Dear
Hydrangea Plus¨ Newsletter Subscribers!
Welcome
to March 2012.
Spring is coming early this year (she said hopefully).
We are still having some strange weather
around Oregon. To the north in
Portland and to the south of us in Salem Ð SNOW! We
were a balmy 38 degrees but it felt
colder. Still, no snow but we had
an occasional sleet or hail storm.
Hydrangeas are protected in the cold frame houses and toasty
warm.
Orders
are coming in quickly so order early and donÕt miss
out on those special varieties. You
can order now but ship later. If
something is out of stock, please email me and IÕll let you know when I
expect
it back in stock.
The
Yard, Garden & Patio show last month was a roaring
success. The show was visited by
25,000 gardeners and although not everyone took home a hydrangea, many
did
adopt a new one for their garden.
The display gardens were AMAZING!
If you missed them, they were gardens from around the world. My favorite was Tea Garden with Japanese
influences. No hydrangeas but I can
forgive them for that Ð being it was February.
Visit https://www.ygpshow.com to
see the designs.
At
the show, Kristin had the honor of spending 30 minutes on
stage with Ahmed Hassan from the DIY network smash show, Yard Crashers. If you havenÕt seen the show, in its 6th
season, you are missing out. Ahmed
follows people around at home improvement stores to find his next
project. His show is full of humor
&
skill that you can bring home to your own yard.
Check out the Redwood Arbor on the
site. ItÕs on DavidÕs to-do list
for our Hydrangea Heaven. Visit our
facebook
page https://www.facebook.com/hydrangeasplus
to see a link.
Retail
hours this month
Our first
retail event at the nursery is coming up
soon. The annual Spring Break Sale
March 23rd and 24th, Friday and Saturday with hours
10am to 4pm. Come buy those
hydrangeas that are on your plant list before the local nurseries even
have
them in stock.
On
March 24th, I have invited several specialty
nurseries to come and sell with me.
Joining me are Fry Road Nursery, Sebright
Gardens and Dancing Oaks Nursery.
Here is a little information about themÉ
Fry
Road Nursery http://www.fryroadnursery.com
offers a vast collection of hardy fuchsias. They sell other unique
wonderful
plants, too. This mail order nursery is also must-stop destination for
the home
gardener.
Sebright Gardens http://www.sebrightgardens.com
carries several hundreds of varieties of shade loving plants Ð not
limited to hosta, fern, and epimedium.
Their nursery
opens in early April so come see a preview of their 2012 fabulous
plants. Sebright Gardens is also a mail
order nursery so visit
their website, too.
Dancing
Oaks http://www.dancingoaks.com
is a destination nursery nestled in the foothills of the central
Willamette
Valley and grows unusual trees, shrubs and perennials from all over the
world.
Their plants are also available via mail order.
Come
join us.
Hours are 10am to 4pm both Friday & Saturday.
Winter
tip Ð Pruning
If you forgot
to prune your mophead and lacecap hydrangeas
last year, donÕt worry, you can still do a little pruning this spring. But, just a little. Unlike
many of your other flowering
shrubs (roses, buddleia), hydrangeas shouldnÕt be pruned much in the
spring. Most of these
mopheads and lacecaps bloom on old wood and if you cut too much or too
far down
on the stems, you wonÕt get any blooms.
And, another concern is a hard frost right after you prune.
Once
your hydrangea starts to leaf out, you will see the
leaf nodes beginning to form. Most
will be bright green although a few cultivars have reddish buds. Count back from the end of the plant
such that you have at least three fat and healthy leaf nodes forming. Prune above the third one, at a 45
degree angle. That is, after
pruning, you should still have at least three of the fattest leaf nodes
remaining.
When
in doubt, just cut off the dried bloom heads from last
year and save heavy pruning for after bloom.
The
Paniculata and Arborescens hydrangeas bloom on new wood
so you may cut them for size every year, spring or fall, whatever is
most
convenient for you.
Fertilizing
ItÕs getting close to
the time to start fertilizing those hydrangeas. When
the leaves start showing,
completely or partially, itÕs time for fertilizer and soil amendments
to get
the color of hydrangea you want.
Hydrangeas
like a balanced fertilizer. I prefer a
time-released kind that
delivers the Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium (NPK) over a 3 or 4
month time
period. Water and/or heat will
breakdown the outside coating and release the nutrients slowly. Nitrogen is for the green parts of the
plants, leaves and stems.
Phosphorus helps a plant grow good roots and stems and on some
plants,
helps with the flower production.
Potassium helps your plant generate and process nutrients. Trace elements like calcium, magnesium,
iron, copper, zinc and sulfur are also in most commercial fertilizers.
For
blue hydrangeas, add aluminum sulfate. For
pink hydrangeas, add garden lime. Always
follow the directions carefully
whether you are fertilizing or amending.
It is possible to ÔoverÕ feed.
We
do sell aluminum sulfate, fertilizer and lime. If
you order just amendments, I can ship
them UPS ground or priority mail in a fixed price box (for cheaper than
the
shipping calculates, promise).
Facebook
& Twitter
Check us out
on both social media applications Ð you
never know when there will be breaking news in the hydrangea world. We have over 15000 fans on Facebook
now. Visit our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/hydrangeasplus
if you havenÕt already. We announce
give-aways, specials and helpful hints and
tips
often. Follow us on twitter https://twitter.com/hydrangeasplus.
Free
Shipping special
It is that time of year to offer Free Shipping on orders over $175. For
those
of you in colder zones, please know that you can specify a later
shipping date
and still get free shipping in April, May or June.
This
offer is good just through Sunday, March 31st. Orders
must ship before June 26th, 2012
and is good to US addresses only!
ItÕs a coupon code and if you have trouble using the coupon just
let me
know. Use the coupon code,
FREESHIPPING (below your shopping cart) once your order has reached
$175. You wonÕt be able to see the coupon
is
accepted and in effect until your reach the check out stage. If there is an error with the coupon,
you will get a purple box at the top of your shopping cart that says
Ôyou have
entered an incorrect coupon code!Õ. But again, if you have trouble,
just email or call and I can fix it for you.
Office
schedule
Order early
and often. Please leave a message if I donÕt
answer, remember, IÕm a working owner and I like to get my hands dirty. We really will get back to you promptly. Or send me an email from the website. I can answer more quickly.
New
Varieties for 2012 (just in case you missed it last time)
Macrophylla
David
Ramsey Ð New wood blooming mophead will bloom early and full of blue or
pink (or somewhere in between). This cultivar has rebloomed
for us for several years. We acquired the specimen from Center for
Applied
Nursery Research (CANR) in Georgia and we love it!
Macrophylla
Sadie Ray
Ð Legendary new wood blooming cultivar from zone 5 farmhouse. Paler
blue
or pink blooms are plentiful. Introduced with description that it has
bloomed
reliably every year for over 50 years!
Macrophylla WeidlerÕs Blue Ð Biggest lacecap blooms begins
white
and ages pale blue or pink. Fertile florets are pH sensitive and can be
vivid
blue, pink or my favorite, purple! Blooms come later in the season but
long
tapered leaves are eye catching.
Paniculata
Chantilly
Lace Ð Laciest Paniculata weÕre seen! Big blooms from this seedling of
Tardiva are show stopping. Dark glossy leaves, too. This is a seedling
from
CANR that almost didnÕt make it.
Paniculata
Little
Limeª - Compact growing version of the popular Limelightª. Our specimen
is
staying very compact after 3 years in testing. Other ÔdwarfÕ
Paniculatas? Not
so much.
Very
Limited Supply Ð available later this spring(April-ish, I hope)
Quercifolia
Munchkinª
- Truly compact (and without much pruning until the deer found it this
winter)
our specimen grows to just 3 feet. This is a seedling of Sykes Dwarf
and is a
knockout in the fall with red foliage and deep pink blooms.
Quercifolia
Ruby
Slippersª - Like Munchkin, this is a great compact cultivar. Size is
approximately 4 feet. This is a seedling of Snow Queen and dwarf
PeeWee.
Privacy
Notice
We
respect your privacy and want to be sure this is sent to
those customers who have subscribed to the Hydrangeas Plus¨ newsletter. Please use the
unsubscribe link below if you received this in error or no longer wish
to
subscribe to our newsletter.
We apologize if you have asked before and weÕve neglected to
take your
name and email off our list.
Sincerely,
Kristin VanHoose
Hydrangeas Plus¨
http://www.hydrangeasplus.com