Change your Hydrangea’s Bloom Colors!



My hydrangea is full of small, but growing, blooms. I’m thrilled! Every year it gets bigger and has more blossoms on it. But what color will those flowers be?

I can’t remember what type and bloom color this big leaf hydrangea was when I planted it. It was a free one from work (I work for a flower catalog company, nice huh?) and it may not have even been marked or marked correctly. Sadly, I can’t even remember what color the blooms were last year. I think they were pink…or some sort of pinkish white. I was just so thrilled to have blooms that I don’t even remember what color they were. All hydrangea colors are welcome in my cottage garden.

Are all hydrangea colors welcome in your garden? Or are your gardens color coordinated? Maybe you planted a pink garden and your big leaf hydrangea is now putting out lavender blue flowers?

Well, change those blossom colors right back. Or just change them to another color. Big leaf hydrangea colors are determined by the soil ph. To change your hydrangea’s color, just follow these rules:

• To change a pink hydrangea to blue, add aluminum sulfate to the soil around the plant. Drench the soil around the plant with water, then dilute 1 tablespoon of aluminum sulfate in a gallon of water and pour it around the plant. Soil ph should be between 5.2-5.5. Fertilize several times per year with a fertilizer with an N/P/K of 25/5/30.

• To change a blue hydrangea to pink, neutralize the aluminum in the soil under the plant by adding dolomite lime a few times per year. The soil ph should be between 6.0 to 6.2. To keep the pink color, use a fertilizer with an N/P/K of 25/10/10.

• Changing the intensity of a color can’t be done, but fertilizing your plant may improve the color saturation.

• White hydrangeas can’t be changed to any other color though they sometimes pick up a pink or red tinge as the flowers age.

• In a hot climate, it is almost impossible to keep red hydrangeas red without some fading. Red hydrangea blossom colors can’t be changed to another color.

• It is possible to have blue, pink and lavender flowers on one hydrangea bush due to changing soil ph levels.

• If you just can’t keep your hydrangeas in the color you want, you can always plant them in huge pots where it is easier to maintain the soil ph for the color of bloom you want.

I hope this will help you with your hydrangea bushes and their flower colors. As always…



Happy Gardening!