{"id":109,"date":"2012-10-01T12:00:19","date_gmt":"2012-10-01T16:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/?p=109"},"modified":"2012-09-24T20:41:43","modified_gmt":"2012-09-25T00:41:43","slug":"success-with-bluepink-mophead-hydrangeas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/2012\/10\/01\/success-with-bluepink-mophead-hydrangeas\/","title":{"rendered":"Success With Blue\/Pink Mophead Hydrangeas"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Mophead Type hydrangea in Jonesborough, TN garden<\/p><\/div>\n

Mophead hydrangeas (Hydrangea macrophylla<\/em>), the blue\/pink flowering species, have been\u00a0the gardening rage since the early 1990\u2019s. Endless Summer\u00ae hydrangea started\u00a0a wave of\u00a0new repeat blooming (remontant) cultivars.\u00a0They bloom on both\u00a0 new season\u2019s\u00a0as well as old\u00a0wood from\u00a0the previous\u00a0year. These hardier cultivars extended the flowering\u00a0time by 8 to 10 more\u00a0weeks and bloomed in cooler climates formerly unable to grow mopheads.<\/p>\n

To add to your success, here are additional tips on growing mopheads:<\/p>\n

“The R<\/strong>ight Plant In The Right Location”<\/strong> rule strongly applies to mopheads. The farther north you grow mopheads, the more sunlight they can handle. In USDA hardiness zones 4 thru 5-a, plant in a sunny location\u00a0which receives a minimum of 6 hours of sunlight. Reduce to 4-5 hours of mostly morning sunlight in zones 6 and 7, and grow in\u00a0high shade in zone 7-b to 9.<\/p>\n

Protect Against Severe Winter Temps and Spring Freezes:<\/strong> Hydrangea buds openvery early. Late spring freezes frequently destroy or injure flower buds and new growth. Keep the crown (plant base) heavily mulch to mid-May in northerly areas.<\/p>\n

Feeding<\/strong>: Fertilize with a slow-release fertilizer such as 10-30-10 or equivalent in early spring. For example, the phosphorus (30% P)\u00a0level should be 2-3 times greater than the nitrogen (10% N) or potassium (10% K) levels. Container plants may need an extra bi-monthly feedings of a water soluble fertilizer. Over-feeding hydrangeas may result in dark green leaves (a good thing) and fewer flowers (not so good). In USDA zones 4 and 5, do not fertilize\u00a0past August 15th, as it may lead to winter injury.<\/p>\n

Watering: <\/strong>Mophead hydrangeas have large fleshy green leaves and insist on growing rapidly. Overwatering may lead to few\u00a0or no flowers at all. On hot summer days, it is normal for mopheads to wilt for a short\u00a0period in mid-day.\u00a0It’s best\u00a0to irrigate thoroughly once weekly, usually 1 \u00bd inches of water, than to water a little bit every day.<\/p>\n

Pruning:<\/strong> Mopheads should not be cutback in the fall like other hydrangea species. Flower buds are borne on old wood for late spring flowering. Remember<\/span>: the remontant type of\u00a0hydrangeas bloom on both old and new wood.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mophead hydrangeas (Hydrangea macrophylla), the blue\/pink flowering species, have been\u00a0the gardening rage since the early 1990\u2019s. Endless Summer\u00ae hydrangea started\u00a0a wave of\u00a0new repeat blooming (remontant) cultivars.\u00a0They bloom on both\u00a0 new season\u2019s\u00a0as well as old\u00a0wood from\u00a0the previous\u00a0year. These hardier cultivars extended the flowering\u00a0time by 8 to 10 more\u00a0weeks and bloomed in cooler climates formerly unable to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[444,707,6,622,675,551,202,843,601,630,705,706,71,113,455,642],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6850,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109\/revisions\/6850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}