Dear Hydrangea Enthusiasts,
Welcome!
Welcome to the Final 2005 edition of our Hydrangeas Plus®
newsletter. We here at Hydrangeas Plus® wish you and your
family a very happy and safe holiday season. Thank you for a wonderful
year and we hope you are looking forward to 2006 as much as we are to provide
you with the best selection of hydrangeas in the country! We invested
in many new varieties during 2005 and we hope you'll be fascinated by the
varieties we will offer in the future.
Our last day of shipping will be December 19th but we'll continue to process
gift certificates and catalogs. We will begin shipping plants again
in January or February 2006, depending on our weather. It's been very
frosty here in the Willamette Valley - even for December. No snow,
however - much to the disappointment for our children. The newscasters
have predicted it several time but personally, I think it's just for the
ratings.
Don't want to fight the traffic to the mall or outlet store?
Visit our website....
How about a gift certificate from Hydrangeas Plus? We have
online redemption available. We can email a gift certificate or
send one the old fashioned way through the Postal Service, priority mail.
We can do any amount you specify in $10 increments. Please
let us know if we can help with your gift giving this Holiday season. Order
by December 20th to ensure postal arrival by Christmas. We can do
online certificates up until December 23rd, too.
The New offerings are coming!
Please keep us up-to-date on any address changes. We'll
be sending the flyer after Christmas so that it doesn't get lost in
shuffle of presents and cards. You may sign up online with a
login and password and be one of the first to receive the new varieties. If
you haven't ordered in the last few years, you may not be signed up to be
on our free mailing list. Just sign into our website and set
up a login and password and we'll be sure to send you a NEW VARIETIES flyer.
We are offering new varieties on the website for 2006. Here
are a few new offerings to get you excited for the new year. I'll
put them on the website as soon as I can.
Lady in Red - Attract attention! This distinctive new hydrangea
will add to the beauty of your garden with color and style all season long.
‘Lady in Red’ Hydrangea has lacecap flowers that open a pinkish white (pale
blue in acidic conditions) and turn a lush burgundy rose as they mature.
The foliage is rich reddish purple in the fall with distinctive red stems
and veins throughout the growing season. A compact mounded habit, high mildew
resistance, and sturdy stems make ‘Lady in Red’ a special part of anyone's
garden.
Koby - This is our own homegrown sport from Nikko Blue. It is named
after our Foreman's basketball crazy son. Can you tell what his favorite
team is? Laker fans unite! Anyway, this large growing hydrangea
has the biggest flower in our garden. It surpassed even Goliath and
Paris in bloom size over the last few years. In just a few years, this
specimen is over 5 feet tall! It will require lots of shade to keep
the wonderful pale blue or pink blooms from scorching. The leaves are
more tapered in shape, a bit more rough to the touch and more lime green
than other cultivars.
Hornli - Another dwarf!! I can't believe I'm saying this. We've
grown this variety for a few years and I'm so impressed. This Switzerland
bred dwarf grows slowly and very compact. But blooms and blooms all
season long. This will rival Pia for ultimate compact hydrangea. The
blooms remind me of pia but are not as carmine pink. I would say they
are bit more orange red. I hope we have grown enough of this beautiful
little plant. This is the ultimate shrub for a small garden or container.
SALE< SALE< SALE
Yes, those crazy people at Hydrangeas Plus are doing it again. What
you ask? We're doing our 10/20/30 sale. What is that you ask?
Order $100 of plants or amendments and get 10% off. Order $200
of plants or amendments and get 20% off. Finally, order $300 of plants
or amendments and get 30% off. This offer is good through 12/31/05.
Sorry, we can't apply the discount to the shipping cost. No
coupon or code is necessary, the discount will come right off your order.
This can applied for plants/amendments shipped now or next spring.
Shipping costs are going up
We are again faced with rising shipping costs next year. UPS
and the US Postal Service are raising their rates and we will be forced
to increase our shipping costs as well. We always debate whether we
should raise the cost of the plants or just raise the cost of shipping.
Please know that we are doing everything we can to keep the costs
down but we feel like we are losing this battle. We are trying to
come up with more creative ways to keep costs down.
Upgraded website
The migration to the next website is complete! I didn't even know
it was going on. The search feature we've been promising is finally
here. I just have to figure out it works. I'll do some playing
around and fill you in on all the new bells and whistles for this new website.
Commonly Asked Questions
Q: My neighbors' hydrangeas seem to be very sturdy
and upright without the aid of stakes or cages, while mine flop over like
an uncaged peony does. Is it not enough sun or what?
A: Floppiness is usually inherent in certain varieties. The
Nikko (and other of the early Asian varieties) do tend to flop a bit because
the stem isn't as strong. The French hybrids were crossed amongst each
other to have stronger stems but still maintain the good sized blooms.
Unfortunately, these French hydrangeas aren't' as hardy as the Asian varieties.
A bad winter and the French ones won't survive.
The floppiness is definitely influenced by the amount of sun. The more
sun, the more compact the plant will stay. In shadier locations, the
hydrangeas tend to flop because the stems are a bit more leggy (as they reach
for the sun).
I have been known to use fishing line and dental floss (invisible support)
to hold up blooms. I have heard of people using peony and tomato cages
to keep the blooms more upright. You shouldn't prune too much because
they may not bloom very well for you. Most ancient Asian varieties
bloom on a combo of old and new wood.
I hope that helps. Please let me know if I can be of further assistance.
Q: I have several plants that I purchased from you--and
have a couple of questions. We live in Tennessee, and have had a very severe
drought and mild fall. We watered our plants twice daily (horrible
water bill) for months--and anticipate a primarily mild winter with a few
really cold (for here) days with temperatures probably dipping into the teens
or single digits. The leaves are still attached--and we are still watering.
When should we stop watering? Do we need to cover the plants for the occasional
really cold days we do get?
A: As soon as you have your first frost, cut down
on the watering. I heard your area had a bad drought. Once the
plant stops growing, it doesn't need as much water. It's done absorbing
nutrients for the year and without active leaf structure, water needs drop.
As soon as the leaves fall off, you can pretty much stop watering the hydrangeas.
The ground should stay at least moist and unless you have no humidity, the
weather should take care of that.
Since you're having such a sudden cold front, the leaves are probably just
barely hanging on to the stems. A little shake will probably loosen
them. If that's the case, the plant could go without constant watering.
As long as your temperatures don't go into the 0 to 10 degrees, the hydrangeas
should be fine. A sudden and drastic change in temperature does have
an adverse affect on hydrangea blooms the next summer. We had that
a few Halloween's ago and although we didn't lose any, they didn't bloom
well the following summer. If damage has occurred, it's probably too
late to help them out. If you get some more warm weather then yes,
cover them. I've also heard of a product Wilt Pruf that helps keep
moisture in the plant on those cold spells. The moisture is basically
zapped from the plants when you get that sudden cold and the stems die back.
If they are new plants from this year, mulch the bases just to be sure they
make it through the winter.
I realized I don't know what varieties you may have. I'm really speaking
more about the mopheads and lacecaps (macrophylla old wood blooming) varieties.
Oakleaf, Paniculata, Serrata, Arborescens all are very resistant to damage
caused by early frost.
Thank you for your question. let me know if I can be of further assistance.
Q: I have now read all shipping info - will be wanting to
buy several different types of plants. I have rather heavy but rich
and well draining acidic - clay- soil. Local hydrangeas. do well in
it. Do all of your plant types do well in this kind of soil?
Second is their a supplement or product you use to maintain the blue color?
I would like to hear about it so I can see if it is here on the market or
I have to find it. Is aluminum the key - and in what "food" can we
find it for use on Hydrangeas.
A: Yes, hydrangeas do well in those conditions.
That is very similar to the conditions we have here in the Pacific Northwest.
We get lots of rain, too. Hydrangeas love that.
Maintaining the blue color requires aluminum. The chemical reaction
in the pigments of the petals will be result in blue color when aluminum
is absorbed in the plant. Aluminum is better absorbed in acidic conditions.
So, you need both available aluminum and acidic soil to get blue hydrangeas.
Also, picking a hydrangea that can be the blue that you desire is important.
If you want deep, dark blue, pick one of the more vivid colored hydrangeas.
If you want pastels, pink a lighter colored hydrangeas.
We sell Aluminum sulfate - which is the best for getting aluminum and acidity
to the soil. You said you already have acidic soil so increase your
aluminum (or metal) content to the soil. Get old aluminum nails or
shavings and put in the soil. Chemical aluminum can be toxic to plants
in high doses so be very careful with application rates.
Thanks for your questions. Please let me know if I can be of further
assistance
Q: I live outside of San Francisco, in a zone 9 area.
I'm wanting advice as when and how to trim my lacecap hydrangea. It's
about 5 feet tall and 5 feet wide. I've only lived with it 1 1/2 years.
Last fall, the gardener trimmed it down to about 2 foot stalks, all over
the entire plant. IN the spring I got only 3 blossoms. Now it's
mid NOvember, and I'm thinking I'll trim some down low, and the majority
down to the 1st bud. Is this correct?
Can you recommend a product for feeding, and is fall the best time to feed?
A: Yes, you method for pruning is correct.
Be sure that you trim down to a really nice, fat bud, though. The first
bud may not necessarily be the most robust. When done, you may have
one or two buds left on the plant.
Feed you hydrangea in the spring with something balanced for shrubs.
If you don't have anything you use for other plants, Osmocote makes a good
one. Fertilizer specially formulated for acid loving plants would also
be all right. 10-10-10 is what we recommend. We do sell some
on the website if you're interested. We like to use time release fertilizer
as it reduces the number of applications. a 3 or 4 month release is
perfect.
Fertilize when the new leaves start forming. That may be January for
you.
Thank you for your question. Please let me know if I can be of further
assistance.
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Sincerely,
Kristin VanHoose
Hydrangeas Plus®
http://www.hydrangeasplus.com