hi Peggy,

Well I would hazard a guess that one of the planted ones from last spring, ran out of it's applied solution and is now pulling it's nutrients from your own soil. The second one has possibly not reached that point yet. If you treat both (well all of them actually) this fall with the AS, and again in the spring, you 'should' get the blue color you want. I believe the mix is 1 lb.(2 cups?) of AS to 5 gallons of water. It should be available at any garden center or sometimes you can find it at a Farm and Fleet type place. If not, let me know and I can get some to you.

mooie

CarolB · Post by **CarolB** » Jul 08, 2005 3:36 pm

If you apply this too often, can you burn the plant? You know how easy that would be. If a little is good, the more would be better.............But you do suggest that you do this in the fall as well, even if you live up north?

DryGulch · Post by **DryGulch** » Jul 11, 2005 11:39 pm

TWO!!! cups to five gallons.....that does NOT sound right!!! Better check that!

Whoa....

mooie · Post by **mooie** » Jul 12, 2005 7:11 am

I did what you said drygulch and checked. The label still says 1# = 2 cups in 5 gallons of water per 3 ft. of shrub.

My plants are fairly young so I usually split a 5 gal bucket between two plants. A whole bucket on one plant seems like overkill no matter how thirsty they are!
CarolB...If you feel more comfortable only applying the solution one time a year, I would probably do it early spring. Moderation is the key to most all situations.

mooie

Hallson Gardens

Endless Summer Hydrangea

Endless Summer Hydrangea

Wow...ratio of AS to water