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Where to plant baby hydrangeas?

10 years ago

Hello!

Two days ago I found a nursery on Ebay that was selling these baby nikko blue hydrangeas for $3! I LOVE nikko blues! I couldn't pass up on that as I don't mind their little size and enjoy raising plants, so I bought ten of them. They came in today. They appear quite healthy and have lots of roots growing out the bottom of their little 3" pots.

Looking at our weather forecast it would appear (Fingers crossed) here in my area of Georgia that our last frost/freeze will be tonight. I've brought my babies in tonight.

My question is this: Once danger of frost is past, the rest of the nights here for the next month or so look like they'll be in the 40s-50s. Are these baby hydrangeas big enough to be planted outside and able to handle those temperatures, or do I need to plant them into larger pots that can be brought inside at night until it warms up more (Late spring, early summer?) and then plant them into the garden?

I attached an image so you guys can see their size.

Thanks so much everyone! :)

Grace

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Comments (4)

luis_pr
10 years ago
Probably but I always go to such pains to make sure nothing happens that it is ridiculous. I had one about 3" bigger than those which I started putting out in a bright but shady spot (indirect sun) with little wind for a few days. The leaves were just opening and looked tiny, frail, light greenish. Then I moved it to where it got a few hours of real early morning sun for a few days and then to their final planting location. I have done the same with other mail-ordered small shady shrubbery too.

The only exception is when the shrub arrives with no dirt; then I plant it in its final planting location asap. But depending on what it is and if it needs shade, I may build something to temporarily provide the shade.

These steps do not add up to more than a week for me.
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Aquae
Original Author
10 years ago
That sounds like a good idea! :) I think I'll do that, keep them in a sheltered location for a little bit then "step up" the amount of light they get. The area they'll be planted in gets morning sun and afternoon shade. Thanks so much for the advice!

How is your baby hydrangea doing, by the way? I assume it's not a baby anymore and I sure hope it's doing well! I'd love to know how fast it's grown!
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Hello, Just to let you know, I am in zone 7 as you are and I took cuttings from a number of mophead type hydrangeas in approximately early April ( I was moving from a house and took some cuttings to the new house..). These rooted in just a few weeks and have been planted in a flower bed since about mid May. They are now about 1 1/2 feet tall and branched (I did pinch the central leaves two weeks ago to encourage branching). There is no doubt that they will be big enough to bloom next year. I suspect if I had gotten the cuttings sooner, they might have even bloomed this year. Not sure of the variety--they just came with the house. You can't go wrong--I would just keep them in pots until early fall when it cools down a bit, but put them out in your bed in time for them to grow and establish roots this year. They will bloom for you next year, I'm pretty certain. Cheers!
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First, what did you do, mail-order these? ER is a dwarf hydrangea macrophylla and makes flowers around mid-late June. If you mail or web-ordered this it should start a baby flower (cluster of "broccoli" at the growing tip) within a month or so, with some sun (not all day) and light fertilizer. If it is a very small cutting that you ordered, it might not flower for a couple of years. Bobo is a different hydrangea altogether (paniculata) and most of those don't put out flowers until the end of July or later, regardless of when you ordered or bought it. As far as flowering goes, it is better to buy big (two-gallon or larger pot) so you can get results sooner, as mail-order cuttings (quart or gallon pots) take much longer to grow in most native climates/soils.
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You want to be very careful amending planting holes in a clay soil. Adding 'better' soil will just result in a bucket of very moist/wet soil with slow drainage. This can easily lead to root rots. You either want to amend the entire planting bed/area or just dig a very wide but shallow planting hole in the clay, site the plant high (slightly above grade) and back fill with ONLY the soil removed. Any amendments can be used over the existing soil as mulch and to mound up to the base of the rootball. And almost any kind of plant (excepting those that require very fast drainage) can be grown in a clay soil if you follow this method. The only hydrangeas I would consider planting in full sun are Hydrangea paniculata cultivars - all others need some afternoon shade.
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luis_pr
10 years ago
That was several years ago so it is getting to be between 1-2'. Still shutdown for the winter along with half of everything else though. But that means about half is also waking up.

In the Fall, I was actually thinking it and other shrubs would be fully leafed out by now because during the last two years, winters here were mild so everything leafed out or bloomed extremely early (January). But this year, we had a lot of temp zig zags and those bushes that leafed out or bloomed early had their new growth killed by a cold snap. Forsythia is now blooming though. Flowering Quince tried to start blooming at the end of Jan but a cold snap in February killed the blooms and it is now leafing out with a few blooms again. Roses here are leafing out for the 2nd time. The early blooming camellias got delayed and are now trying to bloom. And the hydrangeas? Still snoring but... I saw an oakleaf in another town west of me with leaf out. Hopefully that means I will see leaf out soon as well. How's the weather in GA?
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Aquae
Original Author
10 years ago
Oh I hope your hydrangeas start leafing out soon! :) I'm sorry to hear about the cold damage to your plants though. :( That sucks. I know what you mean about the crazy Winter! We had a VERY cold Winter (For Georgia anyway!) and this past month the temperatures have been all over the place. We'll have stretches of days in the 70s with nights in the 50s then it'll get down to the high-20s and I have to run around making sure all my plants are okay.

The past two nights we had temps around 26-28 and I have two nikko blues (Not my babies, but they're still young bushes, maybe 1-2 feet tall) that I covered with blankets. One suffered a tiny bit of cold damage on some leaves though despite my best efforts. - Fortunately it was only like 2-3 leaves so nothing serious. According to weather.com and accuweather's temperature predictions for the next month though, it looks like things may be finally smoothing out. I sure hope so! I'm tired of having to worry about Spring frosts.
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