If you’re looking for a quick-growing and adaptable shrub with long-lasting blossoms, the hydrangea macrophylla would be a great option.
Hydrangea landscaping offers a great way to bring eye-catching structure and lovely color to your backyard, whether it’s brightening your gardening borders or lining walks.
People love to have a hydrangea or two in their garden these days, thanks to their gorgeous blooms. They’ve shed their old appearance and are now seen as a trendy option. Let’s take a closer look at this plant with curb appeal.
Transform Your Entrance
When coming up with ideas to spruce up your porch, a hydrangea in full bloom can create a stunning welcome to those entering your home. The plant offers a perfect way to provide some personality to your entrance, frame your front door, or simply improve curb appeal. It would look great in pots on your porch as a way to add some charm to your borders.
Pick Your Plant
When choosing your plant for the landscape, there are plenty of hydrangeas to consider. One of the key traits here is bloom durability.
New Wood vs. Old Wood
There are some regions where particular hydrangeas might not even bloom each year because of either poor trimming practices or the cold climate. The challenge is whether the buds are developed on new or old wood.
Old wood is growth from the previous year. It’s in the previous year, usually in August, that the blooms for the current year were created. If these varieties are cut down or pruned in the fall, there’ll be hardly any bloom the following year, if any at all.
This year’s growth is termed “new wood”. The buds are set on cultivars blooming on new wood the year before they bloom. These plants can be trimmed in fall or early spring.
Ideal Location
When deciding on a location for your plant, it’s important to remember that a hydrangea is a woodland plant. So while many varieties may grow in full sun, many others perform well in partial shade, particularly in the morning or afternoon sun. Foliage density and flower size might be limited by too much shade. However, the bloom duration may be shortened by too much sun.
The hydrangea grows well in a well-draining, loamy soil. Before planting a hydrangea in soil with a leaning towards clay, add some organic matter to the soil. Avoid sitting at the plant where the earth often becomes damp after rainfall.
Hydrangea Stairs
When there’s a hydrangea on each side, where the stairs take you is irrelevant. Depending on the cultivar, a hydrangea calls for different amounts of light, as some prefer the morning sun with shade in the afternoon, while others like shade instead. If you love the shade, here are the hydrangeas you might want to look at:
- Hydrangea paniculate limelight
- Hydrangea arborescence
- Hydrangea macrophylla
Tall Borders
The hydrangea is the ideal tall plant, as it’s often huge and dense. Place it in a mound against the side of your home, either next to a blank wall, beneath a window, or in a long, dramatic row. The hydrangea can brighten up dark cladding, stone, and brick.
The hydrangea bursts through and right over a picket fence, and also looks great tucked into a tall corner or along a freestanding wall. A hydrangea lining a sidewalk or along the road provides a stunning entrance. To add some privacy and enclose a space with beauty and style, you could even plant it in a hedge.
Planting Hydrangeas Symmetrically
If you have a dual-level garden, framing the steps with the same plant on both sides enhances its appearance significantly. One idea you may wish to consider is to use blooms to make a staircase.
Just bear in mind that blue flowers come from acidic soil, whereas pink flowers grow in alkaline soil. The easiest approach if you want blue and acidic soil is to buy aluminum sulphate from your local garden center.
How Hydrangeas Can Provide You with the Perfect Landscape
The hydrangea can take a dull environment and turn it into something full of color and life during the summer and autumn months.
The many types available include hydrangea macrophylla glowing embers, lace caps and classic mop heads, the climbing form, and the shrubby species. They’re perfect for filling a border.
Hydrangea blossoms can be dried and have a long shelf life, whether as cut flowers or in the garden. If you opt for a hydrangea and take proper care of it, it could enhance your home’s aesthetic appeal for up to 50 years.
