Hydrangea

The Moody Mophead 

(Big Leaf Hydrangea)

Avid green thumbs and master gardeners encounter classic problems with flowering and fruiting plants or shrubs. In some previous gardening posts, I might have narrated troubles with rose bushes. (In Telugu classes, our kind learned pundits warned us to look out for this defect - Unwarranted Repetition (పునరుక్తి దోషము)). Still, to educate the beginners in gardening hobby, I enumerate the following practical experiences. Once we had a rose plant in a sunny spot adjacent to a vegetable patch. It received everything – plenty of light, moisture, and fertilizer. Still year after year it produced only copious green foliage and dead-end shoots with no flower buds. Nothing seemed to work for this rose bush. Once after lot of frustration, I took a dull handsaw and mercilessly cut it down to ground leaving just one-foot long bare stump. I tried to uproot it completely. But I could not despite using all my strength. I gave up after vigorously shaking the barren trunk and part of the root system. Then I could not believe the results and my eyes! Either the same summer or the following year, it produced plenty of vigorous flowers. It was an unbelievable spectacular pleasant sight, nestled next to a patch of cucumber vine, eggplants, beans, and bell peppers. A similar incident happened with another rose bush; this one is a wild rose shrub with white single flowers. 

Somewhere on the Internet or newspapers, I came across a more surprising phenomenon with a guava tree. Once a well-trained horticulturist complained to his mentor to the effect thus: “I have a nice guava tree in our backyard. Even after several years there is not a single flower or fruit, just totally barren. The tree is healthy and grows vigorously. We tried everything including balanced fertilizer, etc. The soil is good.” Then the professor suggested a radical treatment. “Cut the damn tree to size. Remove all its leaves and branches. Just leave it with one green branch and a few leaves.” Miraculously the barren tree started yielding fruit the next season. So, it seems there is more to gardening than simple pruning, soil, fertilizer, and watering. Probably there are some hidden secrets about trace level nutrients, ambient moisture, air circulation, light and dark cycles, and solar radiation (spectral colors).

In the village too we had a few interesting problems. Once we had a double hibiscus plant with pink flowers. Mother grew it with love from a cutting and soon it developed roots and thrived next to the parapet with big luscious green leaves. But it would not yield a single flower for many months. Some one in the village suggested giving it a smoke treatment. Promptly I rushed to the grocer in the next block and bought a dozen black seeds of Semecarpus Anacardium also known as the marking-nut tree, Jidi (పెద జీడి). This tree is related to the cashew nut tree, an important cash crop. Smoking treatment is also used in mango orchards to stimulate vigorous flowering and fruiting. Whether the hibiscuses (there were two one double pink and the other double red) produced flowers due to smoke or not I cannot recall now. But within two or three months the shrubs grew vigorously with plenty of healthy flowers. I still do not know – what stimulated them. Was it less care and watering? Or stronger sunrays in the subsequent dry winter, spring, and summer months? Of course, in the tropical south India only the monsoon months are cloudy and fully overcast.

Now coming to the problems of hydrangea, the topic at hand. Hydrangea has become a popular ornamental shrub, now even in the north with snowy winters (hardy zone 5). Here I see three varieties displayed in home gardens and office landscapes: The big leaf hydrangea (macrophylla), tree hydrangea (paniculata), and paniclehydrangea with white flowers.

We have three bushes of this moody flowering plant. It was springtime I think – we spotted two sprightly-potted hydrangea plants with purple flower bunches in the local farmers market. Most probably they came from a well-illuminated cozy greenhouse environment. We transplanted them next to a wall in a semi-shade location. In one way it gets some protection during the harsh winter from severe chilly (< 10 -15^o F) drafts. For about two or three years they produced at least one bunch of flowers from the lower (older) branches. Then they totally ceased producing any bloom at all. I tried everything: a bit of Epsom salt feeding, bone meal, balanced fertilizer, coffee grounds, cow manure, etc. Nothing seemed to work. Every year the hydrangea bushes produce luscious green large leaves; of course, they are beautiful to behold in the fall with slight coloration towards reddish brown or purple. In that way, they are ornamental to the landscape complimenting a Japanese red maple dwarf tree. We contacted the local university extension center for guidance. And tried to explore other possible causes like severe winter (frost bite), temperature swings in early spring, or lack of abundant sunshine.

After several years of frustration, we uprooted the hydrangea and transplanted in a sunnier place. We used fresh topsoil with a mixture of compost, clay, and sand (1:1:1). I do not remember whether we added any additional fertilizer. But this year this small bush produced five bunches with pink color. Some of the florets are turning purple (blue-violet) also. I have not done any pruning on this bush in the spring. There are a few dead wood (dry stems) branches on the plant. These can be safely trimmed without adverse effect on future growth.  

Even with the best care and fertilizer, it seems hydrangea (particularly the mophead variety) is a temperamental plant. Definitely it needs ample sunlight. Also, we should be careful not to prune the old wood (growth from previous year) lest it may remove latent flower buds. In the northeast we have a limited (shortened) growing season. And some days are even completely overcast giving only diffused light to many flowering plants. But these limitations (of hydrangea) are offset by their large colorful flower bunches suitable for decoration in hotel entrances or wedding parties. Two other varieties (tree hydrangea and white/green bloom hydrangea) are more forgiving. Mostly they yield flowers year after year even with benign neglect. But in terms of color, density, and attractiveness nothing like the mophead hydrangea.

I’ve not tried deliberately protecting the bush from the winter cold. We do such protective shielding for rose bushes to save the delicate exposed branches. Maybe, this fall I will cover the hydrangeas with a pile of dry leaves and pine needles. It shouldn’t do any harm. Or, I may cover it with a semitransparent white plastic trash bag (with a few holes for breathing) to keep it warm during the bone chilly winter months. Now we have to attend to the other two hydrangea bushes languishing in a semi-shade location. Gardening is always more work – whether it is a success or a failure. (Cf.) In graduate school our professor always dumped more work on dedicated brilliant students. Life’s like that! Enjoy it. Copyright 2020 by the author