1st Time Garderner: Hygrangeas turning icky color

14 years ago

Hello. I planted 2 beautiful hygrangeas. One was a deep blue and the other was a luscious pink. With 2 weeks they both turned the same yucky color. At a flower store I was told to use an acidifier (I think for the blue) and an alkaline mixture for the pink. Can't remember now, but I applied them around the roots and surrounding soil to the drip line (whatever that is) and nothing has happened and it's been about 2 weeks ago. Did I not do it correctly or does it take much longer for the them to return to their original colors? Any feedback/suggestions are thankfully welcome! Mary Jay

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Comments (4)

jean001
14 years ago
Hydrangeas change color as they age, some to a strange shade of green. Likely that's what happened.

If you can post a picture, we could tell you for certain.
cibersis
Original Author
14 years ago
I tried to send you an e-mail, but it didn't work. 1st of all, thank you for your response and yes they did turn green and the treatment has not helped yet. When I go to post there is no link of browse button to send a picture. Do you know how to do that?

Thanks again! Mary Jay
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orchidacea
14 years ago
Mary Jay...the soil acidifer work will not affect blooms already in bloom...the new flowers will affect by the treatment...alkaline for pink, acid for blue...it is getting late for the hydrangea blooming season to play around these soil conditioners...the blooms you have now will go thru the multi color chges as they aged...many times they will go thru the greening, then turning copper red again, then browning by mid Nov...btw - be careful with the aluminum sulfate - often used as an soil acidifer for blue blooms - make sure you use it strictly according to instructions...I have had many clients killed their hyrangeas from overdosing alum sulf. or applied it the wrong way (i have one gardener drenching the plant with alum sulfate solution top down - immediate death penalty for the poor thing)...

...
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
14 years ago
There is no "treatment" for the aging of the flowers :-) Many varieties of hydrangeas go through various color changes during the life of the blossoms.....it is one of their endearing characteristics and spent (past their prime) flowers on many types of mopheads will age to a greenish tint.

Altering soil pH to influence the flower color does not produce an immediate effect. It is generally suggested to do so in fall in preparation for the following bloom season. And it is important to know what your current soil pH is in order to make the correct adjustments. Check the FAQ at the beginning of the forum page or do a search through the forum archives to review various threads addressing this subject.

I've attached a link that is helpful with the technicalities of the posting of photos. Most posters take advantage of a free photo hosting website like photobucket to download their photos and then link to it.

Here is a link that might be useful: posting photos