Hydrangeas

[rkp52]

My pink hydrangeas have faded a lot what can I use to make them rich pink again like they were at the beginning of the summer.

many thanks

[Peaspeculiars]

Hi Rkp52, reading up on it, there doesn't seem to be a great deal you can do apart from dead-head regularly and hope that the new blooms will be stronger in colour. The older heads will naturally fade over time.
I thought it might help by changing the pH of the soil, but apparently not - anything between 4.5-5.5 will create blue blooms, below that in more alkaline soils are the pink bloomers, but altering the soil to increase the alkalinity wouldn't help either I'm afraid.
So advice would be to fertilize twice a year, dead head and try not to position them in too much sun.
Not very helpful I'm afraid, but it might might some difference, all the best

[rkp52]

Thanks for your info will just have to hope that they will be ok next year, don't think there is much wrong with the blooms they are absolutely massive and plenty of them, but they are in the sun so I guess it may of been too hot for them, although I have not moved them over the years but I guess this year has been very hot.

[boxtops]

They will be fine next year - this happens to mine all the time in a hot summer, especially when it's been so wet too (the petals get quite waterlogged in the rain). Mine were beautiful creamy-pink and have now faded to kindy of brown papery...... You can't get that rich pink back on this year's flowers, but you can cut them off if they look really miserable, I'm already finding that a second flish of flowers is starting to grow.

[boxtops]

^ second flush

and PS my plant is in very poor soil in the front of my house, it's been in that position for a good 30 years.

[Robinia]

It's the price we pay for sunny days :)
Hydrangeas grow easily from cuttings, have you got room to do that and plant it in the shade? That way the flowers are a deeper colour and last longer. They're ok in a large container too.

[heathfield]

Last year, with the poor weather we had, my hydrangea blooms were very few and very small. This year, after a warm winter, they're many and huge. But they haven't lasted nearly as long as they have in the past. A friend suggests that because they haven't had a spell of dormancy over the winter, they've come on too quickly as a result. You could always cut a bunch of the best ones and hang them upside down indoors to dry out. That way they keep their colour and will stay decorative for ages.

[Prudie]

i've never cut my blooms so have no idea if they'd produce a second flowering. I leave the heads on until at least April of the following year, they form a kind of protective blanket over the winter.