Dear Hydrangea enthusiasts,

Welcome to the May 2013 newsletter for Hydrangea Plus�.  

I hope that spring has sprung for everyone.  One customer from Colorado asked me to delay their order a few more weeks.  Last night, they got 10 inches of snow!  Of course I said yes, we can definitely do that.  Meanwhile, here in Aurora, Oregon – 80 degrees.  Yes, that is an eight and zero!  April was not full of showers but we have buds EVERYWHERE.  May flowers for sure!  The macrophylla and serrata hydrangeas are just bursting at the seams and ready to bloom for you in your garden. Keep those orders coming in!  Hurry, before we start our propagation and cut them off.

We have our special $30 Mother’s Day special going on this week and next so order a hydrangea for that special lady in your life.

We are counting and counting to check and double check what we have left so visit the website.  I am really sold out of some of the favorites.  If you must have one of these sold out varieties, please email me directly at [email protected] and I will let you know when they are back in stock.

What’s Happening…

We are seeing buds forming on many of the cultivars.  Don’t miss out on some blooming hydrangeas this year.   Serrata and some of the earliest blooming macrophylla are showing off this year.  I will get out there and get pictures, when we get all the Mother’s Day orders processed next week.  

Our spring overstock sale is still in progress so come on out.  We are here through Saturday, May 11th and hours are 10am to 4pm daily.  I hope you can come and pickup some great deals on hydrangeas and the other plant material we grow.    This is our annual sale that takes place the two weeks before Mother’s Day every year.  We hold this annual sale at this time because it allows us to make room for new plants.  And, our local customers get some great deals.

We’re just in the planning stages for our new crop of hydrangeas.  We shift the hydrangeas to a larger container and in just a few months, we’ll be back in stock with most everything in the 2 year and 3 year size.  We have some great hydrangeas on sale for $30 – See our category ‘On Sale Now’.  Let us choose a budding variety for you.

FaceBook

Welcome new Facebook subscribers.  We have 25,000 fans – join the wave!  Yes, we are online and jumping into this new mode of information.  Join us for updates, information, interesting happenings and other hydrangea news.  Just search for Hydrangeas Plus or go to https://www.facebook.com/hydrangeasplus.

It is addicting, this facebook thing but I love staying in constant contact.  I try to visit the page at least once a week to answer questions and post pictures or hot topics.  After Mother’s Day, I’ll post specials so check back often!

Administration (fancy word for office update)

Orders for Mother’s Day must be placed before 3pm EST on May 7th to be processed and shipped in time for delivery on the 10th.  If you miss the deadline, we can email a ‘save the space in the garden’ certificate to you or the recipient.  Hydrangeas really need to be prepared before we ship so we apologize that we can accommodate later orders.

Commonly Asked questions this month….

Q.  Hello- We recently moved and I brought a few of my hydrangeas purchased from you to our new home. They have been in very large pots since we moved a year ago. I can now transplant them and I want to fertilize when I put them in the ground. What type and ratio do you recommend for this purpose? Thank you so much.

A. There are so many different kinds of fertilizer so it really depends on what you're after in terms of fertilizer and how the existing soil is made up.

Is the bed totally new?  It is best to really work up the soil and incorporate some good mulch and bark before you plant.  A good start is really more important that fertilization.  Good soil and good mulch, you should be good for at least a few months until they start to bloom.  I really try to avoid most instant fertilizer until I see buds.  At that point you see buds, you have two choices - instant fertilizer or time release.  If the plants look deficient (yellow leaves anywhere) use the instant like MirAcid or the like.  If they are budding and looking great, just a time released, 3 month (ish) release product will get them through the summer. Summer is their neediest time.  But, don't over do the nitrogen or you'll reduce your bloom production.

Did you do any fertilizing in the containers?  If you did keep them fertilized, you're probably good for now. 

Q.  Hi Kristin. I asked a friend of mine to send me pictures of her 2’ high Merritt Supreme planted on the north side of her house that have turned purple (the leaves). She got them as an Easter present from her husband. She recently put them on the ground.

Originally I thought powdery mildew or Cercospora spots but she sent these pictures attached. The PM symptoms that I am used to normally include some gray or white dots and these pictures do not have that. These do not look like Cercospora. They kind of remind me of what some hydrangea leaves look like in the Fall sometimes. Or could it be frost damage of some sort since she in Z6?

A.  The purple coloration is due to phosphorus deficiency.  It usually does occur in the fall when temperatures cool down.  Phosphorus does not absorb well in cooler temperatures.  We sometimes see this happen in a cool spring but can easily be treated with super phosphate fertilizer when temperatures warm up.

Was it a purple bloom?  The greenhouse grower probably starved the plant for phosphorus to keep it purple.  Remember, phosphorus binds with the aluminum and keeps the plant from absorbing it and turning the pigments from pink to blue/purple.  

Sincerely,

Kristin VanHoose

Hydrangeas Plus�

http://www.hydrangeasplus.com