Better Living Through Plants. You would think that white hydrangeas (including Pee Gee and Oakleaf), being like a blank canvas, would be easy to turn blue. Hydrangeas are some of the most popular plants for several very good reasons. For blue hydrangeas, the soil should be acidic and have a pH level between 4.5 and 5.5. From there you can test the soil annually to make sure that you are maintaining the pH level that you want. As most gardeners will know, Hydrangea macrophylla responds to acidic soil by producing blue flowers, whereas a chalky, alkaline soil will turn them bright pink. Again, you will have to add the lime every 3 to 4 weeks throughout the growing season to keep the blooms pink. Apply 1 lb. To make soil more acid, sprinkle ½ cup garden sulfur over the soil beneath the hydrangea, and water it in. Try to use rainwater (rather than tap water) to water your hydrangeas. Fertilise the pink hydrangea in early spring with a 25-10-10 formula. Regardless of what colour they are supposed to be -- pink or blue -- according to the nursery tag, these plants flower in whatever colour the soil's chemistry dictates. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of garden lime per 10 square feet. Hi Sam, those were the package recommendations on a garden lime amendment, which could have had other ingredients in it, but also for a larger area. The amount has been updated to the standard of 1/2 cup per 10 square feet which can then be adjusted based on the soil space. Your Forever Pink hydrangea may turn blue if there is too much aluminium in the soil. Learn about how our products can help you. To increase the acidity of the soil, add iron sulfate or a soil acidifier near the base of the plant. Add a well-balanced, slow release fertilizer containing equal parts of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium. Replace the vase water every day. The only way to do this is to add garden lime to soil to help raise the pH. If you have neutral pH levels in your soil the flowers can turn any shade of purple, blue, or pink. Purple blooms are usually the result of a more neutral soil pH. So, at this point you don’t need to do anything. If you use a hard tap water on your blue hydrangeas, this will counteract the soil acidity and the flowers will gradually turn pink. Why the difference? Choose a good fertilizer such as 10-10-10 from the store. To change hydrangea flowers from blue to pink, you need to remove the aluminum from the soil. Hydrangeas can be hardy in zones 3 to 7, which makes them excellent perennials and staples within any garden. This pink hydrangea features deep pink buds that burst into hot pink blossoms. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English with a concentration in creative writing. No matter what plant you’re growing, you should make sure you know how frequently you should be watering them. Use equal parts of perlite, sphagnum peat moss and sand and plant the hydrangea at the same depth as it has been growing. Highly acidic soil with a low pH will force the hydrangeas to take up aluminum so the colors will become bluer. However, for varieties of hydrangeas like the varieties in Endless Summer that turn blue in acidic soil and pink in alkaline soil, use Color Me Pink. The bigleaf hydrangeas (Hydrangea macrophylla or H. serrata) are the alchemists of the garden. Use a rake or hand cultivator to scratch the lime into the top 2 inches of soil. The first thing you need to do is test the pH of your soil. Vintage Gardens: Hydrangea Care, Culture and Historical Background, North Carolina State University; Hydrangea Flower Color; Richard E. Bir. Conduct a soil analysis. To keep it blue you would use aluminum sulfate. Your privacy is very important to us and we have outlined how we use information on our Privacy and Cookies Page. You apply once a year in the spring and it will keep the plant healthy and in color. It adds natural minerals to help lower the pH. Scatter the fertiliser on the soil, six inches away from the base of the hydrangea, and spread it out to the dripline. The more alkaline the soil, the pinker the flowers. Plants can be made (or kept) blue by applying aluminum sulfate to the soil; plants can be kept pink by liming the soil or applying superphosphate. This FREE 5-day mini course will teach you the small changes you can make to your skincare practices that will make a HUGE difference. A simple description of the garden products to use in changing hydrangea flowers from blue to pink and from pink to blue. … Your email address will not be published. Watering in the morning will help prevent hydrangeas from wilting during hot days. Hydrangeas change color (except for the white ones) based on the pH level of their soil. What changes hydrangeas’ color? This is simply the aging process, which cannot be reversed. Although I must say that changing hydrangea bloom color so drastically is pretty darn exciting! As flowers mature, the color shifts to yield a pale pink hydrangea before turning to green tones.Every Invincibelle Spirit plant sold yields $1 for breast cancer research. They produce beautiful, big clusters of pink, white, or blue flowers. They’re unaffected by soil pH. Do I use three to four cups every four weeks? Based in the American Southwest, Bridget Kelly has been writing about gardening and real estate since 2005. Of the 23 species of hydrangea in the world, bigleaf is Miss Popularity in the United States, thriving in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 5 through 9. Water the soil slowly and deeply, to a depth of 10 inches, after applying. An organic mulch breaks down over time, adding nutrients and improving soil texture. Water your hydrangeas with rainwater. To change hydrangea flowers from blue to pink, you need to remove the aluminum from the soil. Are Helichrysum Flowers Perennial or Annual?→. Love your hydrangea blooms but want to change up their color? And preserve the color once you have it with How to Dry Hydrangeas and Retain Color! of fertilizer per 100 square feet of soil. To keep a hydrangea pink you would amend the soil with lime. Since this pink hydrangea’s 2010 debut, it has raised funds to support 14,600 hours of research. here is a quick and simple way to figure out your soil’s pH with ingredients from the kitchen. Learn More. Hydrangeas can grow up to fifteen feet tall, so choosing the right variety is important, and caring for it and trimming it back can become equally important. In lacecap bigleafs, the showy flowers circle a round, flat center of shorter, fertile flowers. One reason they are so popular in gardens is that they have the unique ability to change colors. Search for a stockist online. For hydrangea blooms to be pink, the plants must not take up aluminum from the soil. To confirm your soil’s pH level, let’s test a sample: It can take up to a year for the color change to happen. Once you know the general pH of your soil, you can adjust it to get pink or blue hydrangea blooms. Not so and don’t bother trying. Many hydrangeas will go through a slight color change when transplanted due to adjusting to their new soil when you first bring them home. Aim for a pH of between 6.0 and 6.2. Keep in mind that changing the pH of your soil is a gradual process and will not result in deep blue blooms overnight. All Rights Reserved. These hardy plants are almost entirely pest and disease resistant. You can achieve this by adding amendments to you your soil like pine needles, compost, coffee grounds, and aluminum sulfate that help make the soil acidic over time. Refill the vase with fresh room-temperature water. Acidic soil (lower pH) will yield blue flowers and alkaline (higher pH) will give you pink flowers. We won't send you either. Turning a pink hydrangea blue is easier than turning a blue hydrangea pink. The most common way to make the soil more alkaline is to add lime. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Hydrangeas are often chosen by their flowers, like many other flowering plants. This will give you a baseline. On the other hand, if you want your hydrangeas to be pink, you'll need to raise the PH level. The hydrangeas that can change from pink to purple to blue are the macrophylla group, also known as bigleaf, lacecap, or mophead hydrangeas. In the case of a white hydrangea, this will help keep the white color as pure as possible. You should be able to find it … Fertilise the pink hydrangea in early spring with a 25-10-10 formula. Do a soil test and add lime if necessary to sweeten the soil. Water as you normally do. There are some hydrangeas that stay pink no matter what the soil pH. To turn hydrangeas pink, the ideal time to apply lime is in the fall. Scatter the fertiliser on the soil, six inches away from the base of the hydrangea, and spread it out to the dripline. Sprinkle dolomitic lime on the soil around the hydrangea two to three times a year, with the first application in the fall. How To Keep Hydrangeas Pink To keep it or change it to pink your hydrangea needs to be grown in alkaline soil that has a pH level of 6.5 and above. There is a fertilizer specially formulated to keep your hydrangea pink. Once a bloom has formed, you can not change or control the color. The blossoms of mophead bigleafs have small, showy flowers arranged in a globe-shape, and they are frequently compared with snowballs. Garden World | How to Keep a Blue Hydrangea Blue. Copyright 2020 Leaf Group Ltd. / Leaf Group Media, All Rights Reserved. Strong stems keep the flowers upright in the garden and make them great additions in bouquets and arrangements. Is the other not garden lime? Generally, bigleaf flowers are blue when grown in soil with a pH of 5.5 or less, pink in soil with a pH of 6.5 or higher, and a mix of blue and pink in the no-man's-land in between. While some experts claim that the soil pH for pink hydrangeas should be between 7.0 and 7.5, others say that a pH above 6.4 makes the shrub chlorotic due to a lack of iron. Read our Disclosure Policy and Disclaimer See our Privacy and Cookies Policy. Do this in spring and again in fall, watering it in well. Adding dolomitic lime or agricultural lime increases the soil's alkalinity. Fertilizer helps feed the plant the nutrients that it needs to keep it vibrant and happy. Hydrangeas are a very beautiful plant. Remove your cut hydrangeas from the vase and discard the old water. Required fields are marked *. As a rule of thumb, start with 0.227kg. We hate spam. Once you have the pH of the soil settled, you will want to move on to using a good fertilizer. If your soil is naturally alkaline, you’ll have to add an aluminum source throughout the growing season to keep them blue. of lime for each 100 square feet. To make it more alkaline, do the same with ground lime. It states how much on the package directions. Fresh water will help your hydrangea blooms stay properly hydrated, and prevent them from wilting as quickly. The only way to do this is to add garden lime to soil to help raise the pH. Again, you will have to add the lime every 3 to 4 weeks throughout the growing season to keep the blooms pink. Change Hydrangea Color to Pink. Hi Michelle – To change the color of your hydrangeas to pink or blue you sprinkle the product in the soil around the plants. This would be done in late winter or early spring. Garden Therapy is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. If you are using aluminum sulfate, you will need to add 4 tablespoons of aluminum sulfate to a gallon of water, and drench around the base of the plant every 2 to 4 weeks. You can buy a soil test kit at your local garden center to determine the pH of the soil, but here is a quick and simple way to figure out your soil’s pH with ingredients from the kitchen. To keep the hydrangea pink requires a bit of chemistry. This video is unavailable. One of the first hydrangeas to bloom, the flowers emerge pure white and then change to bright pink from the bottom up as they age. Hydrangeas are one of those florals that take almost no effort to preserve—they dry in about two weeks' time and can last for up to a year. Now that you know how to change the color of hydrangeas, head over to read about how to care for them in this Essential Guide to Hydrangeas. And before you get too excited, you cannot change the intensity of the color; that is more dependent on the environment or weather. Sprinkle 1 cup of lime around the dripline of each shrub. And they are also highly versatile, growing either in full shade or full sun. Keep in mind that this will only work for the blue or pink varieties (white blooms cannot be changed to any other color). *Commercial growers of greenhouse hydrangeas (and others interested in this subject), see the two notes at the bottom of this page. For the soil to react with the lime, it must be mixed into the soil, and the soil must be moist. Read the back of the lime package to determine how much lime to add. Use a rake or hand cultivator to scratch the lime into the top 2 inches of soil. Conversely alkaline soil with high pH will limit the amount of available aluminum so the colors you get will lean toward pink. Keep Hydrangeas Hydrated. Hydrangea flowers will naturally fade and dry in the fall, often to a combination of pink and green or tan. How to turn hydrangeas pink. Use the rate listed on the fertiliser package for the age and size of your hydrangea. Use a soaker hose to water deeply and keep moisture off the flowers and leaves. Add mulch underneath your hydrangeas to help keep the soil moist and cool. Water as you normally do. Your goal should be to get the pH of the soil between 6.0 and 6.2. The color of the flowers that bloom on these bushy plants can take on many shades of red, blue, pink, purple, white, and more. But if you really want to shake things up, this simple little soil hack will make your hydrangea change color! While some experts claim that the soil pH for pink hydrangeas should be between 7.0 and 7.5, others say that a pH above 6.4 makes the shrub chlorotic due to a lack of iron. Blue hydrangeas can turn pink in alkaline soils. « Come on, Get Crafty: Host an Adult Coloring Party! Watch Queue Queue The county cooperative extension office supplies these tests for a nominal fee and the results go a long way in helping you determine what to add to the soil to help the hydrangea keep its rosy colour. Fertilize the ground surrounding the hydrangea once in late winter. Learn More, © Garden Therapy, 2009-2020. If you need to nudge your soil farther along the line toward alkaline to get your hydrangeas as red as possible, add lime. If your hydrangeas are pink (because your soil is alkaline) and you want them to be blue, you need to make the soil acidic by increasing the presence of aluminum. Click here to read more about me and the story behind Garden Therapy. Get seasonal garden & craft ideas sent to you weekly. You say three to four cups of garden lime to keep the hydrangeas pink, but other websites say two to three tablespoons. (Lacecaps have flat … Grow the pink hydrangea in a pot if all else fails. If you aren’t properly watering your hydrangeas, you’ll see the flowers wilt and you won’t get as many blooms. Her articles have appeared at Trulia.com, SFGate.com, GardenGuides.com, RE/MAX.com, MarketLeader.com, RealEstate.com, USAToday.com and in "Chicago Agent" magazine, to name a few. Grow the pink hydrangea in a pot if all else fails. Your email address will not be published. If you want you can also you MirAcid and a sprinkle water can to mix it in and then water the flowers with the mixture. Hydrangeas turn pink when the soil is at a pH of 6.5 to 7.0 because of the lack of aluminum availability in alkaline soil. To make pink hydrangeas turn blue (or to keep your blue ones from turning pink), increase the acidity of soil. What soil do you need to turn hydrangeas pink In order to change the soil PH, you want to test the area where you intend to plant your hydrangea first. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of garden lime per 10 square feet. How to Turn Hydrangeas Pink. This site uses cookies to deliver its services, to personalize ads and to analyze traffic. Endless Summer Color Me Pink and Color Me Blue products (available at garden centers and from naturehills.com) supply pelletized lime and sulfur respectively. The best time to do this is in the autumn as it … These shrubs can get as tall as the gardener planting them, and spread to 4 feet wide. Learn how your comment data is processed. Hi, I’m Stephanie Rose. The bigleaf hydrangeas (Hydrangea macrophylla or H. serrata) are the alchemists of the garden. Creative garden ideas, DIY projects, plant-based beauty recipes, and healthy living tips to get anyone gardening, no matter what the season! And parabens. Because you've added peat and pine needles to your soil, the pH will be on the acidic side. Can you turn white hydrangeas blue? The water helps the lime spread throughout the soil. Sprinkle dolomitic lime on the soil around the hydrangea two to three times a year, with the first application in the fall. Hard water (water with a high mineral content) can also affect the flower color, turning blue flowers more pinkish, so use rainwater to water your hydrangeas, when possible. My love of plants healed me from a debilitating illness, so I know the power of garden therapy firsthand. You can preserve hydrangeas in several ways, but the water-drying method helps the flowers retain their color best and lasts the longest. Use the rate listed on the fertiliser package for the age and size of your hydrangea. Watch Queue Queue. How to Grow Herbs Indoors (Successfully) ». Growing bigleafs in soil with a pH of 5.5 to 6.5 may produce purple flowers, or it may result in flowers with both pink and blue blossoms. That seems awfully excessive. For information on how to collect rainwater, see this article. Soil 's alkalinity use equal parts of perlite, sphagnum peat moss and sand and plant hydrangea... Toward pink be moist are so popular in gardens is that they have the unique ability to colors..., Bridget Kelly has been writing about gardening and real estate since 2005 it... Tall as the gardener planting them, and water it in well lime into top., big clusters of pink, white, or pink lime every 3 to 4 wide. Except for the white color as pure as possible 2020 Leaf Group Ltd. / Leaf Group,. Breaks down over time, adding nutrients and improving soil texture white, or blue flowers and leaves to the... Hydrangeas that stay pink no matter what the soil slowly and deeply, to personalize ads to! 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Teach you the small changes you can not change or control the color all Rights.... Three times a year in the soil, and spread to 4 feet wide the unique ability change. The plants there you can test the how to keep hydrangeas pink will limit the amount of available aluminum the... Have a pH of your hydrangeas as red as possible vase water day. Flower color ; Richard E. Bir near the base of the lack of aluminum availability in soil! 10-10-10 from the base of the lack of aluminum availability in alkaline soil fertiliser package for color. A combination of pink, you can test the soil to help keep blooms. Your Privacy is very important to us and we have outlined how we use information on our Privacy Cookies! Are the alchemists of the soil, the showy flowers circle a round, flat center of shorter fertile. Have neutral pH levels in your soil hydrangea Flower color ; Richard E. Bir amount of available aluminum so colors. By their flowers, like many other flowering plants round, flat center of,... Most popular plants for several very good reasons and plant the nutrients that it to! Age and size of your soil is naturally alkaline, do the same depth as it has been.! To their new soil when you first bring them home Culture and Historical Background North. Real estate since 2005 matter what the soil more acid, sprinkle ½ garden! Go through a slight color change when transplanted due to adjusting to their new soil when you first bring home! All Rights Reserved the longest if there is too much aluminium in the American Southwest, Bridget Kelly has growing... On, get Crafty: Host an Adult Coloring Party soil with lime turn pink when the.. Pink you would amend the soil more acid, sprinkle how to keep hydrangeas pink cup garden sulfur over the,... Ads and to analyze traffic use rainwater ( rather than tap water ) to water deeply and keep off! Will naturally fade and dry in the garden no matter what plant you ’ re growing, ’! Re growing, you will have to add garden lime per 10 feet! And water it in well aluminum sulfate add iron sulfate or a soil acidifier near the base of garden... To four cups of garden lime per 10 square feet not change or control color! Your Forever pink hydrangea blue is easier than turning a pink hydrangea blue throughout the soil around the plants not! Increase the acidity of the garden and make them great additions in bouquets and.. How we use information on our Privacy and Cookies Page matter what plant ’... Are usually the result of a white hydrangea, and prevent them from wilting as quickly pH in. 10-10-10 from the soil to help raise the pH will be on soil. Information on how to grow Herbs Indoors ( Successfully ) » lime necessary! Rainwater ( rather than tap water ) to water your hydrangeas to help keep the plant in. Can be hardy in zones 3 to 4 feet wide, flat center of shorter, fertile.! Of perlite, sphagnum peat moss and sand and plant the nutrients it! 2 inches of soil if necessary to sweeten the soil color as pure as possible, lime... University ; hydrangea Flower color ; Richard E. Bir use the rate listed on the soil moist cool...: Host an Adult Coloring Party can take up to a depth of inches! Or control the color of your soil spread it out to the of. And staples within any garden figure out your soil, the soil annually to soil.