If you think that in the landscape of your gardenlacks a spectacular and at the same time a gentle accent, decorate it with a magnificent shrub - Hydrangea panicle Pink Lady. Planting and care of the plant are simple even for beginners in floriculture, while beautiful flowers will change beyond recognition any site.
This is one of the most popular varieties of paniculatehydrangea, which has long and successfully grown on their sites gardeners in Russia. Hydrangea panicle Pink lady was bred by the famous Dutch breeder Peter Zweinenburg. Today we will acquaint you with the peculiarities of this shrub, the secrets of agricultural technology. We hope that this information will be useful for beginning florists.
Experts consider this variety to be one of the mostattractive from a large family. The adult bush grows to two meters in height. Its sprawling crown is distinguished by a lush, expanding, fan-shaped form. Long branches of Hydrangea Pink lady cover large leaves with finely toothed edges.
Sprouts straight, dyed brown.By the fall, they acquire a reddish hue. Dense white flowers are connected, they form inflorescences of a cone-shaped elongated form up to thirty centimeters long. Over time, white flowers acquire a gentle pink color. They produce a pleasant sweetish flavor.
The indisputable advantage of this variety is a long flowering, starting from the second half of July and continuing until the first frosts.
Hortense Pink Lady, photo of which you cansee below, unpretentious and even suffers short-term stagnation of water. Easily adapts to any kind of soil, but at the same time it does not tolerate excessive lime content. The most suitable are acid types of soils.
Give preference to the soil mixture consistingfrom humus, leaf earth, sand and peat in the ratio 2: 2: 1: 1. Experienced gardeners sometimes artificially acidify the soil, bringing it to an ideal state.
The beauty of the hydrangea shrub Pink lady, likemost perennials, largely depends on the planting material purchased by the gardener. When buying a plant, the weak seedlings should be alerted: afterwards they are unlikely to be able to demonstrate the entire beauty of this variety.
We already talked about how unpretentious it isa wonderful plant - hydrangea Pink lady. Planting and caring for it will require the owner of minimal effort. The best time for planting a plant is spring, although it is possible to do this work in the fall, however, in this case some additional measures will be required, which we will discuss below.
Planting a Hydrangea Pink Lady in the spring, you givea bush additional chance to adapt more quickly in the summer, to take root in typical for your region climatic conditions. If you decide to plant a hydrangea in autumn, then the seedling should be sheltered for the winter. This is done without fail, regardless of the frost resistance of the plant.
For Hydrangeas Pink Lady is very importantchoose a suitable site for planting, where the plant will feel quite comfortable and at the same time successfully fit into the landscape. For this sort of hydrangea, a paniculate is most suitable for solar areas, but well protected from the wind. Although Hydrangea Pink Lady tolerates and partial shade, she in this case does not reveal all her beauty: the flowers lose their exquisite pink shade. In addition, the flowering activity decreases.
This sort of hydrangea is not very fond of sandysoil, which must be taken into account when choosing a place for planting. Drainage properties of the soil are important for this plant, but they should not be clearly expressed. This is due to the fact that this sort of hydrangea is a water-loving plant, it will suffer a short-term excess of moisture, but a drought can ruin its root system.
So, the place is chosen, now it is necessary correctlydig a landing pit and prepare it appropriately for planting. Since this shrub is quite large, its proper development and abundant flowering should be taken care of while it is still small.
Яму для него готовят довольно просторную, ее The size should be at least 50x50 cm, but not more than 80x80 cm. It depends on the size of the seedling and its root system. The depth of the pit must be at least fifty centimeters. Do not be confused by the rather impressive size of the landing pit: do not forget that it should be filled with fertilizers.
Now fill it with two or three buckets of water at night, so that the moisture completely soaked the soil.
In the morning fill the pit with soil mixture and addorganic and mineral fertilizers: superphosphate - 65 g, potassium sulfate - 25 g, urea - 25 g. It is desirable to add to this mixture pine needles or pine, it will additionally acidify the soil. Try not to let lime get into the mixture.
The pit is filled with the soil mixture almost to the top, and in this condition it is ready for planting.
Needs pruning roots before planting Hydrangea Pink Lady. The description, which can be found in publications on floriculture, recommends cutting off annual shoots, leaving only 3-5 buds on them.
Hydrangea Pink lady needs loosening the soil,weeding, fertilizing and frequent, abundant watering, without which you can not wait for active flowering. This hydrangea variety is frost-resistant, so it does not need shelter for the winter (with the exception of planting a sapling in the fall).
However, if winter is expected in your areawithout snow and with very strong frosts, then you can not do without shelter. The length of the shoots of this hydrangea is adjusted annually, and the soil is periodically mulched, using needles, peat or sawdust. This will retain moisture under the bush.
Frequent watering of the soil near the shrub is oftencause the appearance of a crust on it. In this case, it is necessary to carry out regular loosening, cultivating the soil around the bush in a radius of about 70 cm, and at the same time remove weeds.
A feature of this hydrangea is that underthe root system, which grows horizontally, is hidden by a rather high terrestrial part. For this reason, the plant especially needs moisture. To loosen the soil should be very careful not to damage the rhizomes.
Почва вокруг куста всегда должна быть влажной.This is especially important on dry and hot days. Drying of the soil should not be allowed. Every day, hydrangea is watered quite abundantly - up to thirty liters per square meter. In the rainy summer watering is reduced. Potassium permanganate (potassium permanganate) should be added to the water for irrigation.
To achieve active and long flowering,it is necessary to feed the plant with various fertilizers. The plant is responsive to organic fertilizers. For example, slurry acts very effectively, but the main thing is to comply with the measure, otherwise the inflorescences will begin to break under their own weight.
Good results are obtained by a complex of mineral fertilizers, if used correctly - a solution (25 granules per ten liters of water) is poured under the shrub in the spring.
Hydrangea will respond to a top-dressing with a stormy bloom with the following composition: urea (25 g), superphosphate (35 g) and potassium sulfate (35 g) per ten liters of water.
Today in specialized stores you canpurchase a special fertilizer for hydrangeas, which is as balanced as possible. Feed the plant should be four times a year: from early spring until the end of summer or early autumn.
The first feeding is conducted during the sap flow.in the plant. To do this, use organic fertilizers, giving charge for the active growth of inflorescences. The second feeding should be done in the period of the formation and growth of buds. At this time, compounds with urea, potassium and superphosphate are used. In the middle of summer, the third part of the fertilizer is applied, which contributes to long-term flowering. In this case, watering with the use of the mineral complex is necessary. The last dressing is carried out in preparation for the winter. It should not use nitrogen. Better in this period to use ready-made fertilizer for hydrangeas.
Because inflorescences are formed only on newshoots of hydrangeas, the plant needs strength to form them. Therefore, the old stems are pruned annually. Only in this case you will get a free-flowing beautiful shrub covered with large buds.
Pruning is desirable to carry out in the spring before the start of sap flow, before the start of active life.
Landscape Designers love andactively use this variety of hydrangeas for landscaping country sites and gardens. This plant is highly appreciated due to abundant flowering for several months, frost resistance, and unpretentiousness in care.
Please note that this shrubgrows up to two meters in width, it is therefore necessary to leave the border zone between the plants in the neighborhood. Pink lady is suitable for any style of design: looks great in single landings, no less interesting in group compositions. This beauty in the neighborhood with coniferous plants effectively looks. Its inflorescences are harmoniously combined with many evergreen trees.
The only thing that should not be forgotten during group planting: pick plants that are close in their requirements for the sun, moisture and soil quality.
Most gardeners consider it a great success.choice of hydrangeas for landscaping your site. Plants do not require special care from the owner, are not particularly picky about the composition of the soil and almost the whole season pleases with abundant flowering. No serious deficiencies have been found in this variety, except for the need to shelter for the winter in the northern regions.
